Smart assertion management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11880259-B2
Application number	US-202117522451-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2021
Priority date	Sep 21, 2021
Publication date	Jan 23, 2024
Grant date	Jan 23, 2024

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to techniques for managing power assertions associated with applications that may run on an electronic device. For example, to reduce power consumption of power available on a power source of the electronic device, the electronic device may start a timer after receiving a request for a power assertion. When the timer expires, the electronic device may enter a low power state.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electronic device comprising:
a display; and
processing circuitry communicatively coupled to the display, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to implement a system power manager configured to:
receive a power assertion request from a client running on the electronic device;
cause a timer to be started after receiving the power assertion request;
determine whether the timer has expired; and
cause the electronic device to enter a sleep mode after determining the timer has expired.

2. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the system power manager is configured to:
receive first contextual data indicative of a status of the display, a first location of the electronic device, a first audio status of the electronic device, a first amount of power available to the electronic device, a first charging status of a power source of the electronic device, or any combination thereof; and
cause the timer to be started in response to the first contextual data being indicative of an inactive state of the electronic device.

3. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the system power manager is configured to:
in response to determining that the timer has expired, determine whether the client is on an allow list; and
cause the electronic device to enter the sleep mode in response to determining that the client is not on the allow list.

4. The electronic device of claim 2 , wherein the system power manager is configured to:
receive second contextual data indicative of a second status of the display, a second location of the electronic device, a second audio status of the electronic device, a second amount of electric power available to the electronic device, a second charging status of the power source of the electronic device, or any combination thereof;
determine whether to stop the timer based on the second contextual data;
cause the timer to be stopped in response to determining to stop the timer;
after causing the timer to be stopped, receive additional contextual data; and
determine whether to restart the timer based on the additional contextual data.

5. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the system power manager is configured to determine allow the timer to continue to run in response to the second contextual data being indicative of:
the display being in an on state;
the electronic device playing audio content;
the second amount of electric power available to the electronic device being below a threshold amount of power;
the power source being in a drain state; or
any combination thereof.

6. The electronic device of claim 4 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to maintain a power assertion after stopping the timer and before receiving the additional contextual data.

7. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the power assertion request is sent from a background process.

8. The electronic device of claim 1 , wherein the power assertion request comprises a request for an allocation of power from a power source of the electronic device.

9. A tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of an electronic device, cause the processing circuitry to:
receive first contextual data indicative of a status of a display of the electronic device, a location of the electronic device, an audio status of the electronic device, an amount of electric power available to the electronic device, a charging status of a power source of the electronic device, or any combination thereof;
cause a timer to be started based on the first contextual data being indicative of the electronic device being in an inactive state;
after causing the timer to be started, determine whether the timer has expired; and
cause the electronic device to enter a sleep mode after determining the timer has expired.

10. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processing circuitry to determine, prior to causing the timer to start, an amount of time for the timer to count based on the first contextual data.

11. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the first contextual data comprises a network connectivity status of the electronic device.

12. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processing circuitry to:
determine the amount of time to be a first amount of time when the first contextual data is indicative of the power source being in a charging state, the electronic device being communicatively coupled to a first type of network, or both; and
determine the amount of time to be a second amount of time that is less than the first amount of time when the first contextual data is indicative of the power source not being in the charging state, the electronic device being communicatively coupled to a second type of network that is different than the first type of network, or both.

13. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first contextual data is indicative of the status of a display of the electronic device.

14. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first contextual data is indicative of the location of the electronic device.

15. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein:
the first contextual data is indicative of the audio status of the electronic device; and
the audio status corresponds to whether an application of the electronic device is playing audio content.

16. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein the first contextual data is indicative of the amount of electric power available to the electronic device.

17. The tangible, non-transitory, computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the first contextual data is indicative of the charging status of the power source of the electronic device.

18. A computer-implemented method comprising:
determining, by a system power manager of an electronic device, that first contextual data is indicative of inactive use of the electronic device, the first contextual data comprising a status of a display of the electronic device, a location of the electronic device, an audio status of the electronic device, an amount of electric power available to the electronic device, a charging status of a power source of the electronic device, or any combination thereof;
causing, by the system power manager, a timer to be started in response to determining that the first contextual data is indicative of the inactive use of the electronic device;
determining, by the system power manager, that the timer has expired; and
causing, by the system power manager, the electronic device to enter a sleep mode in response to determining that the timer has expired.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18 , comprising:
determining, by the system power manager, that second contextual data is indicative of active use of the electronic device, the second contextual data comprising a second status of the display, a second location of the electronic device, a second audio status of the electronic device, a second amount of electric power available to the electronic device, a second charging status of the power source of the electronic device, or a combination thereof; and
causing, by the system power manager, the timer to stop in response to determining

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Venkatesh Archana
• Gautam Vaibhav
• Ding Ning
• Alvarez Roberto

Classifications

• G06F1/3228 Primary

  Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands · CPC title

• G06F1/3296

  by lowering the supply or operating voltage · CPC title

• G06F1/3209

  Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections · CPC title

• G06F1/324

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title