Computer system having an absence mode

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016124485-A1
Application number	US-201414443551-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 27, 2014
Priority date	Jun 26, 2013
Publication date	May 5, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A computer system includes a system component, at least one non-volatile mass memory, and at least one power supply unit that supplies power. The computer system has at least one system software component having an interface that selects energy-saving functions, which interface provides at least one function that operates the computer system in an absence mode in which at least one first application running on the computer system can be addressed via a network connection. At least one software component is executed by an operating system during operation of the computer system, which software component stops at least one second application when absence of a user is detected and calls the function that operates the computer system in the absence mode via the interface.

First claim

1 .- 15 . (canceled)

16 . A computer system comprising:
a system component having a non-volatile memory module that stores a system software component of a firmware layer to control hardware components of the system component; at least one non-volatile mass memory that stores an operating system and associated software components; and at least one power supply unit that supplies the system component and the non-volatile mass memory with a supply voltage; the system software component of the firmware layer providing at least one interface that selects energy-saving functions, which interface provides at least one function to operate the computer system in an absence mode in which at least one first application running on the computer system can be addressed via a network connection; at least one software component of an operating system layer being executed by the operating system during operation of the computer system, which software component is configured to stop at least one second application when absence of a user is detected and call the function that operates the computer system in the absence mode via the interface; and the system software component of the firmware layer configured to change at least one hardware component of the computer system into an energy-saving state when the function that operates the computer system in the absence mode is called to reduce energy consumption of the computer system when the user is absent.

17 . The computer system according to claim 16 , wherein the at least one software component of the operating system layer implements a system service for the operating system, the system service configured to monitor the operating system for an event to switch off a screen display and stop the at least one second application when the event to switch off the screen display is detected and to call the function that operates the computer system in the absence mode via the interface.

18 . The computer system according to claim 17 , wherein the system service is further configured to switch the operating system to a restricted operating mode and/or to activate at least one energy-saving measure of at least one device driver when the event to switch off the screen display is detected.

19 . The computer system according to claim 18 , wherein at least one energy-saving measure comprises at least one measure selected from the group consisting of activating an energy-saving WLAN profile, reducing a bandwidth of a network adapter and activating a sleep state, an idle state or a standby state of an external peripheral device, in particular by activating a USB energy-saving mode.

20 . The computer system according to claim 16 , wherein the system component comprises at least one microcontroller with at least one programmable output, the system software component configured to provide at least one control signal to change the at least one hardware component into the energy-saving state via the at least one programmable output of the microcontroller when the function that operates the computer system in the absence mode is called.

21 . The computer system according to claim 20 , wherein at least one output of the microcontroller connects to a control connection of a processor of the computer system, and the power of the processor is restricted to a predetermined maximum power when a control signal is provided at the control connection.

22 . The computer system according to claim 20 , wherein at least one output of the microcontroller connects to a voltage control circuit that converts a supply voltage provided by the power supply unit to a required input voltage of a processor, and the circuit is switched to a configuration for operation with a low load when a control signal is provided.

23 . The computer system according to claim 20 , wherein at least one output of the microcontroller connects to the power supply unit, and the power supply unit is switched to a configuration for operation with a load that is reduced in comparison with normal operation when a control signal is provided.

24 . The computer system according to claim 16 , further comprising a sensor that detects the presence of a user in a working area assigned to the computer system, wherein at least one of the operating system and the software component is configured to call the function that operates the computer system in the absence mode via the interface when absence of a user is detected on the basis of an output signal from the sensor.

25 . The computer system according to claim 16 , further comprising at least one of an optical signaling apparatus and an acoustic signaling apparatus, the signaling apparatus being coupled to the system component, the software component further configured to indicate predetermined events of the first application via the signaling apparatus in the absence mode.

26 . The computer system according to claim 25 , wherein the at least one first application is a communication application, an email application, a chat application, a telephone application or a video telephone application, and the predetermined event is the arrival of a message, receipt of an email or a chat message or signaling of an incoming call or video call.

27 . The computer system according to claim 16 , wherein the at least one software component of the operating system layer is configured to retrieve a list containing applications that are not allowed in the absence mode and to temporarily stop at least applications contained in the list in the absence mode.

28 . The computer system according to claim 16 , wherein the at least one software component of the operating system layer is configured to determine a class of running applications and temporarily stop at least applications of a predetermined class, in particular web browsers, in the absence mode.

29 . The computer system according to claim 16 , further comprising at least one scheduler, the scheduler configured to change the computer system either to the absence mode or to a predetermined energy-saving mode on the basis of a predefined schedule when the absence of the user is detected.

30 . The computer system according to claim 29 , further comprising at least one real-time clock, the software component of the operating system layer and/or the scheduler configured to program the real-time clock before adopting the energy-saving mode such that the computer system is restored to the absence mode or an operating mode at a subsequent time according to the predefined schedule.

31 . A non-volatile memory device storing at'least one software component of an operating system layer of a computer system, which cause a data processing device of the computer system to perform the following steps on execution of the at least one software component:
detecting the absence of a user from the computer system; when the absence of a user is detected, stopping at least one application executing under the control of the operating system in an application layer; and when the absence of a user is detected, further calling a function provided by an interface of a system software component of a firmware layer of the computer system that operates the computer system in an absence mode, wherein the system software component is configured to change at least one hardware component of the computer system into an energy-saving state when the function that operates the computer system in the absence mode is called to reduce the energy consumption of the computer system.

32 . The non-volatile memory device according to claim 31 , furt

Assignees

• Fujitsu Tech Solutions Ip Gmbh
• Fujitsu Technology Solutions Intellectual Property GmbHü

Inventors

• Felde Waldemar
• Himml Jürgen
• Pfeiffer Peter

Classifications

• G06F1/329

  by task scheduling · CPC title

• G06F1/3287

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

• H04W80/12

  Application layer protocols, e.g. WAP [Wireless Application Protocol] · CPC title

• G06F9/4418

  Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake · CPC title

• G06F1/3231 Primary

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