Energy-efficient application content update and sleep mode determination

• US 9,037,887 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2012
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Ajay G., Maciocco, Christian, Gobriel, Sameh, Fleming, Kristoffer D., Tai, Tsung-Yuan C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cao, Chun
• Application Number:
  US13/627,822
• Publication Number:
  US 20140089702A1
• Time in Patent Office: 965 Days
• Field of Search: 713/320, 455/574, 717/168
• US Class Current: 713/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/00 Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00 architectures of general purpose stored program computers G06F15/76
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/32 Means for saving power
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/30 Monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3006 where the computing system is distributed, e.g. networked systems, clusters, multiprocessor systems multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46; allocation of resources G06F9/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3041 where the computing system component is an input/output interface interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units G06F13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3055 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring the status of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring if the computing system is on, off, available, not available error or fault processing without redundancy G06F11/0703; error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation G06F11/08; error detection or correction by redundancy in operation G06F11/14; error detection or correction by redundancy in hardware G06F11/16
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/81 Threshold

Abstract

Embodiments of methods, systems, and storage medium associated with are disclosed herein. In one instance, the method may include: first determining whether the computing device is connected to a network, based on a result of the first determining, monitoring data traffic between the computing device and the network, wherein the data traffic is associated with at least one application residing on the computing device, based on the monitoring, second determining whether the at least one application has been updated, and initiating a transition of the computing device to a sleep mode upon a result of the second determining that indicates that the at least one application has been updated. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media comprising instructions that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

first determine whether a first computing device is connected to a network;

based on a result of the first determine, monitor data throughput for data traffic between the first computing device and the network, the data traffic associated with at least one application residing on the first computing device;

based on the monitor of the data throughput, second determine whether the at least one application has been updated with content provided by the data traffic; and

initiate a transition of the first computing device to a sleep mode upon a determination that the at least one application has been updated with the content.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the computing device, further cause the computing device to, prior to the first determine, detect that a first computing device is in an awake mode.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the computing device includes the first computing device.

4. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the computing device, further cause the computing device to:

monitor inter-arrival times for data packets associated with the data traffic; and

determine that the at least one application has been updated when the inter-arrival times exceed a first threshold.

5. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 4, wherein the at least one application includes an email application.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 4, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the computing device, further cause the computing device to monitor inter-arrival times for data packets associated with the data traffic according to a communication protocol.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 6, wherein the communication protocol is selected from an Internet message access protocol (IMAP) or a Post Office Protocol (POP3).

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the computing device, further cause the computing device to:

determine that the at least one application has been updated when the data throughput is measured to be below a second threshold over a first time period.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 8, wherein the at least one application includes a content download application.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the instructions, in response to execution by the computing device, further cause the computing device to:

determine that the data throughput is below a second threshold; and

determine that the at least one application has been updated after a second time period has run out.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 10, wherein the at least one application includes a social media application.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the instructions that cause the computing device to first determine whether a first computing device is connected to a network, in response to execution by the computing device, further cause the computing device to determine whether the first computing device acquired an Internet Protocol (IP) address during a third time period.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, further comprising:

detecting, with the computing device, prior to the first determining, that the computing device is in an awake mode.

13. A computing device comprising:

a processor; and

an energy-efficient content update associated application operated by the processor to;

first determine whether the computing device is connected to a network;

based on a result of the first determine, monitor inter-arrival times for data packets associated with data traffic between the computing device and the network, the data traffic providing content associated with at least one application residing on the computing device;

based on the monitor, second determine whether the at least one application has been updated with the provided content when the inter-arrival times exceed a first threshold that is heuristically determined based on results of testing of network data traffic associated with the at least one application; and

initiate transition of the computing device to a sleep mode upon a determination that the at least one application has been updated.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the energy-efficient content update associated application is further operated by the processor to:

detect that the computing device is in an awake mode.

15. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the at least one application includes an email application.

16. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the energy-efficient content update associated application is further operated by the processor to:

measure data throughput for the data traffic; and

determine that the at least one application has been updated when the data throughput is measured to be below a second threshold over a first time period.

17. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the at least one application includes a content download application.

18. The computing device of claim 16, wherein the second threshold and the first time period are heuristically determined based on results of testing of network data traffic associated with the at least one application.

19. A computer-implemented method comprising:

first determining, with a computing device, whether the computing device is connected to a network;

based on a result of the first determining, monitoring, with the computing device, inter-arrival times for data packets associated with data traffic between the computing device and the network, the data traffic associated with at least one application residing on the computing device;

based on the monitoring, second determining, with the computing device, whether the at least one application has been updated when the inter-arrival times exceed a first threshold; and

initiating, with the computing device, a transition of the computing device to a sleep mode upon a determination that the at least one application has been updated.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, further comprising:

measuring, with the computing device, data throughput for the data traffic; and

determining, with the computing device, that the at least one application has been updated when the data throughput is measured to be below a second threshold over a first time period.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, further comprising:

measuring, with the computing device, data throughput for the data traffic; and

determining, with the computing device, that the data throughput is below a second threshold; and

determining, with the computing device, that the at least one application has been updated after a second time period has run out.