Device Power and Resource Management

• US 20150323974A1
• Filed: 05/12/2015
• Published: 11/12/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: David Goldsmith, Gary S. Shuster
• Original Assignee: David Goldsmith, Gary S. Shuster
• Inventors: SHUSTER, Gary Stephen, GOLDSMITH, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,939,868 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 1/3212 Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/182 Level alarms, e.g. alarms responsive to variables exceeding a threshold
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72448 with means for adapting the functionality of the device according to specific conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0277 according to available power supply, e.g. switching off when a low battery condition is detected
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems, devices and methods for managing charging and power status for portable devices are disclosed. The systems, devices and methods of the present invention comprise determining existing battery level and charge status of a device, comparing the battery level and charge status with predicted battery usage of tasks associated with calendar events scheduled to take place before the next charge, and transmitting an alert to one or more devices when a threshold likelihood that the battery level will not be sufficient for the predicted battery usage is exceeded. The present invention advantageously displays available power based on time available for certain tasks, and manages device power and resources by modifying and/or transferring tasks from a device having a battery level below a threshold level to one or more other devices with a higher battery levels.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining existing battery level and charging status for a first device;

comparing said battery level and charging status for the first device with predicted battery usage of tasks associated with calendar events for a user of said first device; and

transmitting an alert from said first device based on exceeding a threshold likelihood that the battery level in the first device will not be sufficient for the predicted battery usage associated with said tasks.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining from charging history when a device will likely be charged, and limiting the predicted battery usage to tasks associated with calendar events that will take place prior to the next likely charging opportunity for said first device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting said alert via a plurality of devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the alert is simultaneously displayed on the plurality of devices.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the alert is displayed in a sequence beginning with the first device and rotating through each of the plurality of devices in turn, until the user of the first device acknowledges the alert.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the alert is sent to each of the plurality of devices in a sequence based on a predetermined priority order of devices.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the amount of time available for a task based on the existing battery level and predicted battery usage for the task.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising delegating one or more tasks to a device with a higher battery level.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

a portable device comprising a processor, a memory, and a battery, wherein the memory holds instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the device to;

determine existing battery level and charging status for said device;

compare the existing battery level and charging status with predicted battery usage of tasks associated with calendar events for a user of said first device; and

transmit an alert from said first device based on exceeding a threshold likelihood that the battery level in the first device will not be sufficient for the predicted battery usage associated with said calendar events.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory holds further instructions for determining from charging history when a device will likely be charged, and limiting the predicted battery usage to tasks associated with calendar events that will take place prior to the next likely charging opportunity for said first device.

12. A method comprising:

determining existing battery level and charging status for a first device;

comparing the existing battery level and charging status for the first device with the predicted battery usage of at least one task;

transferring at least one task from the first device to a second device based on the first device being below a threshold battery level.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one task is receiving incoming telephone calls.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising entering a passcode to enable answering incoming telephone calls.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising, if the second device is not answered, transferring back to the first device'"'"'s voice mail incoming telephone calls.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising configuring the first and second devices to automatically transfer receiving incoming calls to the other when one of the first device or second device is below the threshold battery level.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one task is displaying SMS messages.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein data associated with the task(s) transferred is encoded so that a user must enter a passcode to access the data.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the transferring takes place automatically based on the proximity of the first and second devices to each other, the relationship between the owners of the devices and/or permissions given by the owners of the devices.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the transferring to the second device may be modified by accessing a networked control system.