Patent Publication Number: US-2013254571-A1

Title: Power management method and apparatus for network access module

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN 2011/071844, filed on Mar. 16, 2011, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. CN 201010127077.7, filed on Mar. 16, 2010, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE APPLICATION 
     The present application relates to the field of electronic products, and in particular, to a power management method and apparatus for a network access module. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE APPLICATION 
     At present, there are more and more types of terminal devices, which may include a desktop computer terminal device, a netbook, a mobile Internet device (MID), a mobile phone, and so on. With the development of technologies, there are also more and more wireless network access applications in which a terminal device is involved, which causes that power consumption of a network access module in the terminal device is also increased gradually, and therefore, power management of the network access module attracts more and more attention. 
     The foregoing network access module includes an embedded module, a machine to machine (M2M) module, a board to board (B2B) module, and so on. Power management of these network access modules indicates that when a user does not use a network service function (such as a voice service, a short message service, a data service, a GPS service, and so on), the network access module may enter a low power consumption state, thereby reducing electricity consumption and extending usage time of a battery in the terminal device. 
     At present, the foregoing network access module is generally integrated inside the terminal device, and communicates with the terminal device through a universal serial bus (USB) protocol, which is equivalent to that the network access module is connected to the terminal device through an external USB interface. Existing power management of the network access module includes the following cases: 
     1. After closing background software that is corresponding to the network access module, disconnect a USB directly to enter a power saving mode; 
     2. Do not disconnect a USB, but close background software that is corresponding to the network access module to enter a power saving mode; and 
     3. Neither disconnect a USB nor close background software that is corresponding to the network access module, but close a radio frequency to enter a power saving mode. 
     However, the prior art still has the following problem: The terminal device interacts with the network access module through the USB protocol, and the network access module can be queried only after the network access module is woken up from a low power consumption state, and therefore, actually whether the network access module is in a low power consumption state cannot be queried, which is not conducive for the terminal device to control the network access module. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Embodiments provide a power management method and apparatus for a network access module, so that it is convenient for a terminal device to know a state of a network access module, thereby enhancing control of the network access module by the terminal device. 
     In one aspect, an embodiment provides a power management method for a network access module, where the method includes: receiving, through a general purpose input output (GPIO) pin, a power management command sent by a terminal device; performing switching between a working state and a low power consumption state according to the power management command; and communicating a state after switching back to the terminal device through a GPIO pin. 
     In another aspect, an embodiment provides a power management apparatus for a network access module, where the apparatus includes: a command receiving unit, configured to receive, through a GPIO pin, a power management command sent by a terminal device; a switching unit, configured to perform switching between a working state and a low power consumption state according to the power management command; and a feedback unit, configured to communicate a state after switching back to the terminal device through a GPIO pin. 
     In another aspect, an embodiment further provides a network access module including the foregoing power management apparatus for a network access module, and provides a terminal device including the foregoing power management apparatus for a network access module. 
     In the embodiments, the network access module may perform power management interaction with the terminal device through a GPIO pin, and may also communicate back a current state of the network access module through a GPIO pin, so that it is convenient for the terminal device to know the state of the network access module, thereby enhancing control of the network access module by the terminal device. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments more clearly, the accompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments are introduced briefly in the following. Apparently, the accompanying drawings in the following description are only some embodiments, and persons of ordinary skill in the art may also derive other drawings according to these accompanying drawings without creative efforts. 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic flowchart of a power management method for a network access module according to an embodiment; 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram showing a connection between a network access module and a terminal device according to an embodiment; 
         FIG. 3  is a schematic flowchart of another power management method for a network access module according to an embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  is a schematic flowchart of another power management method for a network access module according to an embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  is a schematic structural diagram of a power management apparatus for a network access module according to an embodiment; and 
         FIG. 6  is a schematic structural diagram of another power management apparatus for a network access module according to an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     The technical solutions in the embodiments are clearly and fully described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings . The embodiments to be described are merely exemplary. Based on the embodiments, other embodiments may be obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without creative efforts. Such other embodiments are considered to fall within the protection scope. 
       FIG. 1  is a schematic flowchart of a power management method for a network access module according to an embodiment. In this embodiment, the present invention is described from a network access module side, and the method includes the following steps: 
     S 101 : Receive, through a GPIO pin, a power management command sent by a terminal device. 
       FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram showing a connection between a network access module and a terminal device according to an embodiment. In this embodiment, a network access module  202  and a terminal device  201  may interact with each other in two manners: One is through a USB protocol, and the other is through a GPIO pin. In terms of a physical connection, the foregoing two interaction manners are as follows: For the USB protocol, peripheral component interconnect (PCI) is converted to a USB, for example, USB interaction is performed through 4 PINs that are on a mini PCI-E, where two of the 4 PINs are for power supply and two of the 4 PINs are for data; and for the GPIO, the terminal device may lead out pins, which are connected to PINs on a mini PCI-E slot, and a network access module is connected to a GPIO pin of a chip inside the network access module through a corresponding PIN on a connecting finger, and when the network access module is inserted into the mini PCI-E slot, the PIN on the connecting finger in the network access module contacts with the corresponding PIN on the mini PCI-E slot, so that the GPIO pin of the chip inside the network access module is connected with the terminal device. 
     In this embodiment, the terminal device  201  may send, by changing a level of a PIN on the mini PCI-E slot to make a level of the GPIO pin in the network access module  202  change, a power management command to the network access module. Specifically, a level of a designated GPIO pin in the network access module  202  may be changed to represent a certain power management command, and such a corresponding relationship between a level and a power management command may be preset. For example, the terminal device  201  may set a level of a designated GPIO pin in the network access module  202  to a high level, which is used to indicate that the network access module is allowed to enter a low power consumption state, and at the same time, the terminal device  201  may set the level of the GPIO pin to a low level, which is used to indicate that the network access module is enabled to enter a working state. Definitely, the embodiment is not limited to the foregoing level configuration manner, and any other possible preset configuration manner falls within the scope of the embodiment. 
     S 102 : The network access module performs switching between a working state and a low power consumption state according to the power management command. 
     After detecting a change of the level of the foregoing designated GPIO pin, the network access module  202  performs switching between its states according to a preset power management command that is corresponding to a changed level. In this embodiment, the low power consumption state may be: a state in which a processor of the network access module stops working; or, a state in which a signal from a network side is intermittently received; or, a state in which a processor works at a reduced frequency, an interruption that can be used for waking up is maintained, and power supply for a part of components is stopped; or, a state in which there is only a voltage but no current, and overall power consumption is obviously reduced as compared with the working state. 
     S 103 : Communicate a state after switching back to the terminal device through a GPIO pin. 
     In this embodiment, the network access module  202  may communicate a current state back to the terminal device through a designated GPIO pin. For example, a level of the GPIO pin is set to a high level to represent that the network access module  202  is in a working state currently, and the level of the GPIO pin is set to a low level to represent that the network access module  202  is in a low power consumption state currently. It should be noted that, the GPIO pin for communicating back the state and the foregoing GPIO pin for receiving the power management command are different GPIO pins. 
     In this embodiment, the terminal device may obtain the current state of the network access module  202  in two manners: One is that after setting the GPIO pin to a high/low level, the network access module  202  may notify a host through a pulse signal, so that the host knows the current state of the network access module, and in this case, if the host is in a standby state, the host may be set that the host is not woken up by the signal when the host is in the standby state; and the other is that the host queries a level of the GPIO pin to know the current state of the network access module. 
     In this embodiment, the network access module may perform power management interaction with the terminal device through a GPIO pin, and may also communicate back a current state of the network access module through a GPIO pin, so that it is convenient for the terminal device to know the state of the network access module, thereby enhancing control of the network access module by the terminal device. 
       FIG. 3  is a schematic flowchart of another power management method for a network access module according to an embodiment. This embodiment is also described from a network access module side, and the method includes the following steps: 
     S 301 : Receive, through a GPIO pin, a command for allowing a network access module to enter a low power consumption state, where the command is sent by a terminal device. When determining that no service needs to be processed temporarily, the terminal device may set a level of a certain designated GPIO pin of the network access module to allow the network access module to enter a low power consumption state. 
     As an embodiment, the foregoing low power consumption state includes at least a power consumption state of one level. When the foregoing low power consumption state includes power consumption states of multiple levels, for example, includes three kinds of low power consumption states: a higher level, a medium level and a lowest level, the network access module may determine, according to a condition of a current task, to enter a power consumption state of which level. In this way, normal operation of a current task may be ensured, and furthermore, an effect of reducing power consumption of the terminal device may be achieved. 
     S 302 : Query, according to the foregoing command for allowing the network access module to enter the low power consumption state, a current task of the network access module, where the command is sent by the terminal device. 
     When a host determines that no service needs to be continued, the network access module may still be processing some tasks. For example, a user does not perform any operation, but the terminal device undergoes cell handover, moves between an area with a signal and an area without a signal, and so on. In this case, the terminal device allows the network access module to enter the low power consumption state, but the network access module needs to process these events independently, and then enters the low power consumption state; and otherwise, a system exception is caused. Therefore, to avoid an exception that occurs to the system, the network access module may perform task query, and then perform a further operation according to a query result. 
     S 303 : Judge, according to the query result, whether switching from a working state to a low power consumption state may be performed. 
     When the network access module queries and finds, through step S 302 , that no ongoing task exists, proceed to step S 305 , and when the network access module queries and finds that an ongoing task exists, proceed to step S 304 . 
     S 304 : Perform task processing, and proceed to step S 305  after processing of an ongoing task is finished. 
     As another embodiment, when querying and finding that an ongoing task exists, the network access module may also directly refuse to perform switching from a working state to a low power consumption state, and communicate back the information to the terminal device without performing step S 304 . 
     S 305 : Perform switching from the working state to the low power consumption state. 
     S 306 : Communicate a state after switching back to the terminal device through a GPIO pin. 
     Step S 306  is similar to step S 103 , but it should be noted that, when the foregoing low power consumption state includes power consumption states of multiple levels, which causes that one GPIO pin cannot represent all states of the network access module, the network access module may use a combination of levels on multiple GPIO pins to represent all states of the network access module. 
     In this embodiment, the network access module may perform power management interaction with the terminal device through a GPIO pin, and may also communicate back a current state of the network access module through a GPIO pin, so that it is convenient for the terminal device to know the state of the network access module, thereby enhancing control of the network access module by the terminal device. In addition, in this embodiment, a function that a host of the terminal device is woken up by an incoming call may also be implemented through a GPIO pin. 
     As an embodiment, as shown in  FIG. 4 , a method according to this embodiment may further include the following steps: 
     S 401 : Receive, through a GPIO pin, a command for waking up a network access module, where the command is sent by a terminal device. 
     When the terminal device needs to perform a certain service, it may enable the network access module to enter a working state by setting a level of a certain designated GPIO pin of the network access module. It should be noted that, the GPIO pin for receiving a wake-up command and the GPIO pin for receiving the command for allowing entering a low power consumption state in the embodiment that is corresponding to  FIG. 3  may be the same pin, and may also be different pins. 
     S 402 : Perform switching from a low power consumption state to a working state according to the command for waking up the network access module, where the command is sent by the terminal device. 
     The sending of the command for waking up the network access module is implemented by the terminal device through setting a level of a certain designated GPIO pin of the network access module, and after the terminal device sets the level of the GPIO pin, the network access module can sense a change of the level of the GPIO pin at once, thereby enabling itself to perform switching from a low power consumption state to a working state. 
     S 403 : Communicate a state after switching back to the terminal device through a GPIO pin. 
     Step S 403  is similar to step S 306 , and is not described here again. 
     In this embodiment, the network access module may perform power management interaction with the terminal device through a GPIO pin, and may also communicate back a current state of the network access module through a GPIO pin, so that it is convenient for the terminal device to know the state of the network access module, thereby enhancing control of the network access module by the terminal device. In addition, in this embodiment, a function that a host is woken up by an incoming call may also be implemented through a GPIO pin. 
     In the embodiments of  FIG. 3  and  FIG. 4 , an aspect that the power management of the network access module is regulated by the terminal device is described; however, the power management of the network access module not only involves regulation of the terminal device itself, but also may include regulation of some external factors. For example, when the network access module is in a low power consumption state and receives some network service signals such as an incoming call, a short message, and so on, not only the network access module may be woken up from the low power consumption state, that is, may perform switching from the low power consumption state to a working state, but also the terminal device may further be woken up. Therefore, the power management method for a network access module in this embodiment may further include the following steps: 
     after switching from the low power consumption state to the working state according to a network service signal, waking up the terminal device through a GPIO pin, and communicating the state after switching back to the terminal device through a GPIO pin. 
     For example, when the network access module enters a low power consumption state, a level of a certain designated GPIO pin is set to a preset state, such as a high level; after receiving the foregoing network service signal, the network access module in the low power consumption state is automatically woken up first, that is, switches from the low power consumption state to a working state; and then, after being automatically woken up, the network access module changes the level of the designated GPIO pin to a low level, thereby interrupting the terminal device and waking up the terminal device. 
     Therefore, in this embodiment, a function that the network access module in the low power consumption state wakes up the terminal device when receiving a network service signal may also be implemented. 
       FIG. 5  is a schematic structural diagram of a power management apparatus for a network access module according to an embodiment. In actual use, the apparatus may be a network access module, and may also be a unit in a network access module. 
     The power management apparatus for a network access module includes: a command receiving unit  510 , a switching unit  520 , and a feedback unit  530 , where the switching unit  520  is connected to the receiving unit  510  and the feedback unit  530  respectively. 
     The command receiving unit  510  is configured to receive, through a GPIO pin, a power management command sent by a terminal device. In this embodiment, the terminal device may make a level of a corresponding GPIO pin in a network access module change by changing a level of a PIN on a mini PCI-E slot; where the PIN on the mini PCI-E slot contacts with a corresponding PIN on a connecting finger of the network access module, and a GPIO pin inside the network access module is connected to a PIN on the connecting finger, so that the terminal device may make the level of the GPIO pin in the network access module change by changing the level of the PIN on the mini PCI-E slot. In this way, a power management command may be sent to the network access module by changing the level of the GPIO pin in the network access module, and such a corresponding relationship between a level and a power management command may be preset. For example, the terminal device may set a level of a designated GPIO pin in the network access module to a high level, which is used to indicate that the network access module is allowed to enter a low power consumption state, and set the level of the GPIO pin to a low level, which is used to indicate that the network access module is woken up and enabled to enter a working state. Definitely, the embodiment is not limited to the foregoing level configuration manner, and any other possible preset configuration manner falls within the scope of the embodiment. 
     The switching unit  520  is configured to enable the network access module to perform switching between a working state and a low power consumption state according to the power management command. The switching module  520  may detect a change of the level on the foregoing designated GPIO pin, and perform switching between its states according to a preset power management command that is corresponding to a changed level. 
     The feedback unit  530  is configured to communicate a state after switching back to the terminal device through a GPIO pin. 
     In this embodiment, the feedback unit  530  may communicate back a current state to the terminal device through a designated GPIO pin. For example, a level of the GPIO pin is set to a high level to represent that the network access module is in a working state currently, and the level of the GPIO pin is set to a low level to represent that the network access module is in a low power consumption state currently. 
     In this embodiment, the network access module may perform power management interaction with the terminal device through a GPIO pin, and may also communicate back a current state of the network access module through a GPIO pin, so that it is convenient for the terminal device to know the state of the network access module, thereby enhancing control of the network access module by the terminal device. 
       FIG. 6  is a schematic structural diagram of another power management apparatus for a network access module according to an embodiment. In actual use, the apparatus may be a network access module, and may also be a unit in a network access module. The apparatus includes: a command receiving unit  610 , a switching unit  620 , a feedback unit  630 , a network service signal receiving unit  640 , and a terminal device wake-up unit  650 . 
     The command receiving unit  610  includes a low power consumption allowing module  611  and a wake-up receiving module  612 . 
     The low power consumption allowing module  611  is configured to receive, through a GPIO pin, a command for allowing a network access module to enter a low power consumption state, where the command is sent by a terminal device. When the terminal device determines that no service needs to be processed temporarily, the terminal device may allow the network access module to enter a low power consumption state by setting a level of a certain designated GPIO pin of the network access module, and at this time, the low power consumption allowing module  611  may judge, by querying the level of the designated GPIO pin, whether the command for allowing the network access module to enter the low power consumption state is received, where the command is sent by the terminal device. 
     The wake-up receiving module  612  is configured to receive, through a GPIO pin, a command for waking up the network access module, where the command is sent by the terminal device. When the terminal device needs to perform a certain service, the terminal device may enable the network access module to enter a working state by setting a level of a certain designated GPIO pin of the network access module, and at this time, hardware interruption occurs in the wake-up receiving module  612  since a change of the level of the designated GPIO pin is received, thereby waking up the network access module. 
     As an embodiment, the foregoing low power consumption state includes at least a power consumption state of one level, and when the foregoing low power consumption state includes power consumption states of multiple levels, for example, includes three kinds of low power consumption states: a higher level, a medium level and a lowest level, the network access module may determine, according to a condition of a current task, to enter a power consumption state of which level. In this way, normal operation of a current task may be ensured, and furthermore, an effect of reducing power consumption of the terminal device may be achieved. 
     The switching unit  620  includes a querying module  621 , a judging module  622 , and a switching module  623 . 
     The querying module  621  is connected to the foregoing low power consumption allowing module  611 , and the querying module  621  is configured to query, according to the foregoing command for allowing the network access module to enter the low power consumption state, a current task of the network access module. When a host determines that no service needs to be continued, the network access module may still be processing some tasks. For example, a user does not perform any operation, but the terminal device undergoes cell handover, moves between an area with a signal and an area without a signal, and so on. In this case, the terminal device allows the network access module to enter the power consumption state, but the network access module needs to process these events independently, and then enters the low power consumption state; and otherwise, a system exception is caused. Therefore, in order not to cause a system exception, the querying module  621  needs to perform task query, and then performs a further operation according to a query result. 
     The judging module  622  is configured to judge, according to the query result of the querying module  621 , whether switching from a working state to a low power consumption state may be performed. When the querying module  621  queries and finds that no ongoing task exists, the judging module  622  determines that switching from the working state to the low power consumption state may be performed; and when the querying module  621  queries and finds that an ongoing task exists, the judging module  622  determines that switching from the working state to the low power consumption state may be refused, or may wait for a period of time, and then switches to the low power consumption state after the foregoing ongoing task ends. 
     The switching module  623  is configured to perform switching between the working state and the low power consumption state according to a judging result of the judging module  622  and the command for waking up the network access module, where the command is received by the wake-up receiving module  612  from the terminal device. 
     The network service signal receiving unit  640  is configured to receive a network service signal such as an incoming call signal or a short message signal. 
     The terminal device wake-up unit  650  is configured to wake up, according to the network service signal, the terminal device through a GPIO pin after the network access module switches from the low power consumption state to the working state. 
     The feedback unit  630  is configured to communicate a switching result of the switching unit  620  and an operation result of the terminal device wake-up unit  650  back to the terminal device through a GPIO pin. However, it should be noted that, when the foregoing low power consumption state includes power consumption states of multiple levels, which causes that one GPIO pin cannot represent all states of the network access module, the feedback unit  630  may use a combination of levels on multiple GPIO pins to represent all states of the network access module. 
     In this embodiment, the network access module may perform power management interaction with the terminal device through a GPIO pin, and may also communicate back a current state of the network access module through a GPIO pin, so that it is convenient for the terminal device to know the state of the network access module, thereby enhancing control of the network access module by the terminal device. In addition, in this embodiment, a function that a host is woken up by an incoming call through a GPIO pin may also be implemented. 
     Persons of ordinary skill in the art may understand that all or a part of the processes of the methods in the foregoing embodiments may be accomplished by a computer program instructing relevant hardware. The program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. When the program is performed, the processes of each method in the foregoing embodiments may be included. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), and so on. 
     It should be understood that the foregoing descriptions are merely exemplary and are not intended to limit the protection scope of the claims..