Decentralized architecture for dynamic resource management

• US 9,817,462 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2014
• Issued: 11/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Bhardwaj, Abhishek, Bentley, Devlin David
• Primary Examiner(s): Chen, Xuxing
• Application Number:
  US14/495,650
• Publication Number:
  US 20160048189A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,147 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/163 Wearable computers, e.g. on a belt
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3218 of display 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: G09G 2320/0626 for control of overall brightness
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/16 Calculation or use of calculated indices related to luminance levels in display data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0251 using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity

Abstract

An electronic device includes a compute system configured to concurrently execute a primary application and one or more secondary applications, one or more subsystems configured to operate in a full-power mode and one or more reduced-power modes, and a resource management module including one or more power mode timers. The resource management module sets a full-power mode timer based on an application-specific full-power requirement for the primary application executing on the electronic device, and instructs the one or more subsystems to operate in full-power mode for a duration of the full-power mode timer. Responsive to an indication of an input to the electronic device, the indication including an input-specific full-power requirement, the resource management module increases the duration of the full-power mode timer based on the duration of the application-specific full-power requirement for the primary application.

Claims

1. An electronic device, comprising:

a compute system configured to concurrently execute a primary application and one or more secondary applications;

one or more subsystems configured to operate in a full-power mode and further configured to operate in one or more reduced-power modes; and

a resource management module comprising one or more power mode timers, the resource management module configured to;

set a full-power mode timer based on an application-specific full-power requirement for the primary application executing on the electronic device;

set a reduced-power mode timer based on an application-specific reduced-power requirement for the primary application executing on the electronic device, the reduced-power mode timer indicating a duration for the one or more subsystems to consume at least a reduced level of energy;

instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in full-power mode for a duration of the full-power mode timer;

responsive to receiving an indication of an input to the electronic device, increase the duration of the full-power mode timer based on a duration of the application-specific full-power requirement for the primary application; and

responsive to the full-power mode timer lapsing, instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in a first reduced-power mode for a remaining duration of the reduced-power mode timer.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

responsive to an indication that the compute system updated the primary application from a first application having a first application-specific full-power requirement to a second application having a second application-specific full-power requirement, update the full-power mode timer based on the second application-specific full-power requirement; and

instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in full-power mode for the duration of the updated full-power mode timer.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

responsive to the indication of an input to the electronic device, increase the duration of the reduced-power mode timer based on a duration of the application-specific reduced-power requirement for the primary application; and

responsive to an indication that the compute system updated the primary application from a first application having a first application-specific reduced-power requirement to a second application having a second application-specific reduced-power requirement, update the reduced-power mode timer based on the second application-specific reduced-power requirement.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

responsive to the reduced-power mode timer lapsing, instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in a second reduced-power mode, the second reduced-power mode consuming less power than the first reduced-power mode.

5. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

receive an indication of an input including an input-specific full-power requirement and an input-specific reduced-power requirement;

responsive to no primary application executing on the compute system, set the full-power mode timer based on the input-specific full-power requirement; and

set the reduced-power mode timer based on the input-specific reduced-power requirement.

6. The electronic device of claim 5, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

during a condition where no primary application is executing on the compute system and wherein the full-power mode timer is set based on a first input-specific full-power requirement and the reduced-power mode timer is set based on a first input-specific reduced-power requirement, receive an indication of an input including a second input-specific full-power requirement and a second input-specific reduced-power requirement;

increase the duration of the full-power mode timer if the duration of the second input-specific full-power requirement is greater than an amount of time remaining before the full-power mode timer lapses; and

increase the duration of the reduced-power mode timer if the duration of the second input-specific reduced-power requirement is greater than an amount of time remaining before the reduced-power mode timer lapses.

7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the one or more subsystems configured to operate in a full-power mode and further configured to operate in one or more reduced-power modes include a display subsystem.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 wherein the full-power mode for the display subsystem includes a full-power backlighting mode, and the one or more reduced-power modes for the display subsystem include a dimmed backlighting mode.

9. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

responsive to the reduced-power mode timer lapsing, instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in a second reduced-power mode, the second reduced-power mode consuming less power than the first reduced-power mode.

10. An electronic device, comprising:

a compute system configured to execute two or more applications concurrently;

one or more subsystems configured to operate in a full-power mode and further configured to operate in one or more reduced-power modes; and

a resource management module comprising one or more power mode timers, the resource management module configured to;

store active application-specific power requirements in a data structure, the active application-specific power requirements including application-specific full-power requirements;

set a full-power mode timer based on an application-specific full-power requirement for an active application-specific power requirement at a top position of the data structure;

instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in full-power mode for a duration of the full-power mode timer;

responsive to a selection of a first active application as a primary application, the first active application having a first active application-specific power requirement including a first application-specific full-power requirement, place the first active application-specific power requirement at the top position of the data structure;

update the full-power mode timer based on the first application-specific full-power requirement;

instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in full-power mode for a duration of the updated full-power mode timer;

responsive to a selection of a second active application as the primary application, the second active application having a second active application-specific power requirement including a second application-specific full-power requirement, place the second active application-specific power requirement at the top position of the data structure;

place the first active application-specific power requirement at a second position below the top position of the data structure;

update the full-power mode timer based on the second application-specific full-power requirement; and

instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in full-power mode for the duration of the updated full-power mode timer.

11. The electronic device of claim 10, where the resource management module is further configured to:

responsive to a deactivation of the primary application, remove the active application-specific power requirement at the top position of the data structure;

move the active application-specific power requirement in the second position below the top position of the data structure to the top position of the data structure;

update the full-power mode timer based on the application-specific full-power requirement of the active application-specific power requirement at the top position of the data structure; and

instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in full-power mode for a duration of the updated full-power mode timer.

12. The electronic device of claim 10, where the active application-specific power requirements further comprise application-specific reduced-power requirements, and wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

set a reduced-power mode timer equal to an application-specific reduced-power requirement for the active application-specific power requirement at the top position of the data structure; and

responsive to the full-power mode timer lapsing, instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in a first reduced-power mode for a remaining duration of the reduced-power mode timer.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

responsive to the reduced-power mode timer lapsing, instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in a second reduced-power mode, the second reduced-power mode consuming less power than the first reduced-power mode.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the one or more subsystems configured to operate in a full-power mode and further configured to operate in one or more reduced-power modes include a display subsystem.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the full-power mode for the display subsystem includes a full-power backlighting mode, the first reduced-power mode for the display subsystem includes a dimmed backlighting mode, and the second reduced-power mode for the display subsystem includes a backlighting-off mode.

16. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

receive an indication of an input to the electronic device;

increase the duration of the full-power mode timer based on a duration of the application-specific full-power requirement at the top position of the data structure; and

increase the duration of the reduced-power mode timer based on a duration of the application-specific reduced-power requirement at the top position of the data structure.

17. The electronic device of claim 16, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

receive an indication of an input to the electronic device including an input-specific full-power requirement and an input-specific reduced-power requirement;

set the full-power mode timer based on the input-specific full-power requirement responsive to the data structure of active application-specific power requirements being empty; and

set the reduced-power mode timer based on the input-specific reduced-power requirement responsive to the data structure of active application-specific power requirements being empty.

18. The electronic device of claim 17, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

during a condition where the data structure of active application-specific power requirements is empty and wherein the full-power mode timer is set based on a first input-specific full-power requirement and the reduced-power mode timer is set based on a first input-specific reduced-power requirement, receive an indication of an input including a second input-specific full-power requirement and a second input-specific reduced-power requirement;

increase the duration of the full-power mode timer if the duration of the second input-specific full-power requirement is greater than an amount of time remaining before the full-power mode timer lapses; and

increase the duration of the reduced-power mode timer if the duration of the second input-specific reduced-power requirement is greater than an amount of time remaining before the reduced-power mode timer lapses.

19. An electronic device, comprising:

a display circuit configured to operate in a full-power backlighting mode and further configured to operate in a reduced-power backlighting mode; and

a resource management module comprising a full-power backlighting mode timer and a reduced-power backlighting mode timer, the resource management module configured to;

store active application-specific backlighting requirements in a data structure, the active application-specific backlighting requirements including application- specific full-power backlighting requirements and further including application-specific reduced-power backlighting requirements;

responsive to a selection of a first active application as a primary application, the first active application having a first application-specific backlighting requirement including a first application-specific full power backlighting requirement, place the first application-specific backlighting requirement at a top position of the data structure;

set a full-power backlighting mode timer based on the first application-specific full-power backlighting requirement;

instruct the display circuit to operate in full-power backlighting mode for a duration of the full-power backlighting mode timer;

responsive to the full-power backlighting mode timer lapsing, instruct the display circuit to operate in reduced-power backlighting mode for a remaining duration of the reduced-power backlighting mode timer;

responsive to the reduced-power backlighting mode timer lapsing, instruct the display circuit to operate in a backlighting-off mode;

responsive to a deactivation of the primary application, remove the application-specific backlighting requirement at the top position of the data structure;

move an active application-specific backlighting requirement in a second position below the top position of the data structure to the top position of the data structure;

update the full-power backlighting timer based on the application-specific full-power backlighting requirement of the active application-specific backlighting requirement at the top position of the data structure; and

instruct the one or more subsystems to operate in full-power mode for a duration of the updated full-power mode timer.

20. The electronic device of claim 19, wherein the resource management module is further configured to:

receive an indication of an input to the electronic device, the indication including an input-specific full-power backlighting requirement and an input-specific reduced-power backlighting requirement;

increase the duration of the full-power mode timer if the duration of the application-specific full-power requirement at the top position of the data structure is greater than an amount of time remaining before the full-power mode timer lapses; and

increase the duration of the reduced-power mode timer if the duration of the application-specific reduced-power requirement at the top position of the data structure is greater than an amount of time remaining before the reduced-power mode timer lapses.