Dynamic threshold voltage compensation

• US 9,746,894 B1
• Filed: 11/26/2014
• Issued: 08/29/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/26/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rajagopalan, Vigneswaran
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nitin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Stewart, Kevin
• Application Number:
  US14/554,786
• Time in Patent Office: 1,007 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/00 Circuit arrangements for charging or depolarising batteries or for supplying loads from batteries

Abstract

Systems, devices, methods, computer-readable media, techniques, and methodologies are disclosed for increasing efficiency in power management for user devices. In some embodiments, a system voltage and battery voltage of a user device may be monitored and stored. The system voltage and battery voltage may be analyzed, and a system minimum voltage threshold for a user device may be modified based on the analysis of the measurements.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

initiating, by a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) of a user device, a profiler application, wherein the profiler application draws a pre-set current from a battery of the user device;

measuring, by an analog to digital converter (ADC) of the PMIC, a system voltage value and a battery voltage value when the profiler application draws the pre-set current from the battery;

retrieving, by the PMIC, a system minimum voltage threshold value and a system minimum voltage value associated with the user device, wherein the system minimum voltage value is indicative of the voltage required to power the user device and the system minimum voltage threshold value is indicative of the lowest system minimum voltage value the user device is capable of reaching;

calculating, by the PMIC, a change value by subtracting the system voltage value from the battery voltage value;

generating, by the PMIC, a temporary value by subtracting the change value from a system minimum voltage value of the user device;

determining, by the PMIC, that the temporary value is not lower than the system minimum voltage threshold value; and

decreasing, by the PMIC, the system minimum voltage value by the change value.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating, by the PMIC, the profiler application at fixed intervals.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the PMIC, a first voltage value for a WiFi amplifier component of the user device and a second voltage value for a touch screen controller of the user device;

determining, by the PMIC, that the first voltage value is greater than the second voltage value; and

updating, by the PMIC, the system minimum voltage threshold value using the first voltage value.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the change value based on the system voltage and the battery voltage further comprises:

determining, by the PMIC, that the temporary value is lower than the system minimum voltage threshold value;

updating, by the PMIC, the change value to zero; and

generating, by the PMIC, a notification indicating that further battery life extension is not possible.

5. A method, comprising:

executing, by a computer processor of a user device, a profiler application;

generating, by the computer processor, a set of benchmark load metrics by measuring a system voltage value and a battery voltage value from a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) when the profiler application is executed;

retrieving, by the computer processor, a system minimum voltage value, wherein the system minimum voltage value is indicative of a minimum voltage required to power the user device;

determining, by the computer processor, a change value by subtracting the system voltage value from the battery voltage value; and

adjusting, by the computer processor, the system minimum voltage value by decreasing the system minimum voltage value by the change value.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

retrieving, by the computer processor, a second set of benchmark load metrics comprising a second system voltage value and a second battery voltage value;

calculating, by the computer processor, a second change value by computing the difference between the second system voltage value and the second battery voltage value;

determining, by the computer processor, that the change value and the second change value are the same; and

updating, by the computer processor, the change value to zero.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining, by the computer processor, that a period of time has elapsed from the date of manufacture of the user device; and

generating, by the computer processor, the set of benchmark load metrics at periodic intervals.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

retrieving, by the computer processor, a third set of benchmark load metrics comprising a third system voltage value and a third battery voltage value;

calculating, by the computer processor, a first temporary value of the difference between the system voltage value and the third system voltage value; and

calculating, by the computer processor, a second temporary value of the difference between the battery voltage value and the third battery voltage value.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining, by the computer processor, that the first temporary value and the second temporary value do not exceed a change threshold; and

modifying, by the computer processor, a periodic time interval for generating the benchmark load metrics by increasing a value of the periodic time interval.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining, by the computer processor, that the first temporary value and the second temporary value exceed a change threshold; and

modifying, by the computer processor, a periodic time interval for generating the benchmark load metrics by decreasing a value of the periodic time interval.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

retrieving, by the computer processor, a plurality of voltage values, each of the voltage values corresponding to a peripheral component of a user device;

identifying, by the computer processor, a first voltage value of the plurality of voltage values that has a highest value; and

generating, by the computer processor, a system minimum voltage threshold value using the first voltage value.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

generating, by the computer processor, a temporary value by calculating the difference between the system minimum voltage value and the change value;

determining, by the computer processor, that the temporary value is less than the system minimum voltage threshold value; and

updating, by the computer processor, the change value to zero.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein the profiler application draws a pre-set current from a battery of the user device.

14. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

retrieving, by the computer processor, a system minimum voltage threshold value;

calculating, by the computer processor, a temporary value by subtracting the change value from the system minimum voltage value;

determining, by the computer processor, that the temporary value is less than the system minimum voltage threshold value;

updating, by the computer processor, the change value to zero; and

facilitating, by the computer processor, a message indicating a battery of the user device cannot be extended further.

15. A system, comprising:

a power management integrated circuit (PMIC) configured to;

generate a set of benchmark load metrics comprising a system voltage value and a battery voltage value of a user device;

a memory storing computer-executable instructions; and

a processor configured to access the memory and execute the computer-executable instructions to;

obtain the set of benchmark load metrics from the PMIC;

retrieve a system minimum voltage value associated with the user device, wherein the system voltage value is indicative of a minimum voltage to power the user device;

generate a change value by calculating a difference between the system voltage value and the battery voltage value; and

modify the system minimum voltage value by subtracting the minimum system voltage value by the change value.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the PMIC is further configured to:

generate the benchmark load metrics using a load profiler application; and

store the benchmark load data.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the PMIC is further configured to:

determine that a period of time has elapsed from the date of manufacture of the user device; and

generate the set of benchmark load metrics.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine a plurality of voltage values, each of the voltage values corresponding to a respective peripheral component of the user device;

identify a voltage value of the plurality of voltage values that has a highest value; and

generate a system minimum voltage threshold value using the voltage value.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate a temporary value by calculating the difference between the system minimum voltage value and the change value;

determine that the temporary value is less than the system minimum voltage threshold value; and

update the change value to zero.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

retrieve a system minimum voltage threshold value of the user device;

calculate a temporary value by subtracting the change value from the system minimum voltage value;

determine that the temporary value is less than the system minimum voltage threshold value;

update the change value to zero; and

facilitate presentation of a notification indicating a battery of the user device cannot be extended further.