Patent ID: 8601301

Claim:
A system, comprising: a power regulator associated with a hardware device; one or more sensors configured to determine the presence of a user in a predetermined area proximate to the hardware device; a processor; and a memory having instructions thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive, from the one or more sensors, one or more presence signals; determine, from the presence signals, one or more periods of time that a user moved away from the predetermined area without the user physically interacting with the system; determine, from the periods of time, a pattern of user activity comprising an average length of time that the user is not in the predetermined area during a predetermined time period over a predetermined number of days; adjust a power consumption associated with the hardware device based on the pattern of user activity, wherein determining the pattern of user activity comprises, for the periods of time, determining that the user returned to within the predetermined area without the user physically interacting with the system, the user returning more than a predetermined period of time before an expiration of a time duration that the hardware device will remain idle before the power regulator is instructed to limit power to the hardware device, or more than a predetermined period of time after the expiration of the time duration, and wherein the power consumption is adjusted by decreasing the time duration based on a period of time that the user was not in the predetermined area.