Methods and apparatus to manage power and performance of computing devices based on user presence

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11733761-B2
Application number	US-201916728899-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 27, 2019
Priority date	Nov 11, 2019
Publication date	Aug 22, 2023
Grant date	Aug 22, 2023

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to manage power and performance of computing devices based on user presence are disclosed. An apparatus includes an engagement detector to determine an engagement of a user with a device based on at least one of image data generated by an image sensor or an application running on the device; and an operation mode selector to select one of a plurality of operation modes for the device based on a level of engagement of the user, the plurality of operation modes including (1) a first operation mode associated with the device operating at a first performance level and a first power level and (2) a second operation mode associated with the device operating at a second performance level and a second power level, the first performance level being higher than the second performance level, the first power level being higher than the second power level.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus to manage power consumption and performance of a computing device, the apparatus comprising: an engagement detector to determine a level of engagement of a user with the computing device based on at least one of image data generated by an image sensor of the computing device or an application running on the computing device, the level of engagement of the user indicative of an interest of the user in operation of the computing device, the level of engagement corresponding to one of different levels of engagement, the different levels of engagement including the user being actively engaged, the user being passively engaged, and the user not being engaged, the user being passively engaged including at least one of (i) the user looking at the computing device without actively interacting with the computing device or (ii) the computing device implementing an ongoing user initiated task while the user is not actively interacting with the computing device; an operation mode selector is to select one of a plurality of operation modes for the computing device based on the level of engagement of the user, the plurality of operation modes including (1) a first operation mode associated with the computing device operating at a first performance level and a first power level and (2) a second operation mode associated with the computing device operating at a second performance level and a second power level, the first performance level higher than the second performance level, the first power level higher than the second power level; and a performance parameter manager to: set a first performance state cap for the computing device when the first operation mode is selected and set a second performance state cap for the computing device when the second operation mode is selected, the first performance state cap to enable higher power consuming performance states than the second performance state cap.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the performance parameter manager is to set a plurality of performance parameters associated with the computing device based on whether the operation mode selector selected the first operation mode or the second operation mode, the plurality of performance parameters including (i) at least one of the first performance state cap or the second performance state cap and (ii) another parameter different than the first performance state cap and different than the second performance state cap.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the performance parameter manager is to:
assign a first package power limit for the computing device when the first operation mode is selected; and
assign a second package power limit for the computing device when the second operation mode is selected, the first limit higher than the second limit.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the performance parameter manager is to:
assign a first value to an energy performance preference parameter for the computing device when the first operation mode is selected; and
assign a second value to the energy performance preference parameter for the computing device when the second operation mode is selected, the first value indicating a higher priority is given to performance than the second value, the first value indicating a lower priority is given to power saving than the second value.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the second value corresponds to a balance in priorities between performance and power saving.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first performance state cap does not limit available performance states of the computing device and the second performance state cap corresponds to an efficient performance state for the computing device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first performance state cap corresponds to an efficient performance state for the computing device and the second performance state cap corresponds to less than the efficient performance state.

8. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the performance parameter manager is to:
set a first background activity limit for the computing device when the first operation mode is selected; and
set a second background activity limit for the computing device when the second operation mode is selected, the first background activity limit to limit background activity more than the second background activity limit.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , further including a user presence detector to determine a presence of the user relative to the computing device based on the image data.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the operation mode selector is to:
select the first operation mode when the user is present and actively engaged with the computing device; and
select the second operation mode when the user is present and passively engaged with the computing device.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the operation mode selector is to:
select the first operation mode when the user is present and engaged with the computing device; and
select the second operation mode when the user is present but not engaged with the computing device.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the operation mode selector is to:
select the first operation mode when the user is absent and the computing device is implementing the ongoing user-initiated task; and
select the second operation mode when the user is absent and no ongoing user-initiated task is being implemented.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of operation modes includes a third operation mode associated with the computing device operating at a third performance level and a third power level, the third performance level being lower than the second performance level, the third power level being lower than the second power level.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the operation mode selector is to:
select the first operation mode when the user is actively engaged with the computing device;
select the second operation mode when the user is passively engaged with the computing device; and
select the third operation mode when the user is not engaged with the computing device.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the engagement detector includes a user interaction detector, the user interaction detector to detect the user is actively engaged with the computing device based on detection of user inputs received at the computing device.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the engagement detector includes a gaze detector, the gaze detector to:
determine a direction of gaze of the user based on the image data; and
determine whether the user is passively engaged or not engaged based on the direction of gaze of the user.

17. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the engagement detector includes an application usage detector, the application usage detector to determine whether the user is passively engaged or not engaged based on whether the application running on the computing device corresponds to the ongoing user-initiated task.

18. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the level of engagement corresponds to one of different levels of engagement, the different levels of engagement including the user being actively engaged, the user being passively engaged, and the user not being engaged.

19. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the user being passively engaged includes the computing device implementing the ongoing user-initiated task while the user is not actively interacting with the computing device.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising in

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Sinha Vishal
• Diefenbaugh Paul
• Fleming Kristoffer
• Rivas Toledano Raoul
• Kirubakaran Deepak Samuel
• Braun William

Classifications

• G06F1/3231 Primary

  Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users · CPC title

• G06F3/013

  Eye tracking input arrangements (G06F3/015 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F3/0304

  Detection arrangements using opto-electronic means (constructional details of pointing devices not related to the detection arrangement using opto-electronic means G06F3/033; optical digitisers G06F3/042) · CPC title

• G06F1/263 Primary

  Arrangements for using multiple switchable power supplies, e.g. battery and AC (G06F1/30 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F1/3234

  Power saving characterised by the action undertaken · CPC title