Patent ID: 7783906

Claim:
A method comprising: determining a maximum power usage setting for a computing device based on one or more of: a user-specified setting corresponding to how often a frequency of a processor of the computing device is likely to have to be decreased to reduce power usage by the computing device; an average frequency of the processor during a previous period in which the computing device was operated; a minimum frequency of the processor during the previous period; a maximum power that the computing device used during the previous period; and, a nominal frequency of the processor; and, setting the maximum power usage setting for the computing device as has been determined, wherein one of: (a) determining the maximum power usage setting for the computing device comprises setting the maximum power usage setting based on the maximum power used during the previous period and the user-specified setting, by multiplying the maximum power used during the previous period by a first value based on the user-specified setting; (b) determining the maximum power usage setting for the computing device comprises, where a power target based on the average frequency of the processor and the nominal frequency of the processor is greater than a first threshold, setting the maximum power usage setting based on the power target and the maximum power that the computing device used during the previous period, and where one of: (1) the power target comprises 100% times the nominal frequency of the processor minus the average frequency of the processor, divided by the nominal frequency of the processor; (2) setting the maximum power usage setting based on the power target and the maximum power that the computing device used during the previous period comprises multiplying the maximum power used during the previous period by a second value based on the power target; (3) where the user-specified setting is less than zero, the first threshold is equal to an absolute value of the user-specified setting divided by a constant; (c) determining the maximum power usage setting for the computing device comprises, where a power target based on the minimum frequency of the processor and the nominal frequency of the processor is greater than a second threshold, setting the maximum power usage setting based on the power target and the maximum power that the computing device used during the previous period, and where one of: (1) the power target comprises 100% times the nominal frequency of the processor minus the minimum frequency of the processor, divided by the nominal frequency of the processor; (2) setting the maximum power usage setting based on the power target and the maximum power that the computing device used during the previous period comprises multiplying the maximum power used during the previous period by a third value based on the power target; (3) where the user-specified setting is less than zero, the second threshold is equal to an absolute value of the user-specified setting divided by a constant.