Power management method and device thereof

• US 8,762,757 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2011
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wistron Corporation
• Original Assignee: Wistron Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Yung-Feng, Chen, Lung-Xsian
• Primary Examiner(s): Myers, Paul R
• Assistant Examiner(s): DALEY, CHRISTOPHER ANTHONY
• Application Number:
  US13/251,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20120297224A1
• Time in Patent Office: 995 Days
• Field of Search: 710/260, 345/207, 713/322
• US Class Current: 713/322
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3228 Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A power management method for a mobile device including a basic input output system (BIOS) and an embedded controller (EC) includes determining whether the mobile device is operated in a direct current (DC) mode, determining whether a loading of an operating system of the mobile device exceeds a predetermined value, adding a flag associated with the embedded controller in a physical memory of the mobile device when the mobile device is operated in the DC mode and the loading of the operating system exceeds the predetermined value, and reading the flag in the physical memory via the basic input output system, to notify the embedded controller to perform a power management process corresponding to the flag.

Claims

1. A power management method for a mobile device comprising a basic input output system (BIOS) and an embedded controller (EC), the power management method comprising:

determining whether the mobile device operates in a direct current (DC) mode;

determining whether a loading of an operating system of the mobile device exceeds a predetermined value corresponding to power consumption status;

adding a flag associated with the embedded controller in a physical memory of the mobile device when the mobile device is operated in the DC mode and the loading of the operating system exceeds the predetermined value; and

reading the flag in the physical memory via the basic input output system, to notify the embedded controller to perform a power management process corresponding to the flag.

2. The power management method of claim 1, wherein the power management process comprises at least one of steps of adjusting a brightness of a display of the mobile device, changing a background of the display, adjusting a processor performance of the mobile device, adjusting a memory performance of the mobile device, adjusting a graphic card performance of the mobile device, turning off a device connected to the mobile device but not on duty, and changing a power scheme used by the mobile device.

3. The power management method of claim 2, wherein the flag is a specific brightness adjustment flag, and the brightness adjustment flag is responsible for adjusting the brightness of the display of the mobile device;

the step of reading the flag in the physical memory via the basic input output system, to notify the embedded controller to perform a power management process corresponding to the flag comprises;

reading the flag in the physical memory via the basic input output system, to notify the embedded controller to adjust the brightness of the display of the mobile device.

4. The power management method of claim 2 further comprising:

detecting capacity information of a battery of the mobile device; and

computing a power consumption of the mobile device according to the capacity information;

wherein the step of adjusting the brightness of the display of the mobile device comprises;

decreasing the brightness of the display when the power consumption is greater than a first value; and

adjusting the brightness of the display to a predetermined brightness of the display when the power consumption is less than a second value.

5. The power management method of claim 4 further comprising:

deleting the flag in the physical memory when the mobile device turns from the DC mode to an AC mode;

deleting the flag of the physical memory when the embedded controller has completed the power management process;

or

deleting the flag of the physical memory when the battery can not provide sufficient power to the mobile device.

6. The power management method of claim 2, wherein the step of adjusting the processor performance of the mobile device comprises decreasing a speedstep of the processor.

7. The power management method of claim 2, wherein the step of adjusting the memory performance of the mobile device comprises decreasing a clock speed of the memory.

8. The power management method of claim 2, wherein the step of adjusting the graphic card performance comprises decreasing a clock speed of the graphic card.

9. The power management method of claim 2, wherein the step of turning off the device connected to the mobile device but not on duty comprises turning off the device connected to the mobile device via a universal serial bus (USB) interface but not on duty.

10. The power management method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining whether an application program for monitoring the power consumption of the mobile device is loaded into the operating system; and

adding the flag into the physical memory when the mobile device operates in the DC mode and the application process is loaded into the operating system.

11. The power management method of claim 10 further comprising:

deleting the flag in the physical memory if the application program is removed.

12. A mobile device with a function of power management, comprising:

an embedded controller for detecting whether the mobile device operates in a DC mode;

an operating system for detecting whether a loading of the operating system exceeds a predetermined value and comprises a driver for adding a flag associated with the embedded controller in a physical memory of the mobile device when the mobile device operates in the DC mode and the loading of the operating system exceeds the predetermined value corresponding to power consumption status; and

a basic input output system (BIOS) for reading the flag in the physical memory via the basic input output system, to notify the embedded controller to perform a power management process corresponding to the flag.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the embedded controller is further used for performing at least one of the following steps:

adjusting a brightness of a display of the mobile device;

changing a desktop background of the display;

adjusting a processor performance of the mobile device;

adjusting a memory performance of the mobile device;

adjusting a graphic card performance of the mobile device;

turning off a device connected to the mobile device but not on duty; and

changing a power scheme used by the mobile device.

14. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the flag is a brightness adjustment flag, and the brightness adjustment flag is responsible for adjusting the brightness of the display of the mobile device;

the BIOS is further used for reading the brightness adjust flag in the physical memory, to notify the embedded controller adjusts the brightness of the display of the mobile device.

15. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the embedded controller is further used for acquiring a battery capacity of the mobile device, and computing the power consumption of the mobile device according to the battery capacity, decreasing the brightness of the display if the power consumption is greater than a first value, and adjusting the brightness of the display to a predetermined brightness of the display if the power consumption is less than a second value.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the BIOS is further used for deleting the flag in the physical memory when the mobile device turns from the DC mode to an AC mode, deleting the flag in the physical memory when the embedded controller has completed the power management process, or deleting the flag in the physical memory when the battery can not provide sufficient power to the mobile device.

17. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the embedded controller is further used for decreasing the speedstep of the processor, decreasing the clock speed of the memory, decreasing the clock speed of the graphic card, and turning off the device connected to the mobile device via a USB interface but not on duty.

18. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the operating system is further used for detecting whether a application program for monitoring power consumption of the mobile device is loaded into the operating system, and the driver is further used for adding the flag into the physical memory when the mobile device operates in the DC mode and the application process is loaded into the operating system.

19. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the BIOS is further used for deleting the flag in the physical memory when the application program is removed.