Power management for a wearable apparatus

• US 9,304,576 B2
• Filed: 03/25/2014
• Issued: 04/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Jackson, Bradley A., Fernandez, Francisco J., Booth, Cory J., Anderson, Glen J., Vembar, Deepak S., Raffa, Giuseppe
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US14/224,111
• Publication Number:
  US 20150277540A1
• Time in Patent Office: 742 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/011 Emotion or mood input determined on the basis of sensed human body parameters such as pulse, heart rate or beat, temperature of skin, facial expressions, iris, voice pitch, brain activity patterns
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04101 2.5D-digitiser, i.e. digitiser detecting the X/Y position of the input means, finger or stylus, also when it does not touch, but is proximate to the digitiser's interaction surface and also measures the distance of the input means within a short range in the Z direction, possibly with a separate measurement setup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04104 Multi-touch detection in digitiser, i.e. details about the simultaneous detection of a plurality of touching locations, e.g. multiple fingers or pen and finger
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2203/04808 Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0304 Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/03547 Touch pads, in which fingers can move on a surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0412 Digitisers structurally integrated in a display
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

Apparatus, systems, and/or methods may provide power management. An attachment portion may secure an apparatus to a user. In one example, an apparatus includes a wearable wristwatch having a wristband attachment portion. A context corresponding to a user state may be determined from context data such as, for example, sensor context data, database context data, companion context data, and/or user context data. The context may be used to specify a power mode applicable to a part of the apparatus to manage power.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

an attachment portion to secure the apparatus to a user; and

a context module to determine a context corresponding to a user state, wherein a first power mode applicable to at least a part of the apparatus and a second power mode applicable to at least a part of one or more computing platforms external to and associated with the apparatus are to be specified based on the context, the first power mode to cause a disruption to the part of the apparatus and the second power mode to cause an activation to the part of the one or more computing platforms when the context is to indicate that action is to occur via the one or more computing platforms.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus includes a wearable wristwatch, and wherein the attachment portion includes a band.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, further including one or more of:

a sensor module to process sensor context data including one or more of orientation data, activity data, gesture data, feature data, attachment data, location data, or environmental data from one or more sensors;

a database module to process database context data including one or more of social network data, electronic communication data, calendar data, historical data, or sensor data from one or more databases;

a companion module to process companion context data including one or more of platform data or link data indicating that the one or more computing platforms are associated with the apparatus;

or

a user interface module to process user context data including one or more of user setting data or user instruction data indicating a preference associated with the context.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein a kinematic value is to be matched with a reference model to indicate the location of the apparatus relative to a user plane when the apparatus is secured to the user.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein user activity is to be classified and a motion of one or more user appendages is to be identified when the apparatus is secured to the user.

6. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein one or more of the user setting data or the user instruction data is to indicate that the action is to occur via the one or more computing platforms associated with the apparatus.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first power mode is to cause an application of power only to the part of the apparatus and one or more of a relatively lower resolution at the part of the apparatus, a shutdown of a backlight to the part of the apparatus, a modification of one or more of a color, a contrast, or an intensity to the part of the apparatus, or a dimming to the part of the apparatus.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the part of the apparatus includes one or more of a continuous display screen, a discrete display screen, a curved display screen, or a plurality of opposing display screens.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first power mode is to cause a relatively lower resolution at a part of the display screen facing the user when the context includes an exercise activity corresponding to a user travel motion.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first power mode is to cause an activation of at least one display screen of the plurality of opposing display screens facing the user and a deactivation of at least one display screen of the plurality of opposing display screens not facing the user.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a reverse of the first power mode and the second power mode is to be implemented in response to one or more of a determination that one or more components of the apparatus is facing the user or is being used by the user.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a present power state of the apparatus is to be determined.

13. A method comprising:

determining a context corresponding to a user state; and

specifying a first power mode applicable to at least a part of a wearable apparatus and a second power mode applicable to at least a part of one or more computing platforms external to and associated with the apparatus based on the context, the first power mode causing a disruption to the part of the apparatus and the second power mode causing an activation to the part of the one or more computing platforms when the context indicates that action occurs via the one or more computing platforms.

14. The method of claim 13, further including one or more of:

processing sensor context data including one or more of orientation data, activity data, gesture data, feature data, attachment data, location data, or environmental data from one or more sensors;

processing database context data including one or more of social network data, electronic communication data, calendar data, or sensor data from one or more databases;

processing companion context data including one or more of platform data or link data indicating that the one or more computing platforms are associated with the apparatus;

or

processing user context data including one or more of user setting data or user instruction data indicating a preference associated with the context.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the first power mode causes an application of power only to the part of the apparatus and one or more of a relatively lower resolution at the part of the apparatus, a shutdown of a backlight to the part of the apparatus, a modification of one or more of a color, a contrast, or an intensity to the part of the apparatus, or a dimming to the part of the apparatus.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the first power mode causes a relatively lower resolution at a part of a display screen facing the user when the context includes an exercise activity corresponding to a user travel motion.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the first power mode causes an activation of at least one display screen of a plurality of opposing display screens facing the user and a deactivation of at least one display screen of the plurality of opposing display screens not facing the user.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein a reverse of the first power mode and the second power mode is implemented in response to one or more of a determination that one or more components of the apparatus is facing the user or is being used by the user.

19. The method of claim 13, further including determining a present power state of the apparatus.

20. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more instructions that when executed on a computing device cause the computing device to:

determine a context corresponding to a user state; and

specify a first power mode applicable at least to a part of a wearable apparatus and a second power mode applicable to at least a part of one or more computing platforms external to and associated with the wearable apparatus based on the context, the first power mode to cause a disruption to the part of the apparatus and the second power mode to cause an activation to the art of the one or more computing platforms when the context is to indicate that action is to occur via the one or more computing platforms.

21. The at least one medium of claim 20, wherein when executed the one or more instructions cause the computing device to:

process sensor context data including one or more of orientation data, activity data, gesture data, feature data, attachment data, location data, or environmental data from one or more sensors;

process database context data including one or more of social network data, electronic communication data, calendar data, or sensor data from one or more databases;

process companion context data including one or more of platform data or link data indicating that the one or more computing platforms are associated with the apparatus;

or

process user context data including one or more of user setting data or user instruction data indicating a preference associated with the context.

22. The at least one medium of claim 20, wherein the first power mode is to cause an application of power only to the part of the apparatus and one or more of a relatively lower resolution at the part of the apparatus, a shutdown of a backlight to the part of the apparatus, a modification of one or more of a color, a contrast, or an intensity to the part of the apparatus, or a dimming to the part of the apparatus.

23. The at least one medium of claim 20, wherein when executed the one or more instructions cause the computing device to implement a reverse of the first power mode and the second power mode in response to one or more of a determination that one or more components of the apparatus is facing the user or is being used by the user.

24. The at least one medium of claim 20, wherein when executed the one or more instructions cause the computing device to determine a present power state of the apparatus.