Optimizing preemptive operating system with motion sensing

• US 8,555,282 B1
• Filed: 07/27/2007
• Issued: 10/08/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kahn, Philippe, Kinsolving, Arthur
• Primary Examiner(s): Puente, Emerson
• Assistant Examiner(s): SWIFT, CHARLES M
• Application Number:
  US11/829,813
• Time in Patent Office: 2,265 Days
• Field of Search: 718/100, 718/102, 718/103
• US Class Current: 718/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/48 Program initiating; Program switching, e.g. by interrupt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4818 Priority circuits therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4887 involving deadlines, e.g. rate based, periodic
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4893 taking into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 to service a request
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5055 considering software capabilities, i.e. software resources associated or available to the machine
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5094 where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation

Abstract

A method and apparatus to provide a scheduler comprising receiving motion information from a mobile device, determining a current use characteristic for the mobile device based on the motion information, and scheduling a task based on the current use characteristic.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving motion information from a mobile device;

receiving active application data from the mobile device, the active application data identifying a currently active application, and resources used by the currently active application, the resources including network bandwidth, storage bandwidth, memory, and sensor data;

determining a current use characteristic for the mobile device based on the motion information and the active application data;

calculating expected future motions based on the motion information; and

determining resources used by a task, the resources including one or more of;

network bandwidth, storage bandwidth, memory, and sensors;

scheduling the task based on the current use characteristic, the expected future motions, and the resources used by the task.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

scheduling the task to be immediately executed.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein receiving the active application data from the mobile device, comprises receiving an indication that there is no active application.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a conflict between an existing operation and the task; and

when the task is a higher priority than the existing operation, altering a use profile of the existing operation.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein altering the use profile comprises throttling one or more of the resources used by the active application.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein altering the use profile comprises terminating the active application.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein when the currently application is terminated, the current application is placed on a future task list to be executed when the resource becomes available again.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prioritizing tasks based on resource use and application profile.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the task is a data call, and wherein the data call task is scheduled when the motion information indicates that the device is idle.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the data call is for one or more of:

uploading, downloading, and synchronizing data with a server.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the device is idle when the device is motionless, and no user interaction with the device is occurring.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the device is idle when the device is motionless and no voice call is being made.

13. A mobile device comprising:

a motion information logic implemented in a processor to receive motion information from a sensor in a mobile device, and to determine a current use characteristic and an expected future motion based on the motion information;

an active application detector to identify an active application, and one or more resources associated with the active application, the one or more resources including;

network bandwidth, storage bandwidth, memory and sensor data; and

a scheduler to schedule a task based on the current use characteristic, the expected future motion, and a resource requirement associated with the task.

14. The mobile device of claim 13, further comprising:

the scheduler scheduling the task to be immediately executed.

15. The mobile device of claim 13, further comprising:

a prioritizer determining a conflict between an existing operation and the task; and

a resource restrictor throttling one or more of the resources available to the existing operation.

16. The mobile device of claim 13, further comprising:

the scheduler scheduling a task when the mobile device is idle, wherein the mobile device is idle when the mobile device is motionless and no voice call is being made.

17. A mobile device comprising:

a motion information logic implemented in a processor to receive motion data, and calculate current and expected future user activities;

an active application detector to detect a current use of the mobile device, including one or more resources used by the current use of the mobile device, the one or more resources including;

network bandwidth, storage bandwidth, memory, and sensor data; and

a scheduler to schedule tasks based on the current use, and the current and expected future user activities, and resource requirements of the tasks.

18. The mobile device of claim 17, further comprising:

a resource restrictor to restrict resources to an active application, based on the current and the expected future user activities.

19. The mobile device of claim 17, further comprising:

the scheduler to determine a category of the current use and the task, and to order the current use and the tasks based on the category.

20. The mobile device of claim 19, further comprising:

the scheduler prioritizing tasks within each category, to order the current use and the tasks within each category.

21. The mobile device of claim 17, further comprising:

the scheduler prioritizing a frequently used application above a less frequently used application.

22. The mobile device of claim 17, further comprising:

a user interface to enable a user to alter a prioritization of tasks, the altered prioritization used by the scheduler.