Determination of a zero watt state for implementation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10001831-B2
Application number	US-201415112620-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 31, 2014
Priority date	Jan 31, 2014
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

Examples herein disclose determining whether a computing device should implement a zero watt state according to an engagement of a button. The examples disconnect a power source to the computing device based upon the determination the computing device should implement the zero watt state.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method to engage a computing device into a zero watt state, the method comprising:
processing an engagement of a button on a computing device;
determining if the computing device should implement the zero watt state according to the engagement of the button, wherein determining if the computing device should enter the zero watt state comprises:
processing a state of inactivity to determine if the computing device is in a hibernation state; and
based on the determination the computing device not is in the hibernation state, preserving content on the computing device into a non-volatile memory prior to implementation of the zero watt state; and

based on the determination the computing device should implement the zero watt state, disconnecting the computing device to a power source.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the engagement of the button comprises:
generating a signal for transmission to an operating system to implement a hibernation state prior to implementation of the zero watt state.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
processing a disengagement of the button on the computing device; and
connecting the computing device to the power source to implement a normal operation state of the computing device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining if the computing device should implement the zero watt state according to the engagement of the button, the method comprises:
implementing the zero watt state after the button is engaged for a threshold of time.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the computing device remains in a state of inactivity based on the determination the computing device should not implement the zero watt state.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein processing the engagement of the button on the computing device further comprises:
transmitting a signal to an operating system to write a hibernation state code to a register; and
writing the hibernation state code to the register prior to implementation of the zero watt state.

7. A computing device comprising:
a processor to:
determine whether the computing device should implement a zero watt state according to an engagement of a button, wherein the determination whether the computing device should enter the zero watt state comprises:
processing a state of inactivity to determine if the computing device is in a hibernation state; and
based on the determination the computing device is not in the hibernation state, preserving content on the computing device into a non-volatile memory prior to implementation of the zero watt state; and

disconnect a power source to the computing device based upon the determination the computing device should implement the zero watt state.

8. The computing device of claim 7 further comprising:
the button to transmit a signal to an operating system; and
an operating system to write a hibernation state code to a register prior to implementation of the zero watt state.

9. The computing device of claim 7 wherein the processor is further to:
process a disengagement of the button on the computing device; and
implement a normal operation state of the computing device in accordance with the disengagement of the button.

10. The computing device of claim 7 further comprising:
a register to indicate whether the zero watt state is enabled on the computing device.

11. The computing device of claim 7 further comprising:
a switch to connect the computing device to the power source.

12. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor cause a computing device to:
determine whether a computing device should implement a zero watt state, wherein the determination whether the computing device should enter the zero watt state comprises:
processing a state of inactivity to determine if the computing device is in a hibernation state; and
based on the determination the computing device is not in the hibernation state, preserving content on the computing device into a non-volatile memory prior to implementation of the zero watt state; and

upon the determination the computing device should implement the zero watt state, transmit a signal to disconnect a power source to the computing device, thereby implementing the zero watt state.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including the instructions of claim 12 further comprising instructions that when executed by the processor cause the computing device to:
process an engagement of a button for determining whether the computing device should implement the zero watt state; and
process a disengagement of the button for implementation of normal operation of the computing device.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium including the instructions of claim 12 , further comprising instructions that when executed by the processor cause the computing device to:
write a code to a register to implement a hibernation state prior to implementation of the zero watt state.

Assignees

• Hewlett Packard Development Co

Inventors

• Hobson Louis B
• Durham Michael R
• Wright Robert S

Classifications

• G06F1/3246

  by software initiated power-off · CPC title

• G06F9/4418

  Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake · CPC title

• G06F1/26 Primary

  Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C) · CPC title

• Y02D10/172

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F1/3287 Primary

  by switching off individual functional units in the computer system · CPC title