Patent ID: 7984193

Claim:
A method for conserving power comprising: determining a first network connection speed for a network interface card (NIC); configuring the NIC to operate at the first network connection speed; processing, after the configuration, packets received by the NIC; obtaining a bandwidth utilization of the NIC; upon determining that the bandwidth utilization of the NIC is outside a threshold range: determining a power management policy in effect for the NIC, wherein the power management policy is one of a plurality of power management policies, and wherein each of the plurality of power management policies defines a maximum power consumption allowed for the NIC, determining, based on the power management policy in effect for the NIC, a maximum power consumption level for the NIC, determining a second network connection speed for the NIC based on the bandwidth utilization and NIC information, determining, using the NIC information, a power consumption level for the second network connection speed, and configuring the NIC to operate at the second network connection speed if the power consumption level for the second network connection speed does not exceed the maximum power consumption level for the NIC, wherein the bandwidth utilization measures a number of bits received by the NIC per unit of time, and wherein the NIC information defines a plurality of network connection speeds at which the NIC may be configured and a power consumption for each of the plurality of network connection speeds.