MANAGING THERMAL REMEDIATIONS ON A COMPUTING DEVICE

• US 20160224081A1
• Filed: 04/29/2015
• Published: 08/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Worthington, Bruce Lee, Calinov, Iulian Doroftei, Brown, Tristan A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,642,325 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3024 where the computing system component is a central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3058 Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3062 where the monitored property is the power consumption power management in a computing system G06F1/3203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/34 Recording or statistical evaluation of computer activity, e.g. of down time, of input/output operation ; Recording or statistical evaluation of user activity, e.g. usability assessment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3452 Performance evaluation by statistical analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5094 where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• 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

Embodiments are directed to capturing and storing historical data regarding thermal remediations, to predicting and acting on remediation futures and to communicating with applications regarding thermal remediations implemented on the computer system. In one scenario, a computer system determines which thermal remediations are currently being implemented on a monitored computing device. The thermal remediations are based on the monitored computing device'"'"'s current operating environment including the physical thermal environment and/or the current software execution environment. The computer system further tracks thermal remediation levels for those thermal remediations that are currently being implemented on the monitored computing device, the thermal remediation levels indicating the degree to which each thermal remediation is implemented. The computer system also filters the tracked thermal remediation levels for tracked thermal remediation information that includes information regarding the computing device'"'"'s current operating environment, and stores the filtered thermal remediation levels in a data store.

Claims

1. A method, implemented at a computer system that includes at least one processor, for capturing and storing historical data regarding thermal remediations, the method comprising:

determining which thermal remediations are currently being implemented on a monitored computing device, the thermal remediations being based on the monitored computing device'"'"'s current operating environment;

tracking thermal remediation levels for those thermal remediations that are currently being implemented on the monitored computing device, the thermal remediation levels indicating the degree to which each thermal remediation is implemented;

filtering the tracked thermal remediation levels for those portions of tracked thermal remediation information that include information regarding the monitored computing device'"'"'s current operating environment; and

storing the filtered thermal remediation levels in a data store.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the thermal remediations comprise at least one of the following:

reducing CPU clock frequencies, moving work items between CPU cores, dimming a display, preventing a battery from charging, reducing transmission rates on a network card, disabling antennas, disabling ports, reducing camera frame rates, reducing camera resolution, or changing hardware component or platform idle states.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the thermal remediation data is obtained by an operating system (OS) or by computer system hardware.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored thermal remediation levels are indexed by application name, by application type or by physical environment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein tracked thermal remediation levels are uploaded to a cloud data store for subsequent access.

6. A computer program product for implementing a method for predicting and acting on thermal remediation futures, the computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform the method, the method comprising:

determining current operating state of a monitored computing system;

determining that at least one operating state characteristic has changed on the monitored computing system;

accessing an indication of prior thermal remediation levels, the prior thermal remediation levels indicating the degree to which each thermal remediation was implemented;

generating a prediction of which thermal remediations will be applied in reaction to the change in operating state characteristics of the monitored computing system; and

implementing one or more sustainable thermal remediations identified in the generated prediction.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein implementing one or more thermal remediations based on the generated prediction comprises changing the applied level of one or more thermal remediations on the monitored computing system.

8. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein determining that at least one operating state characteristic has changed on the monitored computing system occurs based on polling, or based on the occurrence of a specified event.

9. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein heuristics are used to analyze thermal remediation history and predict future behavior regarding thermal remediations.

10. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the operating system of the monitored computing system implements the one or more thermal remediations based on the generated prediction.

11. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the generated prediction is dynamically updated based on one or more events occurring.

12. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein one or more portions of computing system hardware or firmware implement the one or more thermal remediations based on the generated prediction.

13. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the generated prediction is single bit of information, indicating that thermal remediations are to be increased or decreased.

14. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the generated prediction comprises information indicating thermal remediations for a plurality of pieces of hardware that are to be throttled in a specific way based on the generated predictions.

15. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the sustainable thermal remediations are applied before allowable temperatures on the monitored computing system are exceeded.

16. A computer system comprising the following:

one or more processors;

one or more computer-readable storage media having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform a method for communicating with applications regarding thermal remediations implemented on a monitored computer system, the method comprising the following;

receiving one or more hints from an application running on the monitored computer system, the hints providing an indication of the application'"'"'s future processing behavior;

generating a prediction indicating which thermal remediations will be applied in reaction to the received hints indicating the application'"'"'s future processing behavior; and

implementing one or more sustainable thermal remediations identified in the generated prediction.

17. The computer system of claim 16, further comprising sending one or more portions of information back to application indicating which thermal remediations are going to be implemented.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the one or more portions of information indicate to the application how the thermal remediations will be implemented and the degree to which the thermal remediations will be implemented, allowing the application to respond accordingly.

19. The computer system of claim 16, wherein an external entity provides hints regarding the environment of the monitored computer system.

20. The computer system of claim 16, wherein operating information is passed to a cloud service which generates the prediction of which thermal remediations will be applied in reaction to the received hints indicating the application'"'"'s future processing behavior.