Method and system for harnessing processor power of mobile devices

• US 7,929,999 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2007
• Issued: 04/19/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hu, Zhen Ning, Spielberg, Anthony Cappa, Ban, Oliver Keren, Dietz, Timothy Alan
• Primary Examiner(s): SANTIAGO CORDERO, MARIVELISSE
• Application Number:
  US11/754,727
• Publication Number:
  US 20080300026A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,421 Days
• Field of Search: 718/100, 718/102, 709/201, 709/219, 713/300, 455/522, 455/573
• US Class Current: 455/573
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/509 Offload
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing

Abstract

A system for utilizing the processing power of a mobile device. It is determined whether an energy source within the mobile device is recharging. In response to determining that the energy source within the mobile device is recharging, it is determined whether the mobile device is sending or receiving transmissions. In response to determining that the mobile device is not sending or receiving transmissions, a task is requested from a server via a network. In response to receiving the task from the server, the task is routed to a processor of the mobile device to process the task and return a task result. Then, the task result is sent to the server via the network.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for utilizing the processing power of a mobile device, the computer implemented method comprising:

determining if an energy source within the mobile device is recharging;

responsive to determining that the energy source within the mobile device is recharging, determining if the mobile device is sending or receiving transmissions;

responsive to determining that the mobile device is not sending or receiving transmissions, requesting a task from a server via a network, wherein the mobile device only requests the task if the energy source is in charging mode and the mobile device is not sending or receiving voice or text messages;

responsive to receiving the task from the server, routing the task to a processor of the mobile device, wherein the processor processes the task and returns a task result; and

sending the task result to the server via the network.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to determining that the energy source within the mobile device is not recharging, continuing normal operation of the mobile device.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a cellular telephone.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is at least one of a personal digital assistant or laptop computer wirelessly enabled.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the processor is one of a plurality of processors within the mobile device.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the mobile device uses a multiplexer to route the task to an appropriate processor within the plurality of processors.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the energy source is a battery.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 7, wherein the mobile device uses a battery charging monitor to determine if the battery is recharging.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the server aggregates the task result with other task results for a same task to form a final task result.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the task is only a portion of an entire task other portions of which are distributed among a plurality of mobile electronic devices coupled to the network.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the network is a wireless network.

12. A data processing system for utilizing the processing power of a mobile device, comprising:

a bus system;

a storage device connected to the bus system, wherein the storage device includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to determine if an energy source within the mobile device is recharging, determine if the mobile device is sending or receiving transmissions in response to determining that the energy source within the mobile device is recharging, request a task from a server via a network in response to determining that the mobile device is not sending or receiving transmissions, wherein the mobile device only requests the task if the energy source is in charging mode and the mobile device is not sending or receiving voice or text messages, route the task to a processor of the mobile device to process the task and return a task result in response to receiving the task from the server, and send the task result to the server via the network.

13. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the processing unit executes a further set of instructions to continue normal operation of the mobile device in response to determining that the energy source within the mobile device is not recharging.

14. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the mobile device is a cellular telephone.

15. A computer program product for utilizing the processing power of a mobile device, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising;

computer readable program code configured to determine if an energy source within the mobile device is recharging;

computer readable program code configured to determine if the mobile device is sending or receiving transmissions in response to determining that the energy source within the mobile device is recharging;

computer readable program code configured to request a task from a server via a network in response to determining that the mobile device is not sending or receiving transmissions, wherein the mobile device only requests the task if the energy source is in charging mode and the mobile device is not sending or receiving voice or text messages;

computer readable program code configured to route the task to a processor of the mobile device to process the task and return a task result in response to receiving the task from the server; and

computer readable program code configured to send the task result to the server via the network.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer readable program code configured to continue normal operation of the mobile device in response to determining that the energy source within the mobile device is not recharging.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the processor is one of a plurality of processors within the mobile device.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the mobile device uses a multiplexer to route the task to an appropriate processor within the plurality of processors.