Energy efficient data handling for mobile devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016021614-A1
Application number	US-201314351548-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 12, 2013
Priority date	Apr 12, 2013
Publication date	Jan 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

The techniques described herein reduce a rate at which a mobile device consumes energy when receiving, processing and storing data events (e.g., emails, instant messages, social networking messages and notifications, etc.). In various embodiments, the techniques may be implemented in accordance with a connected standby mode of operation for the mobile device. Therefore, the techniques may decouple data reception from data processing when exchanging data events in the connected standby mode. In various embodiments, the techniques may store persistent memory operations for multiple data events in a temporary cache and process the stored persistent memory operations as a batch (e.g., perform the persistent memory operations together). In various embodiments, the techniques may partition data storage space allocated for data communications applications on the mobile device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
determining that first data associated with a first data event is waiting to be communicated from a data server to a mobile device operating in a connected standby mode; switching a network interface on the mobile device from a low energy consumption state of the connected standby mode to a high energy consumption state of the connected standby mode; receiving, by the network interface on the mobile device and from the data server, the first data associated with the first data event; sending, from the mobile device to the data server, an indication that the mobile device is ready to receive a second data event from the data server, wherein the mobile device sends the indication prior to completing processing of the first data; receiving, by the network interface on the mobile device and from the data server, second data associated with the second data event; switching the network interface from the high energy consumption state of the connected standby mode to the low energy consumption state of the connected standby mode after receiving the second data associated with the second data event; and completing the processing of at least the first data after the network interface is switched from the high energy consumption state of the connected standby mode to the low energy consumption state of the connected standby mode.

2 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the first data event and the second data event each comprise at least one of an electronic mail message, an instant message, a social networking message or notification, or a gaming message or notification.

3 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
predicting a processing result for the first data; and sending the predicted processing result with the indication to the data server to cause the data server to transmit the second data.

4 . The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the determining is based on at least one of a push notification, a pull request or a sync request.

5 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising beginning batch processing of the first data and the second data after switching the network interface from the high energy consumption state of the connected standby mode to the low energy consumption state of the connected standby mode.

6 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
storing persistent memory write operations associated with each of the first data event and the second data event in a temporary cache; receiving a trigger to perform the persistent memory write operations, wherein the trigger is received after a pre-defined data threshold has been reached or exceeded or after a predetermined number of persistent memory write operations has been reached or exceeded; and writing the first data and the second data to persistent memory after receiving the trigger.

7 . The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
storing the first data and the second data in a first portion of persistent memory that stores a first portion of data events for a communications application; and updating metadata for the first portion of the persistent memory that stores the first portion of data events without updating metadata for a second portion of the persistent memory that stores a second portion of data events for the communications application.

8 . The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the first portion of the persistent memory stores data events received within a threshold amount of time at the mobile device, and the second portion of persistent memory stores older data events that are received prior to the threshold amount of time at the mobile device.

9 . A system comprising:
one or more processors; one or more computer memories: a network interface; a data event reception batching module, stored on the one or more memories and operable on the one or more processors, to batch unprocessed data for multiple data events received via the network interface in a connected standby mode; a data event notification module, stored on the one or more memories and operable on the one or more processors, to send, after the data event reception module batches unprocessed data of a previous data event, an indication to a data server that communicates that the network interface is ready to receive a next data event, wherein the data event notification module sends the indication before processing of the unprocessed data of the previous data event is completed; and a data event processing module, stored on the one or more memories and operable on the one or more processors, to complete the processing of the unprocessed data of the previous data event after the network interface is placed in a low energy consumption state.

10 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the previous data event and the next data event each comprise at least one of an electronic mail message, an instant message, a social networking message or notification, or a gaming message or notification.

11 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the data event notification module further:
predicts a processing result for the previous data event; and sends the predicted processing result with the indication to the data server to cause the data server to transmit the next data event.

12 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the data event processing module completes the processing of the unprocessed data of the previous data event after switching the network interface from a high energy consumption state of the connected standby mode to the low energy consumption state of the connected standby mode.

13 . The system as recited in claim 9 , further comprising a persistent memory operation batching module, stored on the one or more memories and operable on the one or more processors, to:
store persistent memory write operations associated with each of the previous data event and the next data event in a temporary cache; receive a trigger to perform the persistent memory write operations, wherein the trigger is received after a pre-defined data threshold has been reached or exceeded or after a predetermined number of persistent memory write operations has been reached or exceeded; and write data associated with the previous data event and the next data event to persistent memory after receiving the trigger.

14 . The system as recited in claim 9 , further comprising a data storage partitioning module, stored on the one or more memories and operable on the one or more processors, to:
store the previous data event and the next data event in a first portion of persistent memory that stores a first portion of data events for a communications application; and update metadata for the first portion of the persistent memory that stores the first portion of data events without updating metadata for a second portion of the persistent memory that stores a second portion of data events for the communications application.

15 . The system as recited in claim 14 , wherein the first portion of the persistent memory stores data events received within a threshold amount of time, and the second portion of persistent memory stores older data events that are received prior to the threshold amount of time.

16 . One or more computer storage media storing computer executable instructions that, when executed, perform operations comprising:
storing, in a temporary cache, persistent memory write operations associated with each of first data and second data received at a mobile device; receiving a trigger to perform the persis

Assignees

• Liu Yunxin
• Moscibroda Thomas
• Chandra Ranveer
• Zhang Yongguang
• Xu Fengyuan
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Liu Yunxin
• Moscibroda Thomas
• Chandra Ranveer
• Zhang Yongguang
• Xu Fengyuan

Classifications

• G06F3/0625

  Power saving in storage systems · CPC title

• H04W52/0229

  where the received signal is a wanted signal · CPC title

• G06F3/067

  Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• H04W52/0225 Primary

  using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal · CPC title

• H04W52/0251

  using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity · CPC title