DEVICE POWER SAVING DURING EXERCISE

• US 20150293580A1
• Filed: 03/06/2014
• Published: 10/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
• Original Assignee: Polar Electro Oy
• Inventors: Korpela, Matti, Karjalainen, Markku, Munoz, David, Tuunanen, Mikko, Torvinen, Jarmo
• Granted Patent: US 9,612,650 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3262 Power saving in digitizer or tablet
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0634 by changing the state or mode of one or more devices
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/30 relating to physical therapies or activities, e.g. physiotherapy, acupressure or exercising

Abstract

A method includes: supporting a normal operation mode during which functionalities of a portable apparatus are available through an operating system of the apparatus, wherein the operating system includes a plurality of layers including a kernel and library functions-layer; supporting a limited operation mode during which the apparatus is configured to execute a physical activity algorithm based on physical activity data corresponding to a physical activity session performed by a user of the apparatus, wherein the physical activity algorithm applies a direct low-level hardware access bypassing at least the layers above the kernel and the library functions-layer; and switching between the normal operation mode and the limited operation mode.

Claims

1. A portable apparatus (100), comprising:

at least one processing unit (500, 530) and at least one memory including a computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured, with the at least one processing unit (500, 530), to cause the portable apparatus (100) to perform operations comprising;

supporting a normal operation mode (210) during which functionalities of the apparatus (100) are available through an operating system (300) of the apparatus (100), wherein the operating system (300) comprises a plurality of layers including a kernel (302) and library functions-layer;

supporting a limited operation mode (212) during which the apparatus (100) is configured to execute a physical activity algorithm (220) based on physical activity data corresponding to a physical activity session performed by a user (110) of the apparatus (100), wherein the physical activity algorithm (220) applies a direct low-level hardware access bypassing at least the layers above the kernel (302) and the library functions-layer (304); and

switching between the normal operation mode (210) and the limited operation mode (212).

2. The apparatus (100) of claim 1, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

inactivating at least predetermined layers of the operating system (300) when entering the limited operation mode (212).

3. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 2, wherein a set of functionalities of the apparatus (100) is available to the apparatus (100) during the normal operation mode (210) and only a predetermined subset of the functionalities is available to the apparatus (100) during the limited operation mode (212).

4. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 3, wherein the apparatus (100) further comprises a power supply (506) for providing power for the operation of the apparatus (100), and wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

detecting the power status of the power supply (506);

determining (600) current power consumption rate of the apparatus (100);

comparing (602) the power consumption rate and the power status; and

on the basis of the comparison result, deciding on the switching between the normal operation mode (210) and the limited operation mode (212).

5. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the physical activity algorithm (220) causes obtaining physical activity data from at least one physical activity sensor (114) associated with the apparatus (100) and storing of the received physical activity data.

6. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the physical activity algorithm (220) causes determination of at least one of the following:

heart activity of the user (110), activity metric of the user (110), accumulated metric with respect to the physical activity session.

7. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

detecting (700) the beginning of the physical activity session; and

deciding to switch to the limited operation mode (212) at the beginning of the physical activity session.

8. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

detecting the power status of the power supply (506);

obtaining (800) the remaining duration of the ongoing physical activity session;

comparing the power status to the remaining duration of the ongoing physical activity session; and

on the basis of the comparison result, deciding whether or not to switch to the limited operation mode (212).

9. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 8, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

detecting (702) that the physical activity session is ended; and

entering the normal operation mode (210).

10. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

estimating the ending time of the current physical activity session; and

starting to activate (1100) the operating system (300) at least a predetermined activation duration (1102) before the current physical activity session is to be ended, wherein the predetermined activation duration substantially corresponds to the time duration it takes for the operating system (300) to activate.

11. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the functionalities not available in the limited operation mode (212) include at least one of the following:

touch sensitivity of a display (102) of the apparatus (100), social media support, call and message support.

12. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

detecting an exercise profile of the ongoing physical activity session;

determining which physical activity-related functionalities are needed during the limited operation mode (212) on the basis of the detected exercise profile; and

running the determined physical activity-related functionalities during the limited operation mode (212) via the physical activity algorithm (220).

13. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

dynamically limiting (1208, 1210) the usage of at least one physical activity-related functionality during the limited operation mode (212).

14. The apparatus (100) of claim 13, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

obtaining power consumption information (1202) indicating how different physical activity-related functionalities of the apparatus (100) affect the power consumption rate of the apparatus (100);

obtaining functionality usage information (1204) indicating which physical activity-related functionalities are typically used during a physical activity session performed by the user (110); and

determining the at least one physical activity-related functionality whose usage is to be limited on the basis of the power consumption information (1202) and the functionality usage information (1204).

15. The apparatus (100) of claim 14, wherein the power consumption information (1202) and the functionality usage information (1204) are updated after each physical activity session.

16. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 15, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

determining the temperature of the apparatus (100) and/or the ambient temperature;

obtaining temperature information indicating how temperature affects the power consumption rate of the apparatus (100); and

deciding whether or not to perform functional limitations on the basis of the determined temperature and the obtained temperature information.

17. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 16, wherein the apparatus (100) is a wrist-worn watch.

18. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 17, wherein the apparatus (100) further comprises:

at least one first memory unit configured to be used during the limited operation mode (212); and

at least one second memory unit (502B) configured to be used during the normal operation mode (210), wherein the second memory unit (502B) is not used during the limited operation mode (212).

19. The apparatus (100) of claim 18, wherein the first memory unit comprises static random access memory, SRAM, and the second memory unit (502B) comprises double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory, DDR-SDRAM.

20. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 19, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

deciding to switch to the limited operation mode (212);

inactivating a kernel (302) of the operating system (300);

running the physical activity algorithm (220) on the at least one processing unit (500, 530).

21. The apparatus (100) of claim 20, wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

booting the operating system (300) of the apparatus (100); and

upon powering up the operation system, restraining from switching the kernel (302) on, and executing the physical activity algorithm (220) by the at least one processing unit (500, 530).

22. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 19, wherein the apparatus (100) further comprises an external memory unit, and wherein the apparatus (100) is further caused to perform:

running the kernel (302) of the operating system (300) via the external memory unit; and

running the physical activity algorithm (220) on the at least one processing unit (500, 530).

23. The apparatus (100) of any of claims 1 to 19, wherein the at least one processing unit comprises:

a low power processing unit (530) configured to run at least the physical activity algorithm (220) during the limited operation mode (212); and

a high power processing unit (500) configured to run the operating system (300) of the apparatus (100) during the normal operation mode (210), wherein the low power processing unit (530) has a lower power consumption in performing a given task than the high power processing unit (500), and wherein a switch to the limited operation mode (212) comprises;

activating the low power processing unit (530) to run at least the physical activity algorithm (220); and

inactivating the high power processing unit (500).

24. The apparatus (100) of claim 23, wherein the low power processing unit (530) is a microcontroller unit without a memory management unit, and the high power processing unit (500) is a microprocessor unit with a memory management unit (501).

25. A method, comprising:

supporting a normal operation mode (210) during which functionalities of the apparatus (100) are available through an operating system (300) of the apparatus (100), wherein the operating system (300) comprises a plurality of layers including a kernel (302) and library functions-layer (304);

supporting a limited operation mode (212) during which the apparatus (100) is configured to execute a physical activity algorithm (220) based on physical activity data corresponding to a physical activity session performed by a user (110) of the apparatus (100), wherein the physical activity algorithm (220) applies a direct low-level hardware access bypassing at least the layers above the kernel (302) and the library functions-layer (304); and

switching between the normal operation mode (210) and the limited operation mode (212).

27. A computer program product embodied on a distribution medium readable by a computer and comprising program instructions which, when loaded into an apparatus, execute the method according to claim 25.

26. A portable apparatus (100), comprising processing means configured to cause the apparatus (100) to perform the method according to 25.