SENSOR API FRAMEWORK FOR CLOUD BASED APPLICATIONS

• US 20130117769A1
• Filed: 11/09/2011
• Published: 05/09/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Sharma, Piyush, Swaminathan, Ashwin, Brunner, Christopher, Chari, Murali R.
• Granted Patent: US 10,248,184 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/328
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/541 via adapters, e.g. between incompatible applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion telephones including GPS signal receivers H04M2250/10
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0274 by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0293 having a sub-controller with a low clock frequency switching on and off a main controller with a high clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

An apparatus and method for a framework exposing an API (application programming interface) to web-based server applications on the internet or in the cloud is presented. The API allows server applications to retrieve sensor data from a mobile device via a low-power sensor core processor on a mobile device. This API eliminates effort and cost associated with developing and promoting a new mobile device client application. The API framework includes APIs that web-based application may use to fetch sensor data from one or more particular sensors on the mobile device.

Claims

1. A mobile device for providing a common API (application programming interface), the mobile device comprising:

a modem coupled to a wireless antenna;

a client application processor coupled to the modem, the client application processor, consuming a first level of power over a duration;

a sensor core processor coupled to the modem and comprising the common API, wherein the sensor core processor comprises a sensor core client and a sensor driver coupled to the sensor core client, wherein the sensor core processor consumes a second level of power over the duration, and wherein the second level of power is lower than the first level of power;

a sensor coupled to communicate with the sensor driver of the sensor core processor.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a plurality of sensors and the sensor driver comprises a corresponding a plurality of sensor drivers each coupled to communicate with a respective one of the plurality of sensors.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a plurality of sensors and wherein the plurality of sensors comprises:

an accelerometer; and

a gyroscope.

5. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a magnetometer.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a pressure sensor.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a proximity sensor.

8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises an ambient light sensor (ALS).

9. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a microphone.

10. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises a camera.

11. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the modem comprises a code division multiple access (CDMA) modem.

12. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the client application processor is configured to execute a plurality of client applications.

13. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor core client comprises a sleep mode and an operational mode.

14. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the sensor core processor comprises a duty-cycle operational mode, and wherein the duration comprises a complete duty cycle.

15. A method in a mobile device for providing a common API (application programming interface), the method comprising:

receiving, from a first web-based server application, a first request for sensor data using the common API;

receiving, from a second web-based server application unrelated to the first web-based server application, a second request for sensor data using the common API;

processing the first request and the second request for sensor data on a sensor core processor and bypassing a client application processor;

receiving, at the sensor core processor, sensor data from a sensor;

replying to the first request with a first response comprising the sensor data; and

replying to the second request for sensor data with a second response, separate from the first request, comprising the sensor data.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first request for sensor data comprises an indication of a triggering event.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the triggering event comprises a certain condition from a second sensor providing data separate from the sensor data.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising executing a sensor core client on the sensor core processor.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the sensor data from the sensor comprises sensor data from a plurality of sensors.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the sensor comprises a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the plurality of sensors comprises:

an accelerometer; and

a gyroscope.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the sensor comprises a magnetometer.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the sensor comprises a pressure sensor.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the sensor comprises a proximity sensor.

25. The method of claim 19, wherein the sensor comprises an ambient light sensor (ALS).

26. The method of claim 19, wherein the sensor comprises a microphone.

27. The method of claim 19, wherein the sensor comprises a camera.

28. The method of claim 19, further comprising executing a sensor core client on the sensor core processor for each of the plurality of sensors.

29. A mobile device for providing a common API (application programming interface), the mobile device comprising:

means for receiving, from a first web-based server application, a first request for sensor data using the common API;

means for receiving, from a second web-based server application unrelated to the first web-based server application, a second request for sensor data using the common API;

means for processing the first request and the second request for sensor data on a sensor core processor and bypassing a client application processor;

means for receiving, at the sensor core processor, sensor data from a sensor;

means for replying to the first request with a first response comprising the sensor data; and

means for replying to the second request for sensor data with a second response, separate from the first request, comprising the sensor data.

30. A device comprising a processor and a memory wherein the memory includes software instructions for:

receiving, from a first web-based server application, a first request for sensor data using a common API (application programming interface);

receiving, from a second web-based server application unrelated to the first web-based server application, a second request for sensor data using the common API;

processing the first request and the second request for sensor data on a sensor core processor and bypassing a client application processor;

receiving, at the sensor core processor, sensor data from a sensor;

replying to the first request with a first response comprising the sensor data; and

replying to the second request for sensor data with a second response, separate from the first request, comprising the sensor data.

31. A non-transient computer-readable storage medium including program code stored thereon, comprising program code for:

receiving, from a first web-based server application, a first request for sensor data using a common API (application programming interface);

receiving, from a second web-based server application unrelated to the first web-based server application, a second request for sensor data using the common API;

processing the first request and the second request for sensor data on a sensor core processor and bypassing a client application processor;

receiving, at the sensor core processor, sensor data from a sensor;

replying to the first request with a first response comprising the sensor data; and

replying to the second request for sensor data with a second response, separate from the first request, comprising the sensor data.