Media playback power management devices and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9524014-B2
Application number	US-201614987131-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2016
Priority date	Sep 1, 2010
Publication date	Dec 20, 2016
Grant date	Dec 20, 2016

Abstract

Devices and methods for power management during media playback are provided. For example, an electronic device according to an embodiment may include storage, a decoder, an output buffer, and data processing circuitry. The storage may store compressed media data that may be decoded by the decoder. The output buffer may store the decoded media data before the decoded media data is played out. The data processing circuitry configured may measure a fullness of the output buffer and may set an operating frequency of the storage, the decoder, the output buffer, or the data processing circuitry, or a combination thereof, depending on a format of the compressed media data and the fullness of the output buffer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
in a device having a processor and a memory:
filling a buffer in the memory with decoded data generated from data encoded in a format; and
responsive to consuming the decoded data from the buffer, varying a clock setting on the device based on the format of the encoded data and any one or more of a fullness of the buffer and an amount of resources requested by the processor, wherein varying the clock setting on the device includes:
mapping one or more format-specific clock settings to thresholds of fullness of the buffer, the one or more format-specific clock settings associated with the format of the encoded data,
monitoring a level of fullness of the buffer relative to the thresholds of fullness, and
changing the clock setting of the device to the format-specific clock setting mapped to a threshold of fullness that corresponds to the monitored level of fullness.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
comparing an idle-specific clock setting needed to satisfy the amount of resources requested by the processor to the format-specific clock setting mapped to the threshold of fullness that corresponds to the monitored level of fullness; and
changing the clock setting of the device to the higher of the compared clock settings.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the idle-specific clock setting is a minimum clock speed for accommodating enhancing the decoded data prior to filling the buffer.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the amount of resources requested by the processor is greater when enhancing the decoded data.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thresholds of fullness differ depending on the format of encoded data.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more format-specific clock settings differ depending on the format of the encoded data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more format-specific clock settings and thresholds of fullness are stored in a format-specific clock selection profile in the memory of the device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the format of the encoded data includes any one or more media formats that compress data, the media formats including any one or more of audio formats and video formats.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the one or more media formats include any one or more of AAC, ALAC, AAC-HE and MP3 media formats.

10. A device comprising:
a decoder configured to decode encoded data into decoded data;
a memory configured to store the decoded data in a buffer;
data processing circuitry configured to:
measure a fullness of the buffer based on how much decoded data is stored in the buffer,
set an operating frequency of any one or more of the memory, the buffer, the decoder, and the data processing circuitry, wherein the operating frequency is set based at least in part on a format of the encoded data and the fullness of the buffer,
fill the buffer with decoded data,
empty the buffer as the device consumes the decoded data, and
set the operating frequency based at least in part on the format of the encoded data and any one or more of the fullness of the buffer and an amount of resources requested by the data processing circuitry; and

wherein the data processing circuitry configured to set the operating frequency includes data processing circuitry configured to:
map one or more format-specific clock settings to thresholds of fullness of the buffer, the one or more format-specific clock settings associated with the format of the encoded data;
monitor a level of fullness of the buffer relative to the thresholds of fullness; and
change the operating frequency of the device in accordance with the format-specific clock setting mapped to a threshold of fullness that corresponds to the monitored level of fullness.

11. The device of claim 10 , wherein the data processing circuitry configured to set the operating frequency further includes data processing circuitry configured to:
compare an idle-specific clock setting needed to satisfy the amount of resources requested by the data processing circuitry to the format-specific clock setting mapped to the threshold of fullness that corresponds to the monitored level of fullness; and
change the clock setting of the device to the higher of the compared clock settings.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the idle-specific clock setting is a minimum clock speed to accommodate enhancing the decoded data prior to filling the buffer.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the amount of resources requested by the data processing circuitry is greater when enhancing the decoded data.

14. The device of claim 10 , wherein the thresholds of fullness differ depending on the format of encoded data.

15. The device of claim 10 , wherein the one or more format-specific clock settings differ depending on the format of the encoded data.

16. The device of claim 10 , wherein the one or more format-specific clock settings and thresholds of fullness are stored in a format-specific clock selection profile in the memory.

17. The device of claim 10 , wherein the format of the encoded data includes any one or more media formats that compress data, the media formats including any one or more of audio formats and video formats, including any one or more of AAC, ALAC, AAC-HE and MP3 media formats.

18. An article of manufacture comprising one or more tangible, machine-readable media having instructions encoded thereon for execution on an electronic device having a processor to perform:
filling a buffer in a memory with decoded data generated from data encoded in a format;
responsive to consuming the decoded data from the buffer, varying a clock setting on the device based on the format of the encoded data and any one or more of a fullness of the buffer and an amount of resources requested by the processor;
wherein to perform varying the clock setting on the electronic device, the processor is to further perform:
mapping one or more format-specific clock settings to thresholds of fullness of the buffer, the one or more format-specific clock settings associated with the format of the encoded data;
monitoring a level of fullness of the buffer relative to the thresholds of fullness; and
changing the clock setting of the device to the format-specific clock setting mapped to a threshold of fullness that corresponds to the monitored level of fullness.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , wherein the processor is to further perform:
comparing an idle-specific clock setting needed to satisfy the amount of resources requested by the processor to the format-specific clock setting mapped to the threshold of fullness that corresponds to the monitored level of fullness, wherein the idle-specific clock setting is a minimum clock speed for accommodating enhancing the decoded data prior to filling the buffer and the amount of resources requested by the processor is greater when enhancing the decoded data; and
changing the clock setting of the device to the higher of the compared clock settings.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18 , wherein:
the thresholds of fullness differ depending on the format of encoded data, the format of the encoded data including any one or more media formats that compress data, the media formats including any one or more of audio formats and video formats, including any one or more of AAC, ALAC, AAC-HE and MP3 media formats; and
the one or more format-specific clock settings differ depending on the format of the encoded

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Lindahl Aram
• Gupta Saurabh
• Leung Wang Chun
• Powell Richard Michael
• Williams Joseph M

Classifications

• Y02B60/1228

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F1/3275

  Power saving in memory, e.g. RAM, cache · CPC title

• Y02B60/1217

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F5/14

  for overflow or underflow handling, e.g. full or empty flags · CPC title

• G06F1/3215

  Monitoring of peripheral devices · CPC title