Energy management by dynamic functionality partitioning

• US 9,110,670 B2
• Filed: 10/19/2012
• Issued: 08/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Myrberg, Mats Eric, DeJean, Gerald Reuben III, Greenwade, Lance Eric, Tremblay, Marc
• Primary Examiner(s): CONNOLLY, MARK A
• Application Number:
  US13/655,470
• Publication Number:
  US 20140115372A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,033 Days
• Field of Search: 713/300, 713/320, 713/324
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• 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: H04N 19/12 Selection from among a plurality of transforms or standards, e.g. selection between discrete cosine transform [DCT] and sub-band transform or selection between H.263 and H.264
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/127 Prioritisation of hardware or computational resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 19/156 Availability of hardware or computational resources, e.g. encoding based on power-saving criteria
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

A sensor and processing system dynamically partitions or allocates functionality between various remote sensor nodes and a processing subsystem based on energy management management considerations. Redundant functionality is located at the processing subsystem and each of the various remote sensor nodes, and each sensor node coordinates with the processing subsystem to determine the location (e.g., at the processing subsystem or at the sensor node) at which a particular functionality is executed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

processing first sensor data via a sensor node to generate processed sensor data;

transmitting the processed sensor data from the sensor node to a processing subsystem via a communications channel;

detecting energy management conditions of the sensor node;

adjusting allocation for processing second sensor data from the sensor node to the processing subsystem based on the detected energy management conditions; and

in response to the adjusting based on the detected energy management conditions, transmitting the second sensor data from the sensor node to the processing subsystem via the communications channel.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first sensor data and the second sensor data include raw data and the processed sensor data includes compressed data.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing subsystem and the sensor node each include one or more preprocessor blocks that are capable of performing overlapping preprocessor functionality.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the processing subsystem and the sensor node each include a preprocessor block that performs the processing of the first sensor data or the second sensor data.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein at least one of the processing subsystem and the sensor node further includes an additional preprocessor block that provides preprocessor functionality that is unique to the at least one of the processing subsystem and the sensor node.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting operation comprises:

enabling one or more preprocessor blocks of the processing subsystem to accommodate a change in the energy management conditions of the sensor node.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting operation comprises:

disabling one or more preprocessor blocks of the sensor node to accommodate a change in the energy management conditions.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the adjusting operation comprises:

enabling a processor block of the processing subsystem; and

disabling a corresponding preprocessor block of the sensor node.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising processing the second sensor data via the processing subsystem.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising sending additional processed sensor data from an additional sensor node in response to the detected energy management conditions, wherein the sensor node and the additional sensor node include overlapping sensing coverage.

11. One or more computer-readable storage media encoding computer-executable instructions for executing on a computer system a computer process, the computer process comprising:

detecting energy management conditions of at least one of a sensor node or a processing subsystem coupled by a communications channel, the communications channel carrying a sensor data stream; and

adjusting allocation of functionality between the sensor node and the processing subsystem based on the detected energy management conditions by enabling a preprocessor block of the at least one of the sensor node or the processing subsystem and disabling a corresponding preprocessor block of the other one of the at least one sensor node or the processing subsystem, the adjusted allocation of functionality changing characteristics of data communicated in the sensor data stream.

12. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 11 wherein the

enabling of the preprocessor block of the at least one of the sensor node or the processing subsystem accommodates a change in the energy management condition of the at least one of the sensor node or the processing subsystem.

13. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 12 wherein the

disabling of the corresponding preprocessor block of the at least one of the sensor node or the processing subsystem accommodates a change in the energy management conditions.

14. A system comprising:

a monitor configured to detect energy management conditions of at least one of a sensor node or a processing subsystem coupled by a communications channel, the communications channel carrying a sensor data stream; and

a partitioning controller configured to adjust allocation of functionality between the sensor node and the processing subsystem based on the detected energy management conditions by enabling a preprocessor block of the at least one of the sensor node or the processing subsystem and disabling a corresponding preprocessor block of the other one of the at least one sensor node or the processing subsystem, the adjusted allocation of functionality changing characteristics of data communicated in the sensor data stream.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the characteristics of the data in the sensor data stream before the adjusting operation and the characteristics of the data in the sensor data stream after the adjusting operation differ by an amount of preprocessing performed on sensor data by the sensor node or the processing subsystem.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the processing subsystem and the sensor node each include one or more preprocessor blocks that are capable of performing overlapping preprocessor functionality.

17. The system of claim 14 wherein the preprocessor block and the corresponding preprocessor block perform a same preprocessor functionality.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein at least one of the processing subsystem and the sensor node further includes an additional preprocessor block that provides preprocessor functionality that is unique to the at least one of the processing subsystem and the sensor node.

19. The system of claim 14 wherein the enabling of the preprocessor block of the at least one of the sensor node or the processing subsystem accommodates a change in the energy management conditions of the at least one of the sensor node or the processing subsystem.

20. The system of claim 14 wherein the disabling of the corresponding preprocessor block of the other one of the at least one of the sensor node or the processing subsystem accommodates a change in the detected energy management conditions.