Patent Publication Number: US-9407747-B2

Title: Mobile device and method

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to a method for monitoring power consumption in a mobile battery operated device, a mobile battery operated device and a computer program performing such a method. 
     BACKGROUND 
     Power consumption of mobile battery operated devices such as mobile communication terminals is expected to increase as the demand for enhanced functionality increases. 
     For example, there is a demand for communication terminals that are capable of communicating in a plurality of different communication systems, including second generation systems such as GSM/GPRS and third generation systems such as WCDMA/EGPRS/HSDPA as well as WLAN systems of the 802.11 family. Moreover, increased power consumption is due also to other hardware parts of a typical communication terminal, especially the applications processor and the main display. In addition, advanced features exploiting the hardware functionality contribute to this increase, e.g. 3D games, video players, etc. 
     Such terminals will consume much more energy in comparison with earlier terminals, these earlier terminals having only limited functionality and, e.g., being capable of communicating in only a single communication system. 
     With the current progress in battery capacity unable to keep pace with the increasing demands posed by such feature-rich mobile devices, new ways to control and sensibly reduce the power consumption of terminals are needed. Hardware solutions typically involve implementation of circuitry having inherently low power consumption. Such hardware solutions may involve the use of specific materials as well as reducing the number of components to a minimum. Needless to say, hardware solutions are not very flexible and they provide a very limited amount of functionality. 
     Software solutions, on the other hand, typically offer an advantage over purely hardware-based solutions in that software can keep track of the context of the monitored device and thus make it possible for a software developer to make more sensible decisions as to when and where to optimize power. However, it is only through complex setup of expensive external digital measuring equipment and configuration of dedicated and specialized software that this is feasible in the prior art. That is, visibility of the energy and power consumption of an application in the prior art is possible only through the use of external equipment. A developer need to perform more or less complex configuration procedures to set up the equipment in order to find out where to optimize the operation of a device. 
     A drawback related to prior art methods and devices is hence that an application developer, when developing a software application for execution in a mobile communication device, has a very limited capability of optimizing the software application in terms of its effect on the power consumption by the device. In fact, an application developer typically has no way of finding out how battery lifetime is effected by a software application being developed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     An object of the present invention is to overcome drawbacks related to prior art as discussed above. This object is achieved in different aspects by way of a method, a terminal and a computer program according to the appended claims. 
     Hence, in a first aspect, there is provided a method for monitoring power consumption in a mobile battery operated device comprising electric circuitry, a display and a battery. The method comprises the steps of executing a software application, during which the software application at least generates display content, detecting, at a plurality of instants of time, at least one electric quantity representative of power output from the battery, detecting at least one triggering event, and, in response to the at least one triggering event, recording at least a respective subset of the display content generated by the software application. 
     The detection of at least one triggering event may comprise detecting a signal generated via the electric circuitry in response to a user action, such as detecting a signal from a keypad when a user manipulates a key. 
     The at least one triggering event may also be generated by way of analysing a plurality of the at least one electric quantity representative of power output in terms of peak values as well as in terms of gradients and changes of gradients. 
     The detection of the at least one triggering event may also comprise detecting a timing signal. In other words, the triggering event may also be of a more general character, e.g. generated at specific points time by a timing function. In fact, the way in which the event triggering is performed may vary—as long as a triggering event is generated that is detectable. 
     The recorded display content may be displayed on the display of the terminal. Typically, such a displaying takes place subsequent to a number of detections of triggering events and recordings of display contents. However, displaying of the display content may also be performed in response to the at least one triggering event. 
     Power level indicators that are representative of the detected electric quantity representative of power output may be displayed. This may entail displaying a graph of power level indicators with respect to time. That is, a function of power level samples with respect to time may be displayed. Similar to the displaying of the display content, the displaying of power level indicators typically takes place subsequent to a number of detections of triggering events and recordings of display contents. However, displaying of the power level indicators may also be performed during actual monitoring. 
     A graphic triggering event indicator corresponding to a point in time associated with a detected triggering event may also be displayed. For example, a graphic symbol such as a vertical line, a rectangle, a circle, a cross, a shaded area etc., may be displayed to enhance and call attention to a specific part of a displayed graph. 
     The displaying of the display content and the displaying of the power level indicators may be such that they blend in with each other, while at the same time being visible to a viewer. 
     The at least one detected electric quantity representative of power output may also be recorded in the form of a time series of values. This recorded time series of recorded values may furthermore be provided, e.g. via a suitable communication channel, for use in an analysis system that is external to the battery operated device that is being subject to the power consumption monitoring. 
     Similarly, a respective time point associated with each recorded display content may also be recorded and also provided, together with the respective recorded display content, for use in an analysis system. 
     In a second aspect, there is provided a mobile battery operated device configured for monitoring power consumption. The device comprises electric circuitry, a display and a battery as well as means for executing a software application, during which the software application at least generates display content, means for detecting, at a plurality of instants of time, at least one electric quantity representative of power output from the battery, means for detecting at least one triggering event, and means for, in response to the at least one triggering event, recording at least a respective subset of the display content generated by the software application. 
     In a third aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising software instructions that, when executed in a battery operated device, performs the method as described above. 
     To summarize, the invention makes use of display content such as graphical user interface snapshots to help a user, typically in the role of a software application developer, in the process of power-optimising an applications. The invention provides the developers with an ability to correlate specific software application events, such as user interface events, to power consumption peaks and lows, e.g. when connecting to an entity in a communication system and when forcing radio circuitry to activate, or when executing a computing-intensive operation that results in an overall increase in the power consumption. 
     This approach may make use of algorithms to analyse and identify power critical events (e.g. peaks and lows in the power graph, along with radical changes in the gradient of its first derivative or any higher derivative) in time as the power profiling goes on, in real-time. The identification of a critical event triggers the inventive, software implemented, method to record an instant snapshot of the current application display. Needless to say, this operation should also be optimised such that it interferes as little as possible with the normal execution of the application being profiled. Such optimisation is, however, outside the scope of the present invention. 
     The user interface snapshots offer visual hints to a user as to where the power consumption critical events are located within an application. This provides a much faster power profiling of applications as well as providing, to the user, an intuitive sense for “power hogs” within an application. That is, a user may develop a feeling for those operations that cause peaks and lows in the power graph. This enables a user to be more conscious about the energy expenditure of a software application under development. While many software application developers would claim “just not having time” for detailed power tracing, the method provided by the present invention may even be a fun activity to perform after an application is finally up-and-ready from a functional standpoint. 
     In fact, the situation is typically such that, by making only little changes to a particular software implementation, it may have a great impact to the overall power consumption in a battery operated device. For example, optimisation may be achieved in terms of buffering sizes etc., especially for applications that are executed very often in a battery operated device. 
     An advantageous result provided by the present invention is hence that it facilitates for developers to get involved in power consumption optimization tasks and thereby the software applications being developed will make effective use of the available power. For example, an application developer may utilize the invention in order to find out how battery lifetime is effected by a software application being developed. This is typically a notion familiar to software developers, as opposed to current and power consumption. 
     As an added advantage, the approach according to the invention provides a way to obtain a highlight summary of an application&#39;s history, in a series of screenshots at relevant points in time, which may facilitate activities such as debugging and documentation. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows schematically a block diagram of a communication terminal according to the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a flow chart of a method according to the present invention. 
         FIGS. 3 a  and 3 b    illustrate content displayed on a terminal display corresponding to the method illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  is a screenshot of a terminal display on which a power level graph and an application screenshot is displayed in a blended manner. 
         FIGS. 5 a - d    are screenshots of a terminal display during a recording mode. 
         FIGS. 6 a - b    are screenshots of a terminal display during a viewing mode. 
         FIGS. 7 a - d    are screenshots of a terminal display during scrolling. 
         FIGS. 8 a - b    are screenshots of a terminal display during displaying of statistics. 
     
    
    
     PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Although the present invention will be exemplified below with a mobile communication terminal, it is to be understood that the communication terminal is representative of any battery operated device. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates schematically a communication terminal  101  in which the present invention is implemented. It should, however, be understood that the invention is not limited to communication terminals, but may be applied to any device where power optimization is deemed important, e.g. in a laptop computer, and that the terminal  101  in  FIG. 1  is only an example of such a device. 
     The terminal  101  is capable of communication via an air interface  103  with a radio communication system  105  such as the well known mobile communication systems GSM/GPRS, WCDMA/EGPRS/HSDPA, CDMA2000 and also data communication systems such as the 802.11 family of WLAN standards. 
     The terminal  101  comprises electric circuitry in the form of a processor  107 , memory  109  as well as input/output units in the form of a microphone  111 , a speaker  113 , a display  115  and a keyboard  117 . Radio communication is realized by radio circuitry  119  and an antenna  121 . The details regarding how these units communicate are known to the skilled person and is therefore not discussed further. The terminal  101  further comprises a power source in the form of a battery  110 . The battery  110  provides power to all circuitry in the terminal  101  via a power measuring unit  112 . The power measuring unit  112  detects, at specific instants in time, voltage and current and provides an output signal to the processor  107  that is proportional to the electric power provided by the battery  110 . The instants in time at which the measuring is performed may, e.g., be provided by the processor  107 , but may also be predefined and stored within the power measuring unit  112 . 
     The communication terminal  101  may for example be a mobile telephone terminal, a PDA, a portable personal computer, a portable gaming console, a multimedia portable center, or an MP3 player with a rich visualization display, etc. 
     The method according to the present invention will in general reside in the form of software instructions, together with other software components as described in connection with  FIG. 1 , in the memory  109  of the terminal. The software instructions of the inventive notification function may be provided into the memory  109  in a number of ways, including distribution via the network  105  from a software supplier  123 . 
     Turning now to  FIGS. 2 and 3   a - c , in addition to  FIG. 1 , a method according to the present invention will be described. The method is typically implemented by way of software residing in memory means and executed by processing means in a communication terminal, such as the terminal  101  described above with reference to  FIG. 1 . 
     In an execution initiation step  201 , a software application that is to be subject to power monitoring is started and continues to operate according to it&#39;s specific software instructions, including such operations as displaying information and controlling the terminal  101  in any appropriate manner. 
     In a power detection step  203 , the method according to the invention performs a detection of the power provided by the battery  110 . As discussed in connection with  FIG. 1 , the power detection may be performed in terms of measuring voltage and current provided by the battery  110 . 
     The detected power level is then recorded, i.e. stored for later displaying as will be discussed below, in a recording step  205 . 
     In a trigger detection step  207  any triggering event, such as a user pressing a key on the keypad  117  is detected. The triggering event may also be generated by way of analysing a plurality of power output values in terms of peak values as well as in terms of gradients and changes of gradients. 
     If no triggering event is detected, the method returns to the power detection step  203 . 
     After detecting a triggering event in step  207 , a snapshot is recorded, in a recording step  209 , of the current content of the display output by the application being monitored. By this, the recorded power level is associated with the recorded display content. 
     In a checking step  211 , decision is made whether or not the monitoring is to be continued or not. If it is decided to continue, the method returns to the power detection step  203 . 
     If it is decided not to continue with the monitoring of power usage, the method continues to display the results of the monitoring. The recorded display content is then displayed, together with the corresponding recorded power levels, in a display step  213 . The displaying of the display content may be simultaneous with the displaying of the power level indicators in such a manner that they blend in with each other, while at the same time being visible to a viewer. The displaying may also be simultaneous in that the displaying of power level indicators are partly covered by the displaying of the recorded display content of the software application. 
     As the skilled person will realize, termination of the monitoring may occur as a result of any other appropriate user interaction known in the art during any of the steps described. 
     An alternative implementation of the method as described with reference to  FIG. 2  may include displaying of the recorded power levels and the recorded snapshots during the actual monitoring. That is, the recording steps  205  and  209  may include displaying of the power level and the display content, respectively. 
     Turning now to  FIGS. 3 a , 3 b    and  4 , content displayed on a terminal display will be described with reference to the method of  FIG. 2 . 
       FIG. 3 a    illustrates a display of the terminal  101  resulting from the content display step  209  of  FIG. 2 . That is, after a triggering event has been detected in step  207 . Recorded display content  307  from the monitored software application is displayed on top of a graph of a time series of power level indicators  301 . The graph  301  is plotted in terms of power (W) against time and, as  FIG. 3 a    shows, the power output has been detected for about 75 seconds and during that time period has varied between 0 W and 2 W. Peaks are observed at 40 seconds (2 W) and 65 seconds (1.5 W). A graphic indicator  308  is shown at the 1.5 W power level peak at 75 seconds. This peak has been detected by a suitably configured peak detection algorithm, as discussed above. 
       FIG. 3 b    illustrates a situation preceding that of  FIG. 3 a   , i.e. the power level graph  301 ′ during the initial 30 seconds of monitoring. Display content  307 ′ generated by the monitored application is indicated in  FIG. 3 b    as being “behind” the displaying of the graph  301 ′. This is to illustrate that the monitored application may be executed in a “background mode”, while a user of the monitoring method views the output (i.e. the graph  301 ′) of detected power levels. Other information pertaining to the monitoring may be presented along with the graph  301 ′, as exemplified by symbols  309 . For example, as indicated in  FIG. 3 b   , an indication regarding remaining time for battery operation of the terminal may be presented. 
       FIG. 4  is a screenshot of a terminal display on which a power level graph  401  and an application screenshot  407  is displayed in a blended manner. Such a configuration may be of particular benefit in a case where a display is small and a presentation of a graph and a snapshot of a monitored application would crowd the display unnecessarily. Similar to the screenshot of  FIG. 3 b   , any information pertaining to the monitoring may be presented along with the graph  401 , as exemplified by symbols  409 . 
     Turning now to  FIGS. 5 to 8 , the appearance of a terminal display during different operational modes will be illustrated. 
       FIGS. 5 a - d    illustrate a sequence of screenshots of a terminal display during a recording mode.  FIG. 5 a    illustrates a point in time when detection of power consumption has been in operation for about 20 seconds and a power level graph has been displayed.  FIG. 5 b    illustrates the appearance of the terminal display when the terminal display has been controlled to display the software application that is being subject to the power monitoring method. That is, the detection and recording of power output continues to operate in a “background mode”. A user then triggers, e.g. by pressing a key on the terminal, the power monitoring method to record the display content as shown in  FIG. 5 b   . Although not illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the user may perform a plurality of triggering actions while operating the software application, each triggering action causing a recording of the display content. Recording of display content may also be automatically triggered, as discussed above.  FIG. 5 c    illustrates the appearance of the terminal display when the terminal display has been controlled to again display the power level graph, now at a point in time 40 seconds after initial start of the power monitoring.  FIG. 5 d    illustrates the appearance of the terminal display when the terminal display has been controlled to display the currently running applications, including the power monitoring method “Juice”, a telephone application and a Camera application. 
       FIGS. 6 a - b    illustrate a sequence of screenshots of a terminal display during a viewing mode. That is,  FIGS. 6 a - b    illustrate a situation subsequent to the recording mode that is illustrated in  FIGS. 5 a - d   .  FIG. 6 a    illustrates the terminal display on which the power graph is displayed and where a screenshot is displayed.  FIG. 6 b    illustrates the terminal display on which the power graph is displayed in more detail. The power graph has been scrolled and slightly expanded to show more detail. 
       FIGS. 7 a - d    illustrate a sequence of screenshots of a terminal display, illustrating a power graph extending for 4 hours.  FIG. 7 a    illustrates the power graph during a time interval extending from 4 minutes, 27 seconds to 4 minutes, 32 seconds.  FIG. 7 b    illustrates the power graph during a time interval extending from 3 minutes, 40 seconds to 4 minutes, 32 seconds.  FIG. 7 c    illustrates the power graph during a time interval extending from 1 hour, 45 minutes to 4 hours, 45 minutes.  FIG. 7 d    illustrates the power graph during a time interval extending from 0 hour, 0 minutes to 4 hours, 45 minutes. 
       FIGS. 8 a - b    illustrate screenshots of a terminal display when a user has operated a statistic analysis application on data output from, e.g., the power monitoring method described above.  FIG. 8 a    illustrates a box plot and  FIG. 8 b    illustrates a histogram plot. 
     Hence, in summary, the present invention provides event triggered snapshots of display content of software applications that facilitate for a user, typically in the role of a software application developer, in the process of power-optimising an application under development. The invention provides the developers with an ability to correlate specific software application events, e.g. user interface events, to power consumption peaks and lows.