Maintaining or refraining from entering a sleep mode based on received conditions by application specific sensors

• US 9,632,570 B2
• Filed: 07/28/2016
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Hobbs, Nicholas Kenneth, Ainslie, Alex
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): POUDEL, SANTOSH RAJ
• Application Number:
  US15/222,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20160334862A1
• Time in Patent Office: 271 Days
• Field of Search: 713323
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• 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 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4881 Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues

Abstract

A data processing device may receive, from an application running on the data processing device, an indication that one or more sensors may be associated with a user input for the application. Based on sensing information collected from the one or more sensors, a characteristic of the user input may be determined by the data processing device. The data processing device may refrain from entering a sleep mode if the characteristic of the user input matches a specific characteristic condition specified by the application. The data processing device may allow entering the sleep mode if the characteristic of the user input does not match the specific characteristic condition for a specific timeout period specified by the application. The data processing device may receive the indication, information on the specific characteristic condition and/or information on the specific timeout period via invoking, by the application, one or more application programming interfaces (APIs).

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

in a data processing device having a sleep mode control configuration based on at least input related to a particular sensor;

receiving an indication, transmitted from an application running on the data processing device to an operating system (OS) of the data processing device, that one or more sensors other than the particular sensor are associated with user input for the application, wherein receiving the indication comprises receiving a characteristic condition specified by the application for the user input associated with the one or more sensors;

responsive to receiving the indication from the application, modifying the sleep mode control configuration such that the sleep mode control configuration is based on at least input related to the one or more sensors indicated by the application;

determining, based on sensing information collected from the one or more sensors, a characteristic of the user input for the application;

refraining from entering a sleep mode based on at least the characteristic of the user input matching the characteristic condition specified by the application; and

allowing entering the sleep mode based on at least the characteristic of the user input not matching the characteristic condition for a specific timeout period specified by the application.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

learning characteristics of the user input while the application is running; and

determining another characteristic condition based on the learning, wherein refraining from entering the sleep mode is also based on the characteristic of the user input matching the other characteristic condition, and wherein allowing entering the sleep mode is also based on the characteristic of the user input not matching the other characteristic condition for the specific timeout period.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, based on the learned characteristics, one or more specific minimum values pertaining to measurements indicated by the one or more sensors, wherein determining the other characteristic condition comprises determining the one or more specific minimum values.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the indication, information on the characteristic condition, or information on the specific timeout period via invoking, by the application, one or more application programming interfaces (APIs) included in the OS.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more sensors comprise an accelerometer, a directional sensor, an acoustic sensor, a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) unit, a voltage sensor, a proximity sensor, an atmospheric sensor, or a camera.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the characteristic condition associated with the accelerometer comprises a motion acceleration exceeding a specific minimum acceleration value.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the characteristic condition associated with the directional sensor comprises a sensor heading change exceeding a specific minimum change value.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the characteristic condition associated with the acoustic sensor comprises an input volume exceeding a specific minimum volume value that is within a specific frequency range.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the characteristic condition associated with the GNSS unit comprises a position change exceeding a specific minimum distance.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the characteristic condition associated with the voltage sensor comprises an input voltage change exceeding a specific minimum voltage value.

11. A device comprising:

one or more processors;

a first sensor, wherein the device has a sleep mode control configuration based on at least input collected using the first sensor;

a second sensor; and

data storage storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the device to perform operations comprising;

receiving an indication, transmitted from an application running on the device to an operating system (OS) of the device, that the second sensor is associated with user input for the application, wherein receiving the indication comprises receiving a characteristic condition specified by the application for the user input associated with the second sensor;

responsive to receiving the indication from the application, modifying the sleep mode control configuration such that the sleep mode control configuration is based on at least input related to the second sensor indicated by the application;

determining, based on sensing information collected from the second sensor, a characteristic of the user input for the application;

refraining from entering a sleep mode based on at least the characteristic of the user input matching the characteristic condition specified by the application; and

allowing entering the sleep mode based on at least the characteristic of the user input mismatching the characteristic condition for a specific timeout period specified by the application.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the second sensor comprises an accelerometer, and wherein the characteristic condition associated with the accelerometer comprises a motion acceleration exceeding a specific minimum acceleration value.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the second sensor comprises a directional sensor, and wherein the characteristic condition associated with the directional sensor comprises a sensor heading change exceeding a specific minimum change value.

14. The device of claim 11, wherein the second sensor comprises an acoustic sensor, and wherein the characteristic condition associated with the acoustic sensor comprises an input volume exceeding a specific minimum volume value that is within a specific frequency range.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the second sensor comprises a position sensor, and wherein the characteristic condition associated with the position sensor comprises a position change exceeding a specific minimum distance.

16. The device of claim 11, wherein the second sensor comprises a voltage sensor, and wherein the characteristic condition associated with the voltage sensor comprises an input voltage change exceeding a specific minimum voltage value.

17. The device of claim 11, wherein the first sensor comprises a presence-sensitive screen.

18. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving an indication, transmitted from an application running on the computing device to an operating system (OS) of the computing device, that one or more sensors other than a particular sensor are associated with user input for the application, wherein the computing device has a sleep mode control configuration based on at least input collected using the particular sensor, and wherein receiving the indication comprises receiving a characteristic condition specified by the application for the user input associated with the one or more sensors;

responsive to receiving the indication from the application, modifying the sleep mode control configuration such that the sleep mode control configuration is based on at least input related to the one or more sensors indicated by the application;

determining, based on sensing information collected from the one or more sensors, a characteristic of the user input for the application; and

based on at least a mismatch between the characteristic of the user input and the characteristic condition, allowing entering a sleep mode of the computing device.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, the operations further comprising:

preventing the computing device from entering the sleep mode based on at least the characteristic of the user input matching the characteristic condition.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18, wherein allowing entering the sleep mode is also based on passage of a specific timeout period specified by the application.