Electronic device and method for setting time of timer

• US 9,292,071 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2012
• Issued: 03/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.), Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kaneko, Wataru
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, Amy Cohen
• Assistant Examiner(s): POWELL, MATTHEW T
• Application Number:
  US13/605,345
• Publication Number:
  US 20130148478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,293 Days
• Field of Search: 368107-109
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G04G 15/00 Time-pieces comprising means to be operated at preselected times or after preselected time intervals G04G11/00, G04G13/00 take precedence; electronic timers G04F1/005; pulse delay circuits H03K5/13; electronic time-delay switches H03K17/28; electronic time-programme switches which automatically terminate their operation after the programme is completed H03K17/296
• 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

In an electronic device provided with a resume function, a timer outputs a predetermined signal if a measured time value becomes a set time. Upon receiving the predetermined signal from the timer, a state control unit executes a resume process. A time information receiving unit receives time information that specifies a time interval, at which an application executes a predetermined process. A time interval retaining unit retains a time interval T for restoring the application to an executable state. A defining unit registers a set time with the timer on the basis of the received time information and the time interval T.

Claims

1. An electronic device provided with a function for setting a timer that controls a power state of said device comprising:

an electronic device comprising a plurality of power states comprising an awake state, low-light state, suspend state, and power off state;

a state control unit operative to change the power state of the electronic device to any one of said power states in a stepwise manner;

a timer managing unit operative to receive regular timed requests to execute a process from each of a plurality of applications installed on said electronic device, said applications include at least a mail application and a positioning application, and consolidate said timed requests to execute a process,

a timer configured to transmit a signal to the state control unit to execute a resume process that switches said device from the suspend state to a low-light state in which said processes can be executed, said timer transmits said signal according to a schedule set by said timer managing unit, wherein said schedule is defined by a time interval between times of the consolidated requests that are coextensive, such that said schedule allows as many of said applications as possible to execute their respective processes whenever the resume process is executed, wherein said processes include processes other than data synchronization,

wherein the mail application and positioning application are activated by the resume process.

2. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the timer managing unit comprises:

a time information receiving unit operative to receive time information for executing a process from each of said plurality of applications and consolidate said time information for executing a process, said applications include at least a mail application and a positioning application, said time information specifies a time interval between times that each application executes a predetermined process;

a time interval retaining unit operative to retain a time interval T, wherein time interval T is a minimum time interval between times of the consolidated time information that are coextensive; and

a defining unit operative to register a set time for the timer to send a control signal to the state control unit to switch from the suspend state to the low-light state in order to allow execution of said processes, on the basis of the received time information and the time interval T, wherein said processes include processes other than data synchronization.

3. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the defining unit determines the set time on the basis of time information for executing a predetermined process acquired from each of said plurality of applications.

4. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the defining unit determines the set time as a time point calculated by adding a value of the time interval T times N (where N is a positive integer) to a most recent set time.

5. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the defining unit determines the set time as a time point calculated by adding a value of the time interval T times N (where N is a positive integer more than 1) to a most recent set time if the time information received from each application is larger than the timer interval T.

6. The electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the defining unit determines an initial set time by using a random value.

7. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said low-light state is a power-saving state in which the brightness value of a display of the device is reduced to lower power consumption, but application processes can still be executed.

8. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic device consumes less power in the low-light state than in the awake state by reducing the brightness value of a display of the electronic device without shutting off the display.

9. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein said state where application processes can be executed comprises said awake state and said low-light state.

10. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein in the suspend state power is supplied to the timer and to a RAM that stores the status of work immediately before the device enters the suspend state, while power supply is stopped to other components.

11. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein when the device is in the power off state due to an insufficient battery level, the state control unit performs a cold boot automatically at the start of charging and enters the suspend state.

12. The electronic device according to claim 1, wherein right before switching to the suspend state system data is saved in a memory of the device, said system data comprising data for a most recent work environment, wherein said saved data allows the work to be restored when the state control unit completes the resume process.

13. The electronic device according to claim 12, wherein the state control unit performs the following processes before powering off the electronic device due to insufficient battery level:

allow at least a part of said system data to be stored in a predetermined area of a non-volatile memory as data for recovery, and

record information in the form of a flag indicating that the power was turned off due to an insufficient battery level in the predetermined area of the non-volatile memory.

14. The electronic device according to claim 13, wherein said data for recovery comprises at least application request data that the timer managing unit uses for setting the timer.

15. A method for setting time of a timer comprising:

receiving regular timed requests to execute a process from each of a plurality of applications installed on an electronic device, said applications include at least a mail application and a positioning application;

consolidating said timed requests to execute a process; and

registering a set time for the timer on the basis of the received requests and a time interval T, wherein time interval T is a minimum time interval between times of the consolidated requests that are coextensive,

switching said device with said applications stored thereon to a low-light state in which said processes are executed in response to a control signal sent by said timer at said set time, wherein said processes includes processes other than data synchronization.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium containing a computer program, comprising:

a module configured to receive regular timed requests to execute a process from each of a plurality of applications installed on an electronic device and consolidate said timed requests to execute a process, said applications include at least a mail application and a positioning application; and

a module configured to register a set time for a timer on the basis of the received requests and a time interval T, wherein time interval T is a minimum time interval between times of the consolidated requests that are coextensive,

a module configured to switch said device with said applications stored thereon to a low-light state in which said processes are executed, in response to a control signal sent by said timer at said set time, wherein said processes include processes other than data synchronization.