Abstract:
A mobile device that includes a cellular network connection device capable of connecting to a cellular network. The device also includes an application that communicates through the cellular network connection device to a remote device, a context memory that records information about a user&#39;s use of the mobile device and a battery management module that limits a frequency that the application communicates to the remote device based on a current location of the mobile device and information in the context memory.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    The present application relates generally to a data processing apparatus and method and more specifically to systems and methods to increase battery length for mobile devices. 
         [0002]    The term “mobile device” refers to any device that may connect to a remote server over a communication network. A communication network may be a cellular or data (e.g., wi-fi) network. As mobile devices continue to become a part of everyday life, an aspect of mobile devices is energy management. The performance of mobile devices has greatly improved over the years. Mobile devices are now capable of storing applications that perform complex computational tasks such as, for example, map and direction generation, image recognition, and image/sound processing. However, as the complexity of the computations and tasks increase, the amount of energy required to carry out the computations and tasks also increases. For example, a geographical mapping application may include a feature of rendering a 3D map of a two-dimensional geographic location. The task of rendering the 3D map can require a large number of computations and the duration of the computations may be extensive. Consequently, many common tasks desired by users of today&#39;s mobile devices can rapidly consume the mobile device&#39;s available energy, i.e., drain the battery energy, in order to perform the necessary computations. 
         [0003]    While there have been gradual improvements in battery technology, advancements to this date have not kept up with energy requirements of modem computational tasks. Further, the trend toward smaller, slimmer devices leads to little increase in capacity despite improvements in energy density. 
         [0004]    Any attempt to reduce battery usage, however, may include drawbacks. For instance, it has been proposed to save battery by dimming mobile device screens during times when the mobile device is not being used or when the battery becomes low. Such measures, however, a reactive, not proactive and save battery life when it is low, not before it becomes low. Further, such solutions are applied to the device as a whole and may hinder the operation of particular applications that the user is interested in operating. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    According to an embodiment of the present invention, a mobile device that includes a cellular network connection device capable of connecting to a cellular network is disclosed. The device also includes an application that communicates through the cellular network connection device to a remote device, a context memory that records information about a user&#39;s use of the mobile device and a battery management module that limits a frequency that the application communicates to the remote device based on a current location of the mobile device and information in the context memory. 
         [0006]    In another embodiment a mobile device that includes a cellular network connection device capable of connecting to a cellular network is disclosed. The device of this embodiment includes an application that operates on the mobile device and communicates with one or more other mobile devices, a context memory that records information about a user&#39;s use of the mobile device and a battery management module that limits at least one battery consuming aspect of the application based on a current location of the mobile device or of the one or more other mobile devices. 
         [0007]    In yet another embodiment, a method of controlling battery usage in a mobile device is disclosed. The method includes: determining a frequency an application operating on the mobile communicates through a cellular network connection device to a remote device; recording information in a context memory on the mobile phone that records information about a user&#39;s use of the mobile device; and limiting a frequency with a battery management module on the mobile device that the application communicates to the remote device based on a current location of the mobile device and information in the context memory. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]      FIG. 1  shows a power system configured to manage battery energy of a mobile device according to one embodiment; 
           [0009]      FIG. 2  shows a flow chart of a method of operating a mobile device according to one embodiment; and 
           [0010]      FIG. 3  shows a block diagram of example components of a mobile device. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0011]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , a power system  100  configured to manage battery energy of a mobile device is illustrated according to an exemplary embodiment. By conserving the battery energy, the operation of the mobile device may be extended over an increased time period. The power system  100  includes a primary mobile device  102  and a plurality of peer devices  104 . The primary mobile device  102  may include, but is not limited to, a cellular telephone, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, and a mobile media device. The peer devices  104  may include, but are not limited to, a cellular telephone, a personal computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a mobile media device, an internet server, a cloud server microcontroller to control operation of a cloud server, and an automotive microcontroller. The connection between a primary mobile device  102  and a particular peer device  104  may be point-to-point or may be through an intermediate location. For example, the primary mobile device  102  may communicate to a cell tower and then to a peer device  104 . 
         [0012]    The primary mobile device  102  (which may also be referred to simply as a “mobile device” herein) includes a power unit  106 , an operating system (OS)  108 , and a main communication module  110 . The power unit  106  is configured to power the primary mobile device  102 . The power unit  106  includes, for example, a rechargeable battery. When the power unit  106  is mains-connected, i.e., connected to a main power source such as a wall-mounted power outlet, the power unit  106  provides a constant and full power to the primary mobile device  102 . When the power unit  106  is disconnected from the main power, however, the primary mobile device  102  is powered by a battery included in the power unit  106 . As time proceeds, the energy level of the battery decreases until an insufficient amount of energy is available to operate the primary mobile device  102 . The primary mobile device  102  must then shut-down. The reduction of battery energy, i.e., battery drainage, is affected by the operation of the primary mobile device  102 . For example, the battery may drain faster when the primary mobile device  102  performs a high number of computations, where the computations are carried out over a long duration of time or where the mobile device  102  must repeatedly make contact with one of the peer devices  104  such as when getting map directions from a server. Accordingly, controlling the computations executed by the primary mobile device  102  or the number of contacts with another device may conserve battery energy and extend the operating time of the primary mobile device  102 . 
         [0013]    The OS  108  includes a collection of software and hardware components that operate the primary mobile device  102  and perform various computations for locally executing tasks  112  associated with applications  114  stored on memory of the primary mobile device  102  as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. The tasks  112  may include raw data, i.e., non-computed data, which generates a desired object in response to computing the raw data and completing the task. For example, the task  112  may include sending non-computed 2D map data, i.e., raw 2D data, to the OS  108  to undergo one or more computations. The OS  108  receives the raw 2D data and performs the computations on the 2D data to generate corresponding 3D data. Based on the 3D data, the OS  108  generates a 3D rendering of the 2D map data, and displays the 3D rendering to a user. Of course, other types of rendering may be used and 3D rendering is not required. 
         [0014]    One of the applications  114  may be a GPS application that determines a location of the mobile device  102 . Of course, the GPS application may only interpret location data that is determined by another application (e.g., application  120 ) based on the mobile devices&#39;  100  location relative to know points (e.g., cell towers and the like). 
         [0015]    The OS  108  may also electrically communicate, i.e., transmit and/or receive data, with the power unit  106  and the main communication module  110 . More specifically, the OS  108  may determine an energy level of the battery, and the remaining amount of energy and/or time left to power the primary mobile device  102  in response to communicating with the power unit  106 . The OS  108  may further utilize the main communication module  110  to electrically receive and/or transmit data such as, for example, one or more tasks  112  associated with a respective applications  114  stored on the primary mobile device  102 . The main communication module  110  may include a wireless network module, such as Bluetooth module. The main communication module  110  may also be in electrical communication with a cellular antenna  116 . The primary mobile device  102 , therefore, may transmit and/or receive data according to a variety of wireless protocols including, but not limited to, Bluetooth, radio frequency (RF), Wi-Fi and cellular wireless standard protocols such as 3G, 4G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. 
         [0016]    The peer devices  104  may each include a peer OS  118  that operates the peer device  104  and performs various computations for executing tasks associated with applications stored on the peer device  104 . The OS  108  may include one or more applications  111  that control are used herein to control battery usage. The application  111  can be another of the application  114  or could be part of the OS  108 . In one embodiment, the application  111  may control a frequency of communications with a peer device  104 . The peer device  104  may include an API  120  in some instances. 
         [0017]    One way to save power and, thus, battery life, is to limit or otherwise reduce the frequency interval of the mobile devices  100  communication communication with APIs  120  (e.g., server API&#39;s) when certain conditions are met. In one embodiment, the determination of when to save battery (by any method disclosed herein) is made by application  111 . In one embodiment, information about the user&#39;s prior experiences may be used to limit the frequency of commutation. The prior experiences may be stored, for example, in a “prior experiences” memory  113 . This memory  113  may also be referred to as a “context memory” herein. 
         [0018]    The following examples and the above description have referenced mapping programs. It shall be understood that the teachings herein are not so limited and could be applied to any situation where an application frequently interacts with an external server or peer device  104 . In some embodiments, provided is an intelligent method (operated by application  111 ) to reduce the frequency interval of application communication with server APIs when certain conditions are met to save power usage in mobile device. The conditions may be saved in the context memory  113 . In another embodiment, the conditions may also help determine when it is acceptable to dim a user&#39;s screen to further limit battery usage. In yet another embodiment, based on context, certain applications may be exited or otherwise cause to reduce power consumption when conditions warrant. For example, when using a mapping/driving destination application, the mobile device may close the program when the user reaches the destination or remains at the destination for a longer than a particular amount of time. 
         [0019]      FIG. 2  shows an example flow chart that may operate according to one embodiment. The processes can be conducted by a combination of a particular application  114  resident on mobile device  102 , the context memory  113  and the application  111 . In this manner, the application  111  could be considered a context based battery manager that limits communication or other energy expenditure based on context and/or location. Of course, other limits could be applied as well. For example, the application  111  could also limit any outputs such as screen brightness, instruction volume or even exit an application. 
         [0020]    In the above embodiments, the application  111  has been described as being based on location of the mobile device  102 . That definition is not limited to only physical location. For instance, it some cases, based on the context of nearby other devices  104 . For example, crowd sourcing from other devices  104  may indicate that the devices are in a movie theatre, church or hospital, and turn off all games, videos, etc. 
         [0021]    At block  202  a user&#39;s past usage history on the device may be recorded. For example, a history or routes take may be stored in the context memory  113  as the user traverses a map application guide route. This could be thought of a tracking the route in some instances. 
         [0022]    At block  204  the application  111  may organize or otherwise classify the information stored in the context memory  113 . For example, such classification may include determing common roads that user drives a lot based on user&#39;s driving experiences. Based, for example, on a frequency of travel, the application may determine roads/intersections are well known to the user where the user doesn&#39;t need any help during normal traffic. Examples of classification may include: favorite routes such as from work to home, from work to day care, from home to favorite park, grocery story, and church. Along the routes, which portion of which roads and intersections are well known to the user. 
         [0023]    At block  206  an application  114  such as a guidance program is launched. In the case that the application  114  is a guidance program, at block  208  the route that is going to be traversed is determined by the application  120  and transmitted to the mobile device  102 . At block  210 , the current location of the mobile device  102  is compared to the route. For example, user needs to travel from point A to point B. The application  111  may know user is already familiar with point B as it is a location that appears often in the context memory  113  (see block  204 ). However, point A may not occur often or at all in the context memory. In such a case, when the application  114  is operated when the user gets close to point B, the application  111  can determine that detailed guidance is not needed at block  212 . The application  111  can then, at block  214  take a battery saving measure. For example, a battery saving measure could include: checking if there is any traffic ahead in the reminder of routes to point B. If not, exit out of application  114 ; checking if there is any traffic ahead in the reminder of routes to point B and if not reducing the refresh interval/dim the screen of the application with the server; and checking if there is any traffic ahead in the reminder of routes to point B and if likely, reducing the refresh interval/dim the screen of the application with the server, but increasing the refresh interval when detecting user in traffic jam. Of course, any of the above could be performed without taking into account traffic. 
         [0024]    In one instance, after the rate is reduced (or another action such as dimming the screen has been taken or voices cancelled), the application  114  could be exited if the destination is reached or if the user stops the car even if not at the destination (e.g., the user pulls over to go into a store). Such is referred to as an additional battery saving measure in block  216 . 
         [0025]    In the above example, the context memory  113  was described as pertaining to route history related to a GPS device. The context memory  113  could also work in combination with other modules that monitor interactions with other applications  114 . For example, and as shown in  FIG. 3 , the mobile device  102  could include the context memory  113  that retains a history of user&#39;s past historical usage for a particular application on the mobile device  102 . The mobile device  102  could also include a monitoring module  300  that monitors the user&#39;s current activity on the mobile device  102  and a location module  302  that provides the user&#39;s location. Further, the mobile device  102  could include calendar module  304  that provides the user&#39;s calendar scheduling on mobile device. As described above, the application  111  could utilize any of the information from any of the modules to determine is a battery saving action should be taken. The actions could be any those described above. 
         [0026]    The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.