MANAGING POWER CONSUMPTION STATE OF ELECTRONIC DEVICES RESPONSIVE TO PREDICTING FUTURE DEMAND

• US 20150370307A1
• Filed: 08/28/2015
• Published: 12/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: SULLIVAN, MARC, EDWARDS, GREG W., JOSEPH, KURT M.
• Granted Patent: US 9,671,852 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4418 Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake

Abstract

A system and process that incorporates teachings of the subject disclosure may include, for example, transitioning a processor from a high-power consumption state to a low-power consumption state, wherefrom return to the high-power consumption state includes a boot process. Future demand for operation of the processor in the high-power consumption state is predicted, while the processor is in the low-power consumption state. The processor is transitioned from the low-power consumption state to the high-power consumption state in response to predicting future demand for operation of the processor in the high-power consumption state. Such transition of the processor from the low-power consumption state to the high-power consumption state sufficiently precedes actual demand for operation of the processor in the high-power consumption state so as to avoid perceptible user delay. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

transitioning, by a media processor, from a high-power consumption state to a low-power consumption state from which return to the high-power consumption state comprises a boot process;

tracking, by the media processor, prior usage of the media processor, resulting in a respective usage profile;

determining, by the media processor, a first probability of future demand for operation of the media processor in the high-power consumption state according to the respective usage profile;

determining, by the media processor, a distance between a candidate user and the media processor and one of a direction of movement by the candidate user with respect to the media processor, a speed of the movement of the candidate user, of a combination thereof;

determining, by the media processor, a second probability of future demand for operation of the media processor in the high-power consumption state, wherein the determining of the second probability of future demand is based on the distance and one of the direction, the speed, or the combination thereof, for the candidate user and wherein the determining of the second probability of future demand is performed while the media processor is in the low-power consumption state;

determining, by the media process, whether the first probability of future demand for operation of the media process is within a range;

transitioning, by the media processor, from the low-power consumption state to the high-power consumption state based on the second probability of future demand for operation of the media processor and responsive to determining that the first probability of future demand for operation of the media process is within the range; and

returning, by the media processor, from the high-power state to the low-power state.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing, by the media processor, the first probability of future demand to a low threshold and a high threshold;

comparing, by the media processor, the second probability of future demand to a third threshold;

if the first probability of future demand is less than the low threshold, then remaining, by the media processor, in the low-power consumption state; and

if the first probability of future demand is greater than the high threshold, then transitioning, by the media processor, to the high-power consumption state.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the distance comprises receiving an indication of proximity of a candidate user relative to a location of the media processor.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the receiving of an indication of proximity of a candidate user comprises receiving a signal from a physical presence sensor selected from the group consisting of light sensors, sound sensors, thermal sensors, motion sensors, electromagnetic radiation sensors, network activity sensors, thermostats, home alarms, and combinations thereof.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the indication of proximity of a candidate user comprises one of a position, a bearing, a range of the candidate user, or a combination thereof, the method further comprising determining a speed of the candidate user with respect to the media processor, wherein the determining of the second probability of future demand is also based on the speed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first probability of future demand comprises estimating future user activity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking of the prior usage comprises logging whether the media processor presents streaming video content.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the second probability of future demand for operation of the media processor in the high-power consumption state comprises receiving from a sensor an indication of proximity of a candidate user relative to a location of the media processor.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

determining a distance between a candidate user and a media processor;

determining one of a direction of movement, a speed of movement of the media processor, or a combination thereof;

predicting a first probability of future demand for operation of the processor in a high-power consumption rate based on prior usage of the processor;

predicting, a second probability of future demand for operation of the processor in a high-power consumption state based on the distance and one of the direction, the speed, or the combination thereof, while the processor is in a low-power consumption state; and

transitioning the processor from the low-power consumption state to the high-power consumption state according to the second probability of future demand responsive to determining that the first probability of future demand is within a range, such that transition of the processor from the low-power consumption state to the high-power consumption state precedes actual demand for operation of the processor in the high-power consumption state.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the second probability of future demand for operation of the processor in a high-power consumption state comprises:

monitoring sensory signals to detect presence of a candidate user; and

responsive to detection of a candidate user, identifying the candidate user.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the sensory signals are obtained from physical indications selected from the group consisting of light, sound, temperature, motion, electromagnetic radiation, network activity, thermostats, home alarms, and combinations thereof, and wherein the identifying the candidate user comprises polling equipment of the user to obtain identification information.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the predicting of the second probability of future demand comprises estimating future user activity, wherein the operations further comprise determining a speed of the candidate user with respect to the media processor, wherein the predicting of the future demand is based on the speed.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the predicting of the first probability of future demand comprises:

tracking prior usage of the processor, resulting in a respective usage profile;

determining the first probability of future demand for operation of the processor in the high-power consumption state, in response to the respective usage profile; and

comparing the first probability of future demand to a threshold probability of demand,

wherein the determining that the first probability of future demand is within the range is based on the comparing of the first probability of future demand to the threshold of probability of demand.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein power consumption of the processor, while in the low-power consumption state, is not more than a greater of about 3 Watts and about 15% of power consumption of the media processor in the high-power consumption state.

15. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

determining a first probability of future demand for operation of the processor in a high-power consumption state based on prior usage of the processor in the high-power consumption state;

determining a distance between a candidate user and a media processor;

determining one of a direction of movement, a speed of movement of the media processor, or a combination thereof;

predicting, a second probability of future demand for the operation of the processor in a high-power consumption state based on the distance and one of the direction, the speed, or the combination thereof; and

transitioning the processor from a low-power consumption state to the high-power consumption state according to the second probability of future demand in response to the first probability of future demand for operation of the processor in the high-power consumption state being within a range, such that transition of the processor from the low-power consumption state to the high-power consumption state precedes actual demand for operation of the processor in the high-power consumption state.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the predicting of the second probability of future demand comprises receiving an indication of proximity of a candidate user relative to a location of the processor.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the receiving an indication of proximity of a candidate user comprises receiving a signal from a physical presence sensor selected from the group consisting of light sensors, sound sensors, thermal sensors, motion sensors, electromagnetic radiation sensors, network activity sensors, thermostats, home alarms, and combinations thereof.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the predicting of the second probability of future demand comprises estimating future user activity.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the estimating future user activity comprises:

tracking prior usage of the processor, resulting in a respective usage profile;

determining the first probability of further demand for operation of the processor in the high-power consumption state, in response to the respective usage profile;

comparing the first probability of future demand to a threshold probability of demand; and

determining that the first probability of future demand is within the range according to the comparing.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the predicting of the second probability of future demand for operation of the processor in the high-power consumption state comprises receiving from a sensor an indication of proximity of a candidate user relative to a location of the processor.