Predictive power management based on user category

• US 9,256,271 B2
• Filed: 10/04/2013
• Issued: 02/09/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: American Megatrends International, LLC
• Original Assignee: American Megatrends Incorporated
• Inventors: Maity, Sanjoy, Mathews, Santhosh Samuel, Subramanian, Lokeshraj
• Primary Examiner(s): Stoynov, Stefan
• Application Number:
  US14/046,433
• Publication Number:
  US 20150100801A1
• Time in Patent Office: 858 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a predicative power management system configured to adjust computer CPU clock rate by a computer user to conserve energy based on user category. In certain embodiments, the predicative power management system includes (a) a computer user profile creator module, and (b) a power management module. The computer user profile creator module is used to create computer usage profiles and each of the computer usage profiles has a profileID for a computer user with a computer userID. The power management module is used to set and adjust computer CPU clock rate, CPU voltage and device states based on computer users'"'"' category and the computer user'"'"'s computer usage profile.

Claims

1. A predicative computer power management method based on user category comprising:

creating a plurality of computer usage profiles for a plurality of computer users, based on their daily computer usages in a computer, wherein each of the plurality of computer users has a unique userID, and each of the plurality of computer usage profiles has a unique profileID;

storing the plurality of computer usage profiles and the plurality of computer userIDs in a power management module;

associating each of the plurality of computer users with at least one computer usage profile; and

adjusting the CPU clock rate, CPU voltage, and device states to conserve energy based on a computer user and its associated computer usage profile when the computer user logs into the computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating action comprises:

monitoring the CPU usage by a computer user profile creator module for each of the plurality of computer users over a predetermined time to obtain the history of the daily usages of computer resource by the plurality of computer users;

analyzing the obtained history of the daily usages of the computer resource by the plurality of computer users;

determining the maximum, minimum, and average daily usage of the computer resource by the plurality of computer users; and

setting optimal CPU clock rate, CPU voltage and device states needed by the each of the plurality of computer users in a computer usage profile associated with a computer user such that the computer user'"'"'s daily function will not be affected by using the optimal CPU clock rate, CPU voltage and device states to achieve maximum energy saving.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the computer user profile creator module has access to the CPU to monitor the CPU usage statistics.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of computer users is categorized into a plurality of user categories, wherein the computer users belonging to each user category perform similar functions, have similar demands for the computer resources and similar computer usage patterns.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the adjusting the CPU clock rate action comprises:

setting the CPU clock rate at the computer user login based on a default CPU clock rate set by the default computer usage profile;

setting the CPU voltage at the computer user login based on a default CPU voltage set by the default computer usage profile;

setting the device states for the devices at the computer user login based on a default device states set by the default computer usage profile;

setting the CPU clock rate according to the default CPU clock rate set by a computer usage profile selected by the computer user that is different from the default computer usage profile;

setting the CPU voltage according to the default CPU voltage set by a computer usage profile selected by the computer user that is different from the default computer usage profile;

setting the device states for the devices according to the default device states set by a computer usage profile selected by the computer user that is different from the default computer usage profile;

changing the CPU clock rate manually by the computer user pressing certain hotkey combinations to increase or decrease the CPU clock rate of the computer by a discrete step up or down;

changing the CPU voltage manually by the computer user pressing certain hotkey combinations to increase or decrease the CPU voltage of the computer by a discrete step up or down; and

changing the device states manually by the computer user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the setting the CPU clock rate action comprises displaying the current CPU clock rate on a screen for the computer user, the setting CPU voltage action comprises displaying the current CPU voltage on a screen for the computer user, and setting device states action comprises displaying the current device states on a screen for the computer user.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the pressing certain hotkeys comprise:

pressing a first keystroke combination simultaneously for increasing the CPU clock rate by a discrete step up;

pressing a second keystroke combination simultaneously for decreasing the CPU clock rate by a discrete step down;

pressing a third keystroke combination simultaneously for increasing the CPU voltage by a discrete step up; and

pressing a fourth keystroke combination simultaneously for decreasing the CPU voltage by a discrete step down.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein one discrete CPU clock rate step is the CPU clock rate difference between a first allowable CPU clock rate and the next higher allowable CPU clock rate, and wherein one discrete CPU voltage step is the CPU voltage difference between a first allowable CPU voltage and the next higher allowable CPU voltage.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each of allowable CPU clock rates is a CPU clock rate between a minimum allowable CPU clock rate and a maximum allowable CPU clock rate, and wherein each of allowable CPU voltages is a CPU voltage between a minimum allowable CPU voltage and a maximum allowable CPU voltage.

10. A predicative power management system configured to adjust computer CPU clock rate by a computer user to conserve energy based on user category comprising:

a computer user profile creator module configured to create a computer usage profile having a profileID for a computer user with a computer userID; and

a power management module configured to set and adjust computer CPU clock rate, CPU voltage and device states based on the computer user category and the computer user'"'"'s computer usage profile.

11. The predicative power management system of claim 10, wherein the computer user profile creator module is configured to

monitor the CPU usage by the computer user profile creator module for each of the plurality of computer users over a predetermined time to obtain the history of the daily usages of computer resource by the plurality of computer users;

analyze the obtained history of the daily usages of the computer resource by the plurality of computer users;

determine the maximum, minimum, and average daily usage of the computer resource by the plurality of computer users; and

set optimal CPU clock rate, CPU voltage and device states needed by the each of the plurality of computer users in a computer usage profile associated with a computer user such that the computer user'"'"'s daily function will not be affected by using the optimal CPU clock rate, CPU voltage and device states to achieve maximum energy saving.

12. The predicative power management system of claim 11, wherein the computer user profile creator module is further configured to

import a plurality of computer usage profiles previously obtained from other computer systems;

edit or modify a plurality of computer usage profiles existed; and

assign a computer usage profile to a computer user.

13. The predicative power management system of claim 10, wherein the power management module is configured to

receive the plurality of computer usage profiles for the plurality of computer users from the computer user profile creator module;

store the plurality of computer users and the plurality of computer usage profiles in a user and default computer usage profile table;

associate each of the plurality of computer users with one default computer usage profile for the computer user;

set the computer CPU clock rate, CPU voltage, and device states according to the default computer usage profile upon the computer user logs into the computer system; and

allow the computer user press certain hotkeys to adjust the CPU clock rate, CPU voltage, and device states when necessary.

14. The predicative power management system of claim 13, wherein the power management module is further configured to

allow a computer user to select a computer usage profile other than a default computer usage profile associated with the computer user;

display the current CPU clock rate;

display the current CPU voltage;

display the current device states; and

display the current computer usage profile settings.

15. The predicative power management system of claim 13, wherein the pressing certain hotkeys combination action comprises:

pressing a first keystroke combination simultaneously for increasing the CPU clock rate by a discrete step up;

pressing a second keystroke combination simultaneously for decreasing the CPU clock rate by a discrete step down;

pressing a third keystroke combination simultaneously for increasing the CPU voltage by a discrete step up; and

pressing a fourth keystroke combination simultaneously for decreasing the CPU voltage by a discrete step down.

16. The predicative power management system of claim 15, wherein one discrete CPU clock rate step is the CPU clock rate difference between a first allowable CPU clock rate and the next higher allowable CPU clock rate, and wherein one discrete CPU voltage step is the CPU voltage difference between a first allowable CPU voltage and the next higher allowable CPU voltage.

17. The predicative power management system of claim 16, wherein each of allowable CPU clock rates is a CPU clock rate between a minimum allowable CPU clock rate and a maximum allowable CPU clock rate, and wherein each of allowable CPU voltages is a CPU voltage between a minimum allowable CPU voltage and a maximum allowable CPU voltage.

18. A non-transitory computer storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor of a predicative computer power management system, cause the processor to:

create a plurality of computer usage profiles for a plurality of computer users, based on their daily computer usages in a computer, wherein each of the plurality of computer users has a unique userID, and each of the plurality of computer usage profiles has a unique profileID;

store the plurality of computer usage profiles and the plurality of computer userIDs in a power management module;

associate each of the plurality of computer users with at least one computer usage profile; and

adjust the CPU clock rate, CPU voltage, and device states to conserve energy based on a computer user and its associated computer usage profile when the computer user logs into the computer.

19. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 18, further comprising the computer-executable instructions to:

monitor the CPU usage by the computer user profile creator module for each of the plurality of computer users over a predetermined time to obtain the history of the daily usages of computer resource by the plurality of computer users;

analyze the obtained history of the daily usages of the computer resource by the plurality of computer users;

determine the maximum, minimum, and average daily usage of the computer resource by the plurality of computer users; and

set optimal CPU clock rate, CPU voltage and device states needed by the each of the plurality of computer users in a computer usage profile associated with a computer user such that the computer user'"'"'s daily function will not be affected by using the optimal CPU clock rate, CPU voltage and device states to achieve maximum energy saving.

20. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 18, wherein the plurality of computer users is categorized into a plurality of user categories, wherein the computer users belonging to each user category perform similar functions, have similar demands for the computer resources and similar computer usage patterns.