Centralized service for awakening a computing device

• US 7,870,403 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2007
• Issued: 01/11/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Miller, Gregory S., Glass, Adam B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chang; Eric
• Application Number:
  US11/710,708
• Publication Number:
  US 20080209244A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,415 Days
• Field of Search: 713/323, 713/320
• US Class Current: 713/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/00 Reducing energy consumption in communication networks

Abstract

Various technologies and techniques are disclosed for providing and interacting with a centralized wake service. A server-side wake service is provided that is operable to allow applications to subscribe to the wake service. The wake service receives a wake request directed to a particular computing device from a particular one of the applications. The wake request is forwarded from the wake service to a client-side communication service on the particular computing device if forwarding is determined to be appropriate. When the client-side communication service on the particular computing device receives the wake request while in a reduced power mode, the computing device wakes up and an appropriate response is determined.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform steps comprising:

provide a client-side communication service that is operable to run on a computing device, to communicate with a wake service on a server, and to provide the wake service with details regarding how to wake the computing device when the computing device is in a reduced power mode, the wake service being responsible for managing connectivity requests from a plurality of applications;

send, by the client-side communication service, communication details to the wake service, the communication details including information regarding one or more policies indicating when the computing device is to be awakened and when the computer device is not to be awakened;

receive a wake request from the wake service even if the computing device is in the reduced power mode; and

upon receiving the wake request from the wake service, determine an appropriate response to the wake request based on analyzing the one or more policies.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions are instructions located at least in part on a hardware component.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the computer-executable instructions are instructions located at least in part on a software component.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the communication details include user contact preferences.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the client-side communication service is operable to wake up the computing device from the reduced power mode upon receiving the wake request from the wake service.

6. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer to perform steps comprising:

provide a server-side wake service that is operable to allow a plurality of applications to subscribe to the wake service over a network;

receive, by the server-side wake service from a particular computing device, communication details including information regarding one or more policies indicating when the particular computing device is to be awakened and when the particular computer device is not to be awakened;

receive, by the server-side wake service, a wake request directed to the particular computing device from a particular one of the plurality of applications;

deciding, by the server-side wake service, whether to forward the wake request to the particular computing device based, at least partially, on analyzing the information regarding the one or more policies; and

from the server-side wake service, forward the wake request to a client-side communication service on the particular computing device based on a result of the deciding.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the wake service is further operable to communicate with the client-side communication service on the particular computing device to obtain state information about the particular computing device.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the state information includes power information.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the state information includes system connectivity information.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the state information includes user administrative configuration information.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 6, wherein the wake request is received from the particular application because the particular application desires to communicate with the particular computing device.

12. A system for communicating with computing devices in a reduced power mode comprising:

a server having a wake service and being operable to communicate with one or more computing devices over a network and to receive, from a particular computing device, information regarding one or more policies indicating when the particular computing device is to be awakened and when the particular computer device is not to be awakened;

an application with an ability to communicate with the wake service over the network, the application being operable to send a wake request to the wake service when the application desires to communicate with the particular computing device; and

wherein the wake service is operable to decide whether to forward the wake request to the particular computing device based, at least partially, on analyzing the information regarding the one or more policies.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the wake service is further operable to communicate with a client-side communication service on the particular computing device to obtain state information about the particular computing device.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the wake service is further operable to receive, from the particular computing device, details regarding how to wake the particular computing device when the particular computing device is in the reduced power mode.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the application is an instant messaging application.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the application is an email application.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the application is a voice-over-IP application.