Power management system and method for controlling use of power-consuming applications

• US 7,598,702 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2006
• Issued: 10/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Walrath, Craig A.
• Primary Examiner(s): TSO, EDWARD H
• Application Number:
  US11/412,490
• Publication Number:
  US 20070252552A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,258 Days
• Field of Search: 320/107, 320/114, 320/115, 320/132
• US Class Current: 320/107
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• 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 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A power management system comprises a power management module configured to receive a requested duration for powering an electronic device by a battery, the power management module configured to control use of power-consuming elements of the electronic device based on a prioritization of the power-consuming elements to enable powering of the electronic device by the battery for at least the requested duration.

Claims

1. A power management system, comprising:

a battery electrically connected to an electronic device;

a power management module configured to receive a requested duration of time for powering the electronic device by the battery,

the power management module to selectively control use of power-consuming applications that are executable by the electronic device based at least on a prioritization of the power-consuming applications to enable powering of the electronic device by the battery for at least the requested duration of time; and

a power monitor to monitor the consumption of power by the electronic device.

2. The system of claim 1, where the power monitor determines an estimated power duration of the battery based at least on the consumption of power by the power consuming applications that are presently consuming power.

3. The system of claim 1, where the power management module is to compare an estimated power duration of the battery with a requested duration of time for powering the electronic device by the battery.

4. The system of claim 1, where the power management module is to modify use of the power-consuming applications based at least on the prioritization of the power-consuming applications in response to initiation of use of a power-consuming element that was previously not in use.

5. The system of claim 1, where the prioritization comprises at least two different priority levels of the power-consuming elements, and

where when a user initiates use of one or more power-consuming elements with a low prioritization level, the power management module temporarily elevates the prioritization of the one or more power-consuming elements.

6. The system of claim 1, where the power management module is configured to cease use of one or more power-consuming applications based at least on a prioritization level and current use of the one or more power-consuming applications.

7. The system of claim 1, where the power management module is configured to adjust a level of use of at least one of the power-consuming applications

where adjusting the level of use comprises closing an application or placing an application in hibernation.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising an interface for allowing selection and assignment of different priority levels to different applications from the power-consuming applications.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the power management module is configured to notify a user if the requested duration is greater than the estimated duration.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the power management module is configured to dynamically compare the requested duration to the estimated duration.

11. The system of claim 1, where the power management module is to:

in response to an application being initiated, determine an affect of executing the application on the requested duration of time; and

preventing the application from executing based at least on the affect determined.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the power management module is configured to enable use of at least one power-consuming application in response to inactivation of at least another power-consuming application.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the power management module is configured to compute the requested duration based on a present time relative to an inputted desired time.

14. An electronic device having a power management system, the electronic device comprising:

a battery for providing power to the electronic device;

a processor for executing applications, where the executing applications are assigned predetermined prioritization; and

a power management module configured to dynamically control use of at least one of the executing application that is a power-consuming element of the electronic device based at least on the predetermined prioritization to enable use of the electronic device for a requested duration based at least on an amount of power available from the battery powering the electronic device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the power management module is configured to dynamically control use of at least one executing application in response to a change to the battery powering the electronic device.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the power management module is configured to dynamically adjust a priority level of at least one executing application.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the power management module is configured to:

in response to an application being initiated, determine an affect of executing the application on the requested duration of the battery; and

preventing the application from executing based at least on the affect determined.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the power management module is configured to dynamically adjust a priority level of at least one executing application of the electronic device in response to use of the at least one executing application.

19. A method for managing power consumption in an electronic device, the method comprising:

receiving a requested duration of time for powering the electronic device by a battery and storing the requested duration in a memory;

assigning, by a processor in the electronic device, a priority to each executable application from a plurality of executable applications that when executed by a processor cause the processor to consume battery power;

executing, by the processor, one or more of the executable applications in the electronic device;

determining, by the processor, an estimated battery power duration based at least on analyzing the battery and power draw conditions from the executing applications; and

if the estimated battery power duration is below the requested duration of time, ceasing execution, by the processor, of one or more of the executing applications that have a lower priority than other executing applications.

20. The method of claim 19, where ceasing execution of the one or more of the plurality of executing applications comprises determining applications that are related to the ceased applications, and ceasing execution of the applications that are related to the ceased applications.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

in response to an application being initiated, determining an affect of executing the application on the requested duration of time; and

preventing the application from executing based at least on the affect determined.

22. The method of claim 19, comprising:

re-estimating the estimated battery power duration of the battery based at least on current power consumption of the electronic device while executing a current set of executing applications;

comparing the requested duration of time to the re-estimated battery power duration to determine whether current power consumption is to be reduced in order to operate on battery power for the requested duration of time; and

selectively ceasing execution of one or more of the executing applications based at least on the comparing.

23. The method of claim 19, comprising generating an alert when:

the requested duration of time is beyond the estimated battery power duration and when no additional executing applications can be adjusted to reduce power consumption.

24. The method of claim 19, where assigning a priority comprises receiving selections of different priorities for one or more of the plurality of executable applications.

25. The method of claim 19, where assigning a priority comprises assigning a priority from at least three different priority levels.

26. The method of claim 19 comprising controlling use of at least one of the executing applications in response to initiation of execution of at least another executable application.