Coordinated multi-device power management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9568972-B2
Application number	US-201414273613-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 9, 2014
Priority date	May 9, 2014
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

Techniques related to coordinating power management for multiple devices are discussed. Such techniques may include establishing communications between devices, inventorying the components of each device, and implementing a power management plan to eliminate any redundancy in the components and reduce the total power consumed by the devices.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for providing power management across a plurality of devices comprising:
establishing, at a first device, a communicative coupling to a second device;
inventorying, at the first device, a component of the second device having a redundancy with a component of the first device;
implementing, at the first device, a power management plan for the first device and the second device that eliminates the redundancy and reduces total power consumed by the plurality of devices, wherein the power management plan comprises shutting down the component of the first device; and
mapping, at the first device, the component of the second device to the first device via the communicative coupling to allow the first device to access the component of the second device.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
inventorying, at the first device, one or more resources of the second device; and
generating the power management plan based at least in part on the one or more resources of the second device.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the one or more resources comprise at least one of a remaining battery life of the second device, a device type of the second device, or an efficiency of the second device associated with the component of the second device.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein generating the power management plan is based on a distributed resource planning technique configured to be performed by any of the plurality of devices.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
entering an active power state at the first device in response to a power management trigger, wherein the power management trigger comprises at least one of a periodic trigger, a user initiated trigger, or a device change trigger.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting, from the first device, the power management plan to the second device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein establishing the communicative coupling to the second device comprises discovering, at the first device, the second device via a discovery protocol and pairing the first device to the second device, and wherein the communicative coupling comprises at least one of a peer-to-peer communications channel, a local area network, a personal area network, or a body area network.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the power management plan comprises a protocol to alternate the component of the first device between a shut down state and an in-use state, and wherein, in the in-use state, the first device allows access to the component of the first device by the second device.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the component of the first device comprises a first type of wireless radio and the component of the second device comprises a second type of wireless radio having a greater bandwidth than the first type of wireless radio.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first device comprises at least one of a smartphone, a tablet, an ultrabook, or a laptop, and wherein the component of the first device comprises at least one of a global position system receiver, a sensor, a communications radio, or a processing resource.

11. A device for providing power management across a plurality of devices, comprising:
a memory configured to store a power management plan; and
a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor comprises:
device-to-device communications circuitry configured to establish a communicative coupling to a second device;
cross-device planning circuitry configured to inventory a component of the second device having a redundancy with a component of the device and to generate the power management plan for the device and the second device;
platform power state management circuitry configured to implement the power management plan to eliminate the redundancy and reduce total power consumed by the plurality of devices; and
component routing circuitry configured to map the component of the second device to the device via the communicative coupling to allow the device to access the component of the second device.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the platform power state management circuitry being configured to implement the power management plan comprises the platform power state management circuitry being configured to shut down the component of the device or place the device into a lower power state.

13. The device of claim 11 , wherein the cross-device planning circuitry is further configured to inventory one or more resources of the second device and to generate the power management plan based at least in part on the one or more resources of the second device.

14. The device of claim 13 , wherein the cross-device planning circuitry is configured to generate the power management plan based on a distributed resource planning technique configured to be performed by any of the plurality of devices.

15. The device of claim 11 , wherein the platform power state management circuitry is further configured to enter the device into an active power state in response to a power management trigger, wherein the power management trigger comprises at least one of a periodic trigger, a user initiated trigger, or a device change trigger.

16. The device of claim 11 , wherein the device-to-device communications circuitry is further configured to transmit the power management plan to the second device.

17. At least one non-transitory machine readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that, in response to being executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to provide power management across a plurality of devices by:
establishing, at a first device, a communicative coupling to a second device;
inventorying, at the first device, a component of the second device having a redundancy with a component of the first device;
implementing, at the first device, a power management plan for the first device and the second device that eliminates the redundancy and reduces total power consumed by the plurality of devices; and
mapping, at the first device, the component of the second device to the first device via the communicative coupling to allow the first device to access the component of the second device.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 17 , wherein implementing the power management plan comprises at least one of shutting down the component of the first device or placing the first device into a lower power state.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising instructions that in response to being executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to provide power management across a plurality of devices by:
inventorying, at the first device, one or more resources of the second device; and
generating the power management plan based at least in part on the one or more resources of the second device, wherein the one or more resources comprise at least one of a remaining battery life of the second device, a device type of the second device, or an efficiency of the second device associated with the component of the second device.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19 , wherein generating the power management plan is based on a distributed resource planning technique configured to be performed by any of the plurality of devices.

21. The machine readable medium of claim 17 , further comprising instructions that in response to being executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to provide power management across a plurality of devices by:
transm

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Yarvis Mark
• Benn Samuel
• Soe Soethiha
• Macdonald Mark
• Fulginiti Dominic

Classifications

• G06F1/26

  Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C) · CPC title

• G06F1/3212

  Monitoring battery levels, e.g. power saving mode being initiated when battery voltage goes below a certain level · CPC title

• G06F1/3293

  by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU · CPC title

• G06F1/32 Primary

  Means for saving power · CPC title

• H04W52/0254

  detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device · CPC title