Delayed execution of operations

• US 8,627,120 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2010
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Conway, David P.
• Primary Examiner(s): CONNOLLY, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US12/914,549
• Publication Number:
  US 20110099392A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,167 Days
• Field of Search: 713/300, 713/340, 718/100
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/265 constructional aspects of navigation devices, e.g. housings, mountings, displays G01C21/3688 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3608 using speech input, e.g. using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3661 Guidance output on an external device, e.g. car radio
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1632 External expansion units, e.g. docking stations
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/266 Arrangements to supply power to external peripherals either directly from the computer or under computer control, e.g. supply of power through the communication port, computer controlled power-strips
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/444 Spatial browsing, e.g. 2D maps, 3D or virtual spaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/638 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1614 Image rotation following screen orientation, e.g. switching from landscape to portrait mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/04 Supports for telephone transmitters or receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 : with voice recognition means
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 : Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

In general, the subject matter described in this specification can be embodied in methods, systems, and program products for performing power management. A computer process that requires, to be performed, substantial portions of battery storage on the mobile computing device is identified. Execution of the identified process can be deferred while the mobile computing device is not connected to a power source that is for charging the battery storage and that is external to the mobile computing device. Connection of the mobile computing device to the power source is sensed. Performance of the process is triggered in response to sensing that the mobile computing device has been connected to the power source.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented power management method, comprising:

receiving, by a mobile computing device and from an installed third-party application program, a request to register a component computer process of the third-party application program as available for deferred operation;

receiving, after having received the request to register the process as available for deferred operation, an indication that the process is to execute;

deferring execution of the process by the mobile computing device while the mobile computing device is not connected to a power source that is external to the mobile computing device and that is for charging battery storage on the mobile computing device;

sensing that the mobile computing device has been connected to the power source; and

triggering performance of the process in response to sensing that the mobile computing device has been connected to the power source.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said triggering performance of the process comprises waiting to trigger performance of the process, in response to sensing that the mobile computing device has been connected to the power source, until a charge level of the battery storage has reached a determined level.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the determined level is determined to be a level of the battery storage that is adequate to complete the process without exhausting the battery storage on the mobile device if the mobile computing device is disconnected from the power source before the process has completed.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determined level is further determined to be a level of the battery storage that is adequate to permit further use of the mobile computing device for a determined amount of time after the process has completed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said triggering performance of the process comprises waiting a determined amount of time after sensing that the mobile computing device has been connected to the power source.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determined amount of time is at least fifteen minutes.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the indication that the process is to execute includes receiving user input, while the mobile computing device is not connected to the power source, that identifies the process.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said receiving user input that identifies the process includes receiving a secondary type of user input of a user interface element, wherein deferring execution of the process occurs as a result of receiving the second type of user input of the user interface element, wherein the user interface element is configured to trigger performance of the process, when the mobile computing device is not connected to the power source, as a result of receiving a primary type of user input of the user interface element.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein:

the user interface element is associated with a command that triggers performance of the process;

deferring execution of the process includes saving a state of the process; and

triggering performance of the process includes recovering the state of the process and executing the command.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein deferring execution of the process is performed as a result of identifying that the computer process is a process that is configured to receive user input but that has been executing without receiving user input for a determined amount of time.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determined amount of time is greater than five minutes.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein deferring execution of the process is performed as a result of determining that the battery storage will be exhausted if the process is executed to completion.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the power source converts alternating current (AC) line power to direct current (DC) power.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the performance of the process comprises wireless transmission of data, by the mobile computing device and over the internet, to another computerized device without routing the data through a device that includes the power source.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising sensing that the mobile computing device has been disconnected from the power source, and in response, continuing the performance of the process after the disconnection from the power source until the process has completed.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising, as a result of receiving the indication that the process is to execute, prompting a user of the mobile computing device to indicate whether the process should execute immediately or whether the process should be deferred until the mobile computing device is connected to a power source.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the mobile computing device displays an interface that concurrently identifies (i) a duration of the battery storage if the process should execute immediately, and (ii) a duration of the battery storage if the user indicates that the process should be deferred until the mobile computing device is connected to a power source.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processing devices, cause performance of operations comprising:

receiving, by a mobile computing device and from an installed third-party application program, a request to register a component computer process of the third-party application program as available for deferred operation;

receiving, after having received the request to register the process as available for deferred operation, an indication that the process is to execute;

deferring execution of the process by the mobile computing device while the mobile computing device is not connected to a power source that is external to the mobile computing device and that is for charging battery storage on the mobile computing device;

sensing that the mobile computing device has been connected to the power source; and

triggering performance of the process in response to sensing that the mobile computing device has been connected to the power source.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein said triggering performance of the process comprises waiting to trigger performance of the process, in response to sensing that the mobile computing device has been connected to the power source, until a charge level of the battery storage has reached a determined level.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein said triggering performance of the process comprises waiting a determined amount of time after sensing that the mobile computing device has been connected to the power source.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein receiving the indication that the process is to execute includes receiving user input, while the mobile computing device is not connected to the power source, that identifies the process.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein deferring execution of the process is performed as a result of identifying that the computer process is a process that is configured to receive user input but that has been executing without receiving user input for a determined amount of time.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein deferring execution of the process is performed as a result of determining that the battery storage will be exhausted if the process is executed to completion.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise sensing that the mobile computing device has been disconnected from the power source, and in response, continuing the performance of the process after the disconnection from the power source until the process has completed.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise, as a result of receiving the indication that the process is to execute, prompting a user of the mobile computing device to indicate whether the process should execute immediately or whether the process should be deferred until the mobile computing device is connected to a power source.

26. A computing device having power management features, comprising:

a power sensor that is arranged to detect when the computing device is attached to a power source that is for charging the computing device;

one or more processes that perform operations for which a third-party application program has requested that the one or more processes be available for deferred execution; and

a power manager, that is to execute on a processor on the computing device, and that is programmed;

(i) to receive, after the third-party application program has requested that the one or more processes be available for deferred execution, an indication that the one or more processes are to execute,

(ii) to withhold execution of the operations while the computing device is not connected to the power source, and

(iii) to trigger execution of the operations automatically in response to sensing with the power sensor that the computing device has been connected to the power source.

27. The computing device of claim 26, wherein the one or more processes have been identified to be power-intensive processes that are excessive drains on battery levels for the device, and further comprising a plurality of processes and one or more stored indicators that represent whether each process of the plurality of processes is a power-intensive process.

28. The computing device of claim 26, wherein the power manager is programmed to automatically trigger execution of the operations by waiting to trigger execution of the operations until a charge level of the computing device has reached a determined level, wherein the determined level is determined to be a level adequate to complete the operations without exhausting the charge of the computing device if the computing device is disconnected from the power source.

29. The computing device of claim 28, wherein the determined level further includes a power level adequate to permit further use of the computing device for a determined amount of time after the operations have been completed.