Techniques to control computational resources for an electronic device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016370844-A1
Application number	US-201514745238-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 19, 2015
Priority date	Jun 19, 2015
Publication date	Dec 22, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Approaches provided herein are directed to intelligently boosting, in a power efficient manner, CPU frequency in response to a touch gesture event. In some approaches, for example, a governor of a processor receives an instruction hint (e.g., an interaction hint or a vertical synchronization (VSYNC) hint) from a power hardware abstraction layer (HAL), the instruction hint provided in response to at least one of: a scrolling touch gesture to a user interface, and an application launch touch gesture. In another embodiment, an instruction hint is received at the governor in response to a discrete touch gesture to the user interface. In each case, a clock frequency corresponding to the processor is modified to optimize performance and user experience, while maximizing energy conservation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
detecting a touch gesture for a user interface of an electronic display; providing an instruction hint for a processor in response to the touch gesture; and sending a control directive to modify an operational state for the processor in response to the instruction hint.

2 . The method of claim 1 , comprising determining the touch gesture is a scrolling touch gesture to the user interface.

3 . The method of claim 1 , comprising determining the touch gesture is an application launch touch gesture to the user interface or a discrete touch gesture to the user interface.

4 . The method of claim 1 , comprising determining the instruction hint is an interaction hint or a vertical synchronization (VSYNC) hint.

5 . The method of claim 1 , comprising receiving the instruction hint at a governor of the processor.

6 . The method of claim 2 , comprising dynamically reducing a load computation timer rate in response to the scrolling touch.

7 . The method of claim 6 , comprising increasing a clock frequency from a first frequency level to a second frequency level in response to the instruction hint.

8 . The method of claim 7 , comprising decreasing the clock frequency to a third frequency level between the first frequency level and the second frequency level in response to the reduced load computation timer rate.

9 . The method of claim 8 , comprising increasing the load computation timer rate upon a conclusion of the scrolling touch.

10 . The method of claim 9 , comprising decreasing, in response to the increased load computation timer rate, the clock frequency to the first frequency level.

11 . An apparatus, comprising:
logic, a portion of which is implemented in hardware, the logic to comprise a governor to receive an instruction hint based on a touch gesture, and output a control directive to modify a clock frequency based on the instruction hint; and a clock frequency controller coupled to the logic, the clock frequency controller to receive the control directive, and modify a clock frequency for the processor in response to the control directive.

12 . The apparatus of claim 11 , the clock frequency controller to increase the clock frequency for the processor in response to the control directive to increase computational resources for a device.

13 . The apparatus of claim 11 , the clock frequency controller to decrease the clock frequency for the processor in response to the control directive to decrease computational resources for a device.

14 . The apparatus of claim 11 , the logic to comprise a power hardware abstraction layer (HAL) to detect the touch gesture and output the instruction hint to the governor.

15 . The apparatus of claim 11 , comprising a load computation controller configured to dynamically reduce a load computation timer rate in response to a scrolling touch.

16 . The apparatus of claim 15 , the clock frequency controller configured to increase the clock frequency from a first frequency level to a second frequency level in response to the instruction hint.

17 . The apparatus of claim 16 , the clock frequency controller configured to decrease, in response to the reduced load computation timer rate, the clock frequency to a third frequency level between the first frequency level and the second frequency level.

18 . The apparatus of claim 11 , comprising a touch screen display coupled to the logic, the touch screen display to receive the touch gesture.

19 . At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions that, in response to being executed on a processing component at a computing platform, cause the processing component to:
detect a touch gesture for a user interface of an electronic display; provide an instruction hint for a processor in response to the touch gesture; and send a control directive to modify an operational state for the processor in response to the instruction hint.

20 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19 , comprising instructions that, in response to being executed on the processing component at the computing platform, cause the processing component to determine the touch gesture is a discrete touch gesture to the user interface, a scrolling touch gesture to the user interface, or an application launch touch gesture to the user interface.

21 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19 , comprising instructions that, in response to being executed on the processing component at the computing platform, cause the processing component to determine the instruction hint is an interaction hint or a vertical synchronization (VSYNC) hint.

22 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 19 , comprising instructions that, in response to being executed on the processing component at the computing platform, cause the processing component to receive the instruction hint at a governor of the processor.

23 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 20 , comprising instructions that, in response to being executed on the processing component at the computing platform, cause the processing component to dynamically reduce a load computation timer rate in response to the scrolling touch.

24 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 23 , comprising instructions that, in response to being executed on the processing component at the computing platform, cause the processing component to increase the clock frequency from a first frequency level to a second frequency level in response to the instruction hint.

25 . The at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 24 , comprising instructions that, in response to being executed on the processing component at the computing platform, cause the processing component to decrease, in response to the reduced load computation timer rate, the clock frequency to a third frequency level between the first frequency level and the second frequency level.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Kumar Mahesh P

Classifications

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• G06F1/3206

  Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality · CPC title

• G06F3/0416

  Control or interface arrangements specially adapted for digitisers · CPC title

• G06F2203/04808

  Several contacts: gestures triggering a specific function, e.g. scrolling, zooming, right-click, when the user establishes several contacts with the surface simultaneously; e.g. using several fingers or a combination of fingers and pen · CPC title

• G06F1/324 Primary

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title