Hybrid operating systems for battery powered computing systems

• US 7,831,850 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2007
• Issued: 11/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: LeProwse, Shawn R., Geidl, Erik M., Fuller, Andrew J., Parks, Gregory H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao; Chun
• Application Number:
  US11/693,659
• Publication Number:
  US 20080244289A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,321 Days
• Field of Search: 713/1, 713/320
• US Class Current: 713/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/441 Multiboot arrangements, i.e. selecting an operating system to be loaded

Abstract

Systems, methods, and/or techniques (“tools”) for hybrid operating systems for battery powered computing systems are described herein. The hybrid operating systems (OS) may include a full-power OS component that enables the computing system to operate in a full-power mode, and a low-power OS component that enables the computing system to operate in a low-power mode. In the full-power mode, the computing system consumes a first amount of electrical power, while in the low-power mode, the computing system consumes less electrical power. The computing system may include a processor that consumes a given power amount of power, and a low-power core processor that consumes less power than the processor.

Claims

1. A hybrid operating system (OS) stored on a computer-readable storage media comprising:

a full-power OS component stored on a computer-readable storage media and executed on a full-power processor for enabling a computing system to operate in a full power mode, in which the computing system consumes a first amount of electrical power;

a low-power OS component stored on a computer-readable storage media and executed on a low-power processor for enabling the computing system to operate in a low-power mode, in which the computing system consumes a lesser amount of electrical power, relative to the first amount;

a lifetime manager coupled to communicate with the low-power OS component and the full-power OS component, wherein the lifetime manager is operative to transition the computing system between the low-power mode and the full-power mode in response to at least one stimulus received from over a network; and

a set of core functions executable by the low-power processor and a set of dormant non-core functions executable by the full-power processor, a particular one of the set of dormant non-core functions being activated when the hybrid operating system requests capabilities beyond the set of core functions and the activated non-core function being deactivated when the request is satisfied.

2. The hybrid operating system of claim 1, wherein the lifetime manager is adapted to transition the computing system between the full-power mode and the low-power mode in response to detecting that a battery powering the computing system has reached a predetermined level of charge.

3. The hybrid operating system of claim 1, wherein the lifetime manager is adapted to transition the computing system between the full-power mode and the low-power mode in response to receiving a user-command.

4. The hybrid operating system of claim 1, wherein the low-power OS component includes throttling logic for transitioning between a standard display and an auxiliary display, as provided by the computing system.

5. The hybrid operating system of claim 1, wherein the full-power OS component includes a user interface enabling user-access to the low-power OS component from within the full-power OS component.

6. A computing system comprising at least the hybrid operating system of claim 1.

7. The hybrid operating system of claim 1, further comprising a synchronization component that is adapted for filtering data, settings, or application state passed between the full-power OS component and the low-power OS component.

8. The hybrid operating system of claim 1, further comprising a low power system memory for use only by the low-power processor and a high-power system memory for use only by the full-power processor.

9. The hybrid operating system of claim 1, wherein the lifetime manager powers-down full-power peripherals and/or full-power components and/or the full-power processor while in low power mode.

10. A computing system comprising:

a full-power core processor having a power consumption characteristic;

a full-power operating system stored in a computer-readable media and executing on the full-power core processor;

a low-power core processor having a further power consumption characteristic that is less than the power consumption characteristic of the full-power processor;

a low-power operating system stored in a computer-readable media and executing on the low-power core processor;

a lifetime manager adapted to activate the low-power core processor when the computing system is to operate in a low-power consumption mode, and to activate the full-power core processor when the computing system is to operate in a high-power consumption mode, wherein the lifetime manager is adapted to transition the computing system between the full-power core processor and the low-power core processor in response to a stimulus received over a network; and

a set of core functions executable by the low-power core processor and a set of dormant non-core functions executable by the full-power core processor, a particular one of the set of dormant non-core functions being activated when the computing system requests capabilities beyond the set of core functions and the activated non-core function being deactivated and becoming dormant when the request is satisfied.

11. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the full-power core processor and the low-power core processor reside on separate dies.

12. The computing system of claim 10, further comprising a storage element that includes a low-power consumption component coupled to the low-power core processor and at least a high-power consumption component coupled to the full-power core processor.

13. The computing system of claim 12, further comprising a synchronization component that is adapted for filtering data, settings, or application state passed between the high-power consumption component and the low-power consumption component.

14. The computing system of claim 10, further comprising a display component that includes a standard display coupled to communicate at least with the full-power core processor, and at least an auxiliary display coupled to communicate with the low-power core processor.

15. The computing system of claim 10, further comprising a shared memory coupled to communicate with the full-power core processor and the low-power core processor.

16. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the lifetime manager is adapted to transition the computing system between the full-power core processor and the low-power core processor in response to a charge level of a battery.

17. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the full-power processor uses a full-power graphics processing unit and the low-power core processor uses a low-power graphics processing unit.