Presence-based power management

• US 9,547,352 B2
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Issued: 01/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Arlington Technologies, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Avaya Incorporated
• Inventors: Gartner, Jeffrey G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ali, Mohammad
• Assistant Examiner(s): Booker, Kelvin
• Application Number:
  US12/241,958
• Publication Number:
  US 20100082175A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,031 Days
• Field of Search: 700/22, 700/11, 700/295, 700/65, 700/297, 700/286, 340/657
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• 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 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

The illustrative embodiment describes a system that manages the energy usage of a user'"'"'s appliance based on: (i) the user'"'"'s location, and (ii) the user'"'"'s “presence information.” The “presence information” of a user is defined as a status indicator that includes, but is not limited to: the ability and willingness of a user to communicate and a user'"'"'s mood. For example, when a user is lonely and at work, the office door should open, but when the user is not lonely and at work, the user'"'"'s instant messages should be shut off. The illustrative embodiment comprises: an appliance; and an energy-usage controller for de-activating an energy-consuming element of the appliance based on presence information of a user of the appliance.

Claims

1. An appliance comprising:

a connection to a telecommunications network;

an energy-consuming element; and

an energy-use controller for performing at least one of;

(i) de-activating the energy consuming element and (ii) activating the energy-consuming element, wherein the performing is based on (A) a location of a user relative to the location of the appliance, and (B) a presence information about the user, wherein the presence information comprises a mood of the user and further comprises at least one of a willingness of the user to accept a telecommunications message from the telecommunications network, and an ability of the user to accept the telecommunications message via a specific mode of communication.

2. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the appliance is a telecommunications terminal.

3. The appliance of claim 1 wherein a telecommunications terminal that is associated with the user transmits the presence information to the appliance.

4. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the energy-use controller is adapted to determine whether the mood of the user indicates whether the energy-consuming element should be one of (i) activated and (ii) de-activated.

5. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the energy-use controller is adapted to determine whether the willingness of the user to accept the telecommunications message from the telecommunications network indicates whether the energy-consuming element should be one of (i) activated and (ii) de-activated.

6. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the energy-use controller is adapted to determine whether the ability of the user to accept the telecommunications message via a specific mode of communication indicates whether the energy-consuming element should be one of (i) activated and (ii) de-activated.

7. The appliance of claim 1 wherein the location of the user of the appliance is deduced at least in part based on the presence information about the user.

8. A method comprising:

establishing, by an appliance, a connection to a telecommunications network, wherein the appliance comprises an energy-consuming element and an energy-use controller;

performing, by the energy-use controller, at least one of;

(i) de-activating the energy-consuming element and (ii) activating the energy-consuming element, wherein the performing is based on (A) a location of a user relative to the location of the appliance, and (B) a presence information about the user, wherein the presence information comprises a mood of the user and further comprises at least one of a willingness of the user to accept a telecommunications message from the telecommunications network, and an ability of the user to accept the telecommunications message via a specific mode of communication.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the appliance is a telecommunications terminal.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

receiving, by the appliance, the presence information from a telecommunications terminal that is connected to the telecommunications network.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining, by the energy-use controller, whether the mood of the user indicates that the energy-consuming element should be one of (i) activated and (ii) de-activated.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining, by the energy-use controller, whether the willingness of the user to accept the telecommunications message from the telecommunications network indicates that the energy-consuming element should be one of (i) activated and (ii) de-activated.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

determining, by the energy-use controller, whether the ability of the user to accept the telecommunications message via a specific mode of communication indicates that the energy-consuming element should be one of (i) activated and (ii) de-activated.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the location of the user of the appliance is deduced at least in part based on the presence information about the user.

15. A system comprising:

an appliance that is connected to a telecommunications network;

an energy-consuming element in the appliance; and

an energy-use controller in the appliance for performing at least one of;

(i) deactivating the energy-consuming element and (ii) activating the energy-consuming element, wherein the performing is based on (A) a location of a user relative to the location of the appliance, and (B) a presence information about the user, wherein the presence information comprises a mood of the user and further comprises at least one of a willingness of the user to accept a telecommunications message from the telecommunications network, and an ability of the user to accept the telecommunications message via a specific mode of communication.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the appliance is a telecommunications terminal.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein a telecommunications terminal that is associated with the user transmits the presence information to the appliance.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein the energy-use controller is adapted to determine whether the mood of the user indicates whether the energy-consuming element should be one of (i) activated and (ii) de-activated.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein the energy-use controller is adapted to determine whether the willingness of the user to accept the telecommunications message from the telecommunications network indicates whether the energy-consuming element should be one of (i) activated and (ii) de-activated.

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the energy-use controller is adapted to determine whether the ability of the user to accept the telecommunications message via a specific mode of communication indicates whether the energy-consuming element should be one of (i) activated and (ii) de-activated.

21. The system of claim 15 wherein the location of the user is deduced at least in part based on the presence information about the user.

22. The system of claim 15 further comprising a location detector that is connected to the telecommunications network, and that transmits the location of the user to the appliance.