Apparatus and method for improving application performance within a group of communication devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017017608-A1
Application number	US-201514800722-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 16, 2015
Priority date	Jul 16, 2015
Publication date	Jan 19, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method and apparatus are for providing information to at least one other wireless communication device (WCD of a group of WCDs of which the WCD is a member, wherein the WCDs in the group have agreed to share computing resources. An assignment as one of a provider WCD and a recipient WCD is received in response to the information. At least one of two actions is taken. The first action is to operate, as a provider WCD, a power intensive portion of an application and providing the results to at least one recipient WCD of the group of WCDs. The second action is to operate, as a recipient WCD, to receive the results. Another method provides for a WCD to make a selection of the provider and recipient WCDs.

First claim

1 . A method used in a wireless communication device (WCD), comprising:
providing information to at least one other WCD of a group of WCDs of which the WCD is a member, wherein the WCDs in the group have agreed to share computing resources; receiving assignment as one of a provider WCD and a recipient WCD in response to the information; and performing at least one of
operating, as a provider WCD, a power intensive portion of an application and providing the results to at least one recipient WCD of the group of WCDs, and
operating, as a recipient WCD, to receive the results.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the information comprises at least one metric, and wherein the at least one metric comprises a temperature metric.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the information comprises a cutback duration for which the WCD would be able to run a power intensive portion of an application at a maximum performance level without crossing a limit of one or more metrics, wherein the cutback duration is calculated based on at least one temperature metric of the WCD.

4 . A method used in a first wireless communication device (WCD), comprising:
receiving at least one metric from at least two WCDs of a group of WCDs whose WCDs have agreed to share computing resources, wherein the least one metric comprises at least one temperature measurement of each of the at least two WCDs; determining that a second WCD that is one of the at least two WCDs is running a power intensive portion of an application that can also be run by at least one other of the at least two WCDs; selecting a third WCD of the at least one other WCDs to become a provider WCD that will run the power intensive portion of the application and provide results to at least one recipient WCD of the group of WCDs, wherein the selection is based on the metrics; and notifying the second WCD that the second WCD is selected as the provider WCD.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:
notifying at least one of the WCDs in the group of WCDs that the at least one of the WCDs is a recipient WCD.

6 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the at least one metric further includes one of battery charge status, power consumption rate, and power consumption efficiency.

7 . The method according to claim 4 wherein the step of selecting further comprises:
calculating a cutback duration for which each of the group of WCDs would be able to run the power intensive portion of the application at a maximum performance level without crossing a limit of one or more metrics; and
selecting the WCD with the longest predicted duration as the provider.

8 . The method according to claim 4 wherein the step of selecting comprises:
determining that performance of the application is likely to be optimized within the group by selecting the provider WCD to take over running of the power intensive portion of the application from the first WCD.

9 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the steps of receiving and notifying are performed over a network within which the group of WCDs are interconnected that is one of a local area network, a personal area network, or a mesh network.

10 . A method used in a first wireless communication device (WCD), comprising:
receiving information from a second WCD of a group of WCDs whose WCDs have agreed to share computing resources, wherein the information indicates that the second WCD would have to reduce computing resources that the second WCD is using to run a power intensive portion of an application within a cutback duration; receiving at least one metric from at least one other of the group of WCDs; selecting a third WCD from the group of WCDs to become a provider WCD that will run the power intensive portion of the application and provide results to at least one recipient WCD of the group of WCDs, wherein the selection is based on the information from the second WCD and the at least one metric; and notifying the third WCD that the third WCD is selected as the provider WCD.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
notifying at least the second WCD that the second WCD is a recipient WCD.

12 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
monitoring the WCDs in the group for information, wherein the information from at least one of the other WCDs comprises at least one metric: and wherein the step of selecting further comprises
calculating cutback durations for which each of the group of WCDs would be able to run the power intensive portion of the application at a maximum performance level without crossing a limit of one or more metrics, and
selecting the WCD with the longest cutback duration as the provider WCD.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the monitoring is performed at intervals that are less than a switchover duration, wherein the switchover duration is designed to allow the provider and recipient WCDs to be selected, to be notified, and to establish their configuration as provider and recipients under expected worst case conditions, and wherein the cutback duration is larger than the switchover duration.

14 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
monitoring the WCDs in the group, wherein the information from at least one other WCD comprises the at least one metric; and wherein the step of selecting further comprises
determining that the performance of the application is likely to be optimized within the group by selecting an optimal provider WCD to take over running of the power intensive portion of the application from the first WCD.

15 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the monitoring is performed within intervals that are less than a switchover duration, wherein the switchover duration is designed to allow the provider and recipient WCDs to be selected, to be notified, and to establish their configuration as provider and recipients under expected worst case conditions, and wherein the cutback duration is larger than the switchover duration.

16 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the information includes a cutback duration for which the second WCD would be able to run the power intensive portion of the application at a maximum performance level without crossing a limit of one or more metrics, and wherein the step of selecting further comprises:
obtaining cutback durations for which others of the group of WCDs would be able to run the power intensive portion of the application at a maximum performance level without crossing a limit of one or more metrics; and selecting the WCD with the longest predicted cutback duration as the provider WCD.

17 . The method according to claim 16 , wherein the calculated cutback duration is greater than or equal to a minimum switchover duration designed to allow the provider and recipient WCDs to be selected, notified, and establish their configuration as provider and recipients under expected worst case conditions.

18 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the second WCD is the first WCD and the information is generated and received internally within the first WCD.

19 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the results are provided by the provider WCD to the recipients over an interconnection that is one of a local area network, a personal area network, or a mesh network.

20 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the at least one metric includes at least one of a temperature, a battery charge status, a power consumption rate, and a

Assignees

• Motorola Mobility Llc

Inventors

• Pais Martin R
• Bowers Morris
• Green Phillip A
• Cunningham Gary J

Classifications

• H04W52/02

  Power saving arrangements · CPC title

• G06F15/173 Primary

  using an interconnection network, e.g. matrix, shuffle, pyramid, star, snowflake · CPC title

• G06F2209/509

  Offload · CPC title

• G06F9/5094 Primary

  where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria (power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206) · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

  Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management · CPC title