Proximity based power throttling

• US 8,886,247 B1
• Filed: 10/04/2011
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2011
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Price, Andrew D., Edara, Kiran K., Desai, Jay P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Safaipour, Bobbak
• Application Number:
  US13/252,320
• Time in Patent Office: 1,134 Days
• Field of Search: 4555751-5754, 455/522, 370/318
• US Class Current: 455/522
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3838 Arrangements for reducing RF exposure to the user, e.g. by changing the shape of the transceiver while in use
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/283 Power depending on the position of the mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/288 taking into account the usage mode, e.g. hands-free, data transmission, telephone
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/362 Aspects of the step size
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/60 using different transmission rates for TPC commands

Abstract

Methods and systems for delaying a determination to adjust a first power transmit level when a presence of a human body part is detected proximate to a user device are described. A user device detects a presence of a human body part and, in response, determines whether to adjust the first transmit power level to a second transmit power level, and delays the determination by a specified amount of time that is programmable. The user device transmits the information using the second transmit power level when the presence of the human body part is detected.

Claims

1. A method, implemented by a user device programmed to perform the following, comprising:

transmitting first data at a specified transmit power level;

detecting a presence of a human body part proximate to the user device;

in response to the detection of the presence of the human body part, polling a current transmit power of the user device at a first polling rate;

at each polling instance, determining whether the current transmit power exceeds a transmit power threshold;

in response to the current transmit power exceeding the transmit power threshold at one of the polling instances, adjusting the first polling rate to a second polling rate and polling the current transmit power at the second polling rate;

in response to the current transmit power still exceeding the transmit power threshold at a subsequent polling instance, reducing the specified transmit power level by a first specified amount; and

transmitting second data at the reduced transmit power level.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified transmit power level is specified by a wireless carrier.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising resuming said polling the current transmit power at the first polling rate in response to the current transmit power still exceeding the transmit power threshold at the subsequent polling instance.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising resuming said polling the current transmit power at the second polling rate in response to the current transmit power still exceeding the transmit power threshold at the subsequent polling instance.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the current transmit power still exceeding the transmit power threshold at another subsequent polling instance, further reducing the reduced transmit power level by a second specified amount; and

transmitting third data at the further reduced transmit power level.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising in response to the current transmit power still exceeding the transmit power threshold at the other subsequent polling instance, adjusting said polling to polling the current transmit power at a third polling rate.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting an absence of the human body part after said detecting the presence of the human body part; and

in response to the detection of the absence of the human body part, restoring the reduced transmit power level to the specified transmit power level.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

detecting an absence of the human body part after said detecting the presence of the human body part; and

in response to the detection of the absence of the human body part, restoring the further reduced transmit power level to the specified transmit power level.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising, in response to the detection of the absence of the human body part, stopping said polling the current transmit power.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising continuing said polling the current transmit power at the first polling rate until the current transmit power exceeds the transmit power threshold or the human body part is no longer detected.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first polling rate, the second polling rate, the transmit power threshold, and the first specified amount are programmable values.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the first polling rate, the second polling rate, the transmit power threshold, and the first specified amount are stored in non-volatile memory of the user device.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by a computing system perform the following operations:

transmitting first data at a first transmit power level;

detecting a presence of an object;

in response to the detection of the object, delaying for a specified amount of time before determining whether to adjust the first transmit power level to a second transmit power level, wherein the specified amount of time is programmable, wherein the delaying comprises;

starting a polling timer for the specified amount of time in response to the detection of the presence of the object; and

at an expiration of the polling timer, determining whether a current transmit power exceeds a transmit power threshold, wherein the first transmit power level is adjusted to the second transmit power level when the current transmit power exceeds the transmit power threshold; and

at an end of the specified amount of time, determining whether to adjust the first transmit power level to the second transmit power level.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein said delaying further comprises:

starting the polling timer again when the current transmit power does not exceed the transmit power threshold; and

adjusting a duration of the polling timer when the current transmit power exceeds the transmit power threshold.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein said delaying further comprises:

starting the polling timer with the adjusted duration; and

at an expiration of the polling timer with the adjusted duration, determining whether the current transmit power still exceeds the transmit power threshold, wherein the first transmit power level is adjusted to the second transmit power level when the current transmit power still exceeds the transmit power threshold, and wherein the specified amount of time is an original duration of the polling timer plus the adjusted duration of the polling timer.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein said delaying further comprises:

polling current transmit power at a first polling rate in response to the starting the polling timer;

at each polling instance, determining whether the current transmit power exceeds the transmit power threshold; and

adjusting the first polling rate to a second polling rate when the current transmit power exceeds the transmit power threshold.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising reducing the first transmit power level by a first specified amount to the second transmit power level when the current transmit power exceeds the transmit power threshold at a specified number of consecutive polling instances, wherein the first specified amount and the specified number of consecutive polling instances are programmable.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising adjusting the second polling rate to a third polling rate after said reducing the first transmit power level to the second transmit power level by the first specified amount.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising reducing the second transmit power level by a second specified amount to a third transmit power level when the current transmit power still exceeds the transmit power threshold after the specified number of consecutive polling instances, wherein the second specified amount is programmable.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising adjusting the first transmit power level to the second power level when the current transmit power exceeds the transmit power threshold, wherein said adjusting comprises reducing the first transmit power level by a first specified amount to the second transmit power level when the current transmit power exceeds the transmit power threshold at a specified number of consecutive polling instances, wherein the first specified amount and the specified number of consecutive polling instances are programmable, and wherein the specified amount of time is a summation of durations of polling intervals between the detection of the presence of the object and the specified number of consecutive polling instances.

21. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the second polling rate is greater than the first polling rate.

22. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the second polling rate is greater than the third polling rate.

23. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the object is a human body part, and wherein said detecting the presence of the human body part comprises detecting the presence of the human body part using a sensor disposed on or within the computing system.

24. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the object is a human body part, and wherein said detecting the presence of the human body part comprises detecting a user interaction condition of the computing system.

25. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, further comprising:

detecting a condition where the first transmit power should not be adjusted to the second transmit power level; and

in response to said detecting the condition, preventing said determining whether to adjust the first transmit power level to the second transmit level power.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the condition comprises at least one downloading a file to the computing system, communicating signaling data to or from the computing system, or communicating voice data to or from the computing system.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the computing system is an electronic book reader.

28. A user device comprising:

an antenna configured to transmit first data at a first transmit power level;

a processing component to receive sensor data from a sensor and to determine, based on the sensor data, whether a presence of a human body part is detected; and

a power manager, configured to be executed from a memory by the processing component, to delay for a specified amount of time in response to the detection of the human body part by starting a polling timer for the specified amount of time in response to the detection of the presence of the human body part and, at an expiration of the polling timer, determining whether a current transmit power exceeds a transmit power threshold, wherein the first transmit power level is adjusted to a second transmit power level when the current transmit power exceeds the transmit power threshold, and, at an end of the specified amount of time, determine whether to adjust the first transmit power level to the second transmit power level, wherein the specified amount of time is programmable.

29. The user device of claim 28, further comprising the sensor disposed on or within the user device.

30. The user device of claim 28, wherein the sensor is a proximity sensor, and wherein the processing component is to receive the sensor data from the proximity sensor and to determine, based on the sensor data, whether the presence of the human body part is detected.

31. The user device of claim 28, wherein the sensor is an inertial sensor, and wherein the processing component is to receive motion data from the inertial sensor and to determine, based on the motion data, whether the presence of the human body part is detected.

32. The user device of claim 31, wherein the inertial sensor comprises at least one of an accelerometer or a gyroscope.

33. The user device of claim 28, further comprising a modem, coupled to the antenna and the processing component, to determine whether to adjust and to delay the determination, wherein the processing component resides in the modem.

36. The user device of claim 28, wherein the user device is an electronic book reader.

34. A user device comprising:

an antenna configured to transmit first data at a first transmit power level;

a processing component to receive sensor data from a sensor and to determine, based on the sensor data, whether a presence of a human body part is detected; and

a power manager, configured to be executed from a memory by the processing component, to delay for a specified amount of time in response to the detection of the human body part, and, at an end of the specified amount of time, determine whether to adjust the first transmit power level to a second transmit power level, wherein the specified amount of time is programmable;

a modem, coupled to the antenna, to transmit the first data via the antenna at the first transmit power level,

wherein the processing component is a processor coupled to the modem,

wherein the processor executes the power manager, and wherein the processor is configured to;

detect a presence of the human body part proximate to the user device; and

instruct the modem to transmit second data via the antenna at the second transmit power level after the determination to adjust the first transmit power level when the presence of the human body part is detected.

35. The user device of claim 34, wherein the processor is configured to detect the presence of the human body part by detecting a user interaction condition of the user device.