Patent ID: 7383451

Claim:
A method comprising: determining a projected total power consumption for a computing device to satisfy a power consumption policy for the computing device, including determining a current usage model of the computing device as to how the computing device is currently being used by matching a current power consumption distribution of a plurality of components of the computing device against a power consumption distribution of the plurality of components of the computing device of each of a plurality of predetermined usage models of the computing device, where the current power consumption distribution of the plurality of components of the computing device means how power is distributed among the components of the computing device, as consumed by the components of the computing device, where the current usage model of the computing device is selected as the predetermined usage model having a power consumption distribution that most closely matches the current power consumption distribution of the plurality of components of the computing device; and, controlling power usage of each of the plurality of components of the computing device so that total power usage of the computing device falls within the projected total power consumption needed to satisfy the power consumption policy.