Methods for determining battery statistics using a system-wide daemon

• US 8,375,236 B2
• Filed: 08/04/2009
• Issued: 02/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Hughes, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chen, Xuxing
• Application Number:
  US12/535,139
• Publication Number:
  US 20110035614A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,288 Days
• Field of Search: 713/340, 320/132
• US Class Current: 713/340
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/382 Arrangements for monitoring battery or accumulator variables, e.g. SoC
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/48 Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

Techniques for determining battery statistics using a system-wide daemon are described herein. According to one embodiment, a power management daemon is configured to collect operating status data of a battery of a data processing system by accessing at least one of firmware and hardware coupled to the battery. The power management daemon is a single system-wide component within the data processing system to provide the operating status data of the battery to multiple clients. The power management daemon is also configured to compute battery statistics based on the collected operating status data of the battery. In response to a query received from one of the clients via an application programming interface (API), the power management daemon is configured to return the battery statistics to the client to enable the client to determine remaining time of the battery until being recharged. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting, by a power management daemon, operating status data of a battery of a data processing system by accessing at least one of firmware or hardware coupled to the battery, the power management daemon to provide the operating status data of the battery to a plurality of clients;

computing, by the power management daemon, battery statistics based on the collected operating status data of the battery;

determining a plurality of correction values, each of the plurality of correction values corresponding to an amount of battery charge remaining, and adjusting a remaining time of the battery based on the amount of battery charge remaining and the corresponding one of the plurality of correction values; and

in response to a query received from one client of the plurality of clients via an application programming interface (API), the power management daemon returning the battery statistics and the one of the plurality of correction values corresponding to the amount of battery charge remaining to the one client to enable the one client to determine the remaining time of the battery until being recharged.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one client is a power manager associated with one of a desktop session or a login session that provides the remaining time of the battery to a user.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising collecting the operating status data of the battery by accessing a basic input and output system (BIOS) of the data processing system via an advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI).

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing the battery statistics in a local memory, retrieving the battery statistics from the local memory, and returning the battery statistics to the one client in response to the query.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising saving the battery statistics to a disk in response to a request to reload the power management daemon or shut down the data processing system, such that the battery statistics persist after reloading the power management daemon or rebooting the data processing system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the power management daemon is a single system wide component within the data processing system.

7. A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method comprising:

collecting, by a power management daemon, operating status data of a battery of a data processing system by accessing at least one of firmware or hardware coupled to the battery, the power management daemon to provide the operating status data of the battery to a plurality of clients;

computing, by the power management daemon, battery statistics based on the collected operating status data of the battery;

determining a plurality of correction values, each of the plurality of correction values corresponding to an amount of battery charge remaining, and adjusting a remaining time of the battery based on the amount of battery charge remaining and the corresponding one of the plurality of correction values; and

in response to a query received from one client of the plurality of clients via an application programming interface (API), the power management daemon returning the battery statistics and the one of the plurality of correction values corresponding to the amount of battery charge remaining to the one client to enable the one client to determine the remaining time of the battery until being recharged.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the one client is a power manager associated with one of a desktop session or a login session that are configured to provide the remaining time of the battery to a user.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising collecting the operating status data of the battery by accessing a basic input and output system (BIOS) of the data processing system via an advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI).

10. The computer readable medium of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises storing the battery statistics in a local memory, retrieving the statistics data from the local memory, and returning the statistics data to the client.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the method further comprises saving the battery statistics to a disk in response to a request to reload the power management daemon or shut down the data processing system, such that the battery statistics persist after reloading the power management daemon or rebooting the data processing system.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 7, wherein the power management daemon is a single system wide component within the data processing system.

13. An apparatus for determining and maintaining battery statistics, comprising:

a data collector to collect operating status data of a battery of a data processing system by accessing at least one of firmware or hardware coupled to the battery, and to provide the operating status data of the battery to a plurality of clients; and

a statistics calculator coupled to the data collector to compute battery statistics based on the collected operating status data of the battery and determine a plurality of correction values, each of the plurality of correction values corresponding to an amount of battery charge remaining, and adjusting a remaining time of the battery based on the amount of battery charge remaining and the corresponding one of the plurality of correction values, wherein in response to a query received from one client of the plurality of clients via an application programmable interface (API), the statistics calculator is configured to return the battery statistics and the one of the plurality of correction values corresponding to the amount of battery charge remaining to the one client to enable the one client to determine the remaining time of the battery until being recharged.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one client is a power manager associated with one of a desktop session or a login session that are configured to provide the remaining time of the battery to a user.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the data collector collects operating status data of the battery by accessing a basic input and output system (BIOS) of the data processing system via an advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI).

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the data collector stores the battery statistics in a local memory, wherein in response to the query, the statistics calculator retrieves the statistics data from the local memory and returns the statistics data to the client.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the data collector saves the battery statistics to a disk in response to a request to reload the data collector or shut down the data processing system, such that the battery statistics persist after reloading the data collector or rebooting the data processing system.