Computer-implemented method performed in an electronic device to support a gaming mode

Abstract

The present invention provides a computer-implemented method executed in an electronic device, wherein the computer-implemented method comprises the following steps: determining whether an operating system of the electronic device has a game mode turned on; and if it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has a game mode turned on, controlling a wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module. If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has not a game mode turned on, allowing the wireless communication module to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of wireless communication technology. Background Art

[0002] Online games usually require sending and receiving a large number of packets in real time so that the user's electronic device can quickly send commands to the remote server and receive information from the remote server in a timely manner. However, the Wi-Fi module in the electronic device may run in power saving mode to reduce throughput due to certain settings, or the electronic device may perform certain background operations that affect the game packet throughput, thereby affecting the smoothness of the game. Summary of the invention

[0003] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a computer-implemented method that can stop or pause operations that affect the fluency of the game if it is determined that the user is playing the game, thereby solving the above-mentioned problem.

[0004] According to one embodiment of the present invention, a computer-implemented method executed in an electronic device includes the following steps: determining whether the operating system of the electronic device has a game mode turned on; and if it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has a game mode turned on, controlling the wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module; if it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has not a game mode turned on, allowing the wireless communication module to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module.

[0005] According to another embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product having multiple files is disclosed, wherein the multiple files are executed by a computer so that the computer performs the following steps: determining whether the operating system of the electronic device has the game mode turned on; if it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has the game mode turned on, controlling the wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module; if it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has not the game mode turned on, allowing the wireless communication module to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module.

[0006] The solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention controls the wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module if it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has turned on the game mode, so as to avoid affecting the fluency of the game.

[0007] These and other objects of the present invention will no doubt become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings which illustrate in the various figures. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Figure 1 A schematic diagram showing an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0009] Figure 2 FIG. 1 shows a driver packet of a driver according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0010] Figure 3 A schematic diagram showing a software architecture with a driver according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown.

[0011] Figure 4 A computer-implemented method executed in an electronic device according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to specific system components. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that manufacturers may refer to components by different names. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but function the same. In the following description and claims, the terms "include" and "comprising" are used in an open-ended manner and should be interpreted as "including, but not limited to...". The term "coupled" is intended to mean an indirect or direct electrical connection. Thus, if a first device is coupled to a second device, that connection may be through a direct electrical connection, or through an indirect electrical connection via other devices and connections.

[0013] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of an electronic device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the figure, the electronic device 100 includes at least one processor 110, a storage device 120, a wireless communication device 130 and a display 140. The at least one processor 110 may include a central processing unit (CPU) or an application processor. The storage device 120 is configured to store an operating system (OS), an application 122 and a driver 124, wherein the application 122 may include a real-time video game, the driver 124 may include a Wi-Fi driver and / or a Bluetooth (BT) driver, and the driver 124 is configured to be loaded by the processor 120 to control the operation of the wireless communication device 130. The wireless communication device 130 may include a Wi-Fi module 132 and a BT module 134, wherein the Wi-Fi module 132 is configured to receive and send packets based on the IEEE 802.11 specification, and the BT module 134 is configured to receive and send packets based on the BT specification. The display 140 is configured to display images or video data from the processor 110, wherein in other embodiments, the display 140 may be located outside the electronic device 100, i.e., the display 140 may be connected to the electronic device via a cable (e.g., a High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) cable). In this embodiment, the electronic device 100 may be a laptop, a personal computer, a tablet computer, a portable device, or any other electronic device capable of playing games.

[0014] In the operation of the processor 110 and the wireless communication device 130, the processor 110 may periodically control the Wi-Fi module 132 of the wireless communication device 130 to perform a background scanning operation to scan other channels to generate a scanning result, wherein the scanning result can be used to determine whether another access point (AP) can establish a link, or determine the signal quality of other channels. In addition, the Wi-Fi module 132 may enter a low power state (e.g., L1 substate) to reduce throughput to reduce power consumption. However, these operations may affect the fluency of real-time games that require continuous sending and receiving of a large number of packets. To solve this problem, the driver 124 is used to detect whether the electronic device 100 is operating in a game mode. If it is determined that the electronic device 100 is operating in a game mode, the processor 110 executing the driver 124 may control the Wi-Fi module 132 not to enter a low power state, and / or the processor 110 does not control the Wi-Fi module 132 to perform background scanning. That is, operations that may affect throughput will be stopped or paused until the electronic device 100 is not operating in a game mode. In another embodiment, if the BT module 134 is used to send and receive game packets, the processor 110 may also control the BT module 134 not to enter the low power consumption state.

[0015] Figure 2 1 shows a driver package of the driver 124 according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the driver package may be preloaded into the storage device 120, or the driver package may be a computer program product that allows downloading from a remote server via the Internet. Figure 2 As shown, the driver package may include multiple files such as mtkihvx.dll, mtkwl1.dat, mtkwl6ex.cat, mtkwl6ex.inf, mtkwl6ex.sys, WIFI_patch_mcu.bin, WIFI_RAM_CODE.bin, etc. The "mtkwl6ex.inf" file is an installation file used to install all related files (i.e., *.sys, *.dll, *.dat, *.bin) into the operating system. The file "mtkihvx.dll" is a service running in user mode, used to detect whether the electronic device 100 has a game mode. The file "mtkwl6ex.sys" is a driver file used to control the wireless communication device 130 to have high performance throughput when the game mode is detected.

[0016] Figure 3 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a software architecture having a driver 124 according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the operating system of the electronic device is Microsoft Windows 10. Figure 3 The software architecture shown is the Native802.11 software architecture. The software architecture includes user mode and kernel mode. The processor 110 can switch between the two modes according to the type of code running on the processor 110, where the application 122 runs in user mode and the core operating system components run in kernel mode. When the processor 110 runs in user mode, the processor 110 has limited access rights and cannot directly access the hardware; when the processor 110 runs in kernel mode, the processor 110 can receive requests to access hardware components. Figure 3In user mode, the architecture has several modules, such as the network configuration user interface (UI), independent hardware vendor (IHV) UI extension DLL, native 802.11 auto configuration module (ACM), native 802.11 media-specific module (MSM), extensible authentication protocol (EAP) framework within the 802.1X module, native 802.11 IHV extensible host and IHV extension DLL. In kernel mode, the architecture has multiple modules, such as native 802.11 intermediate driver and native 802.11 miniport driver that meet the network driver interface specification (NDIS), as well as Bluetooth driver. It should be noted that Figure 3 Most of the modules of the software architecture shown are known to those skilled in the art. This embodiment focuses on the functions of the file "mtkihvx.dll" corresponding to the IHV extension DLL and the file "mtkwl6ex.sys" corresponding to the native 802.11 microport driver, so a detailed description of other modules will not be repeated here.

[0017] Microsoft Windows 10 can turn on the game mode to improve performance. In this embodiment, the execution file "mtkihvx.dll" is used to register the notification function to automatically detect the game mode through the Microsoft Application Program Interface (API), that is, if the user plays a game, the operating system's callback function will notify the user that the game is being played. After receiving the notification of the game mode, the execution file "mtkihvx.dll" notifies the Wi-Fi driver of the driver 124 that the game mode is turned on. Then, once the Wi-Fi driver is notified that the game mode is turned on, the Wi-Fi driver will stop or pause operations that may affect the fluency of real-time games, wherein the operations that may affect the fluency of real-time games require continuous sending and receiving of a large number of packets. For example, the Wi-Fi driver can stop or pause the background scan issued by the operating system, that is, the Wi-Fi driver will not control the Wi-Fi module 132 to switch or temporarily switch to other channels to determine whether there are any other APs that can establish a link or determine the signal quality of other channels. In another example, the Wi-Fi driver notifies the firmware of the Wi-Fi module 132 not to enter a low power state (eg, L1 substate), so that the Wi-Fi module 132 does not enter a low power state and can provide high throughput for a large number of packets.

[0018] In addition, if the Wi-Fi driver is not notified that the game mode is turned on, the background scan issued by the operating system is allowed, that is, if the Wi-Fi driver receives a background scan notification from the operating system, the Wi-Fi driver will control the Wi-Fi module 132 to switch or temporarily switch to other channels to determine whether there are any other APs that can establish a link, or determine the signal quality of other channels; and / or the Wi-Fi driver can notify the firmware of the Wi-Fi module 132 to enter a low power state at an appropriate time.

[0019] In another embodiment, if the BT module 134 is used to send and receive packets for a game, the execution of the file "mtkihvx.dll" notifies the BT driver of the driver 124 that the game mode is turned on. Then, once the BT driver is notified that the game mode is turned on, the BT driver stops or pauses operations that may affect the smoothness of real-time games, where operations that may affect the smoothness of real-time games require continuous sending and receiving of a large number of packets. For example, the BT driver notifies the firmware of the BT module 134 not to enter a low power state, so that the BT module 134 does not enter a low power state, thereby providing a high throughput for a large number of packets.

[0020] Figure 4It is a computer-implemented method executed in an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to the above embodiment, the flow of the computer-implemented method is described as follows.

[0021] Step 400: The process starts.

[0022] Step 402: Determine whether the operating system of the electronic device has the game mode turned on. If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has the game mode turned on, proceed to step 404; if it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has not the game mode turned on, the process proceeds to step 406.

[0023] Step 404: Control the wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform background scanning operations and / or to enter a low power consumption state.

[0024] Step 406: Allow the wireless communication module of the electronic device to perform background scanning operations and / or enter a low power consumption state.

[0025] Although the present invention has been disclosed as above with preferred embodiments, it is not intended to limit the present invention. Any person skilled in the art may make some changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention shall be based on the attached claims.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method performed in an electronic device, It is characterized in that include: Determining whether the operating system of the electronic device has a gaming mode turned on; as well as If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has enabled the game mode, then notifying a driver running in the kernel mode that the game mode is enabled; and the driving controls the wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module; If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device does not have the gaming mode turned on, allowing the wireless communication module to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module; The processor of the electronic device switches between a user mode and a kernel mode, the application runs in the user mode, and the core operating system component runs in the kernel mode.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, It is characterized in that The step of controlling the wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module comprises: If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device turns on the game mode, the wireless communication module of the electronic device is controlled not to perform the background scanning operation.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, It is characterized in that The electronic device communicates with an access point AP through a channel, and controlling a wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module comprises: If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has turned on the game mode, the wireless communication module of the electronic device is controlled not to switch to other channels to determine whether there are other APs that can establish a link or determine the signal quality of other channels.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, It is characterized in that The step of controlling the wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module comprises: If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has turned on the game mode, the wireless communication module of the electronic device is controlled not to enter a low power consumption state.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, It is characterized in that The step of determining whether the operating system of the electronic device has turned on the gaming mode comprises: A service is executed on the user mode to detect whether the operating system of the electronic device has turned on the game mode.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, It is characterized in that The service is executed by executing a dynamic link library DLL file.

7. A computer program product having a plurality of files, It is characterized in that The plurality of files are executed by a computer to cause the computer to perform the following steps: Determining whether the operating system of the electronic device has a gaming mode turned on; as well as If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has enabled the gaming mode, then notifying a driver running in kernel mode that the gaming mode is enabled, and controlling a wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module; If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device does not have the gaming mode turned on, allowing the wireless communication module to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module; The processor of the electronic device switches between a user mode and a kernel mode, the application runs in the user mode, and the core operating system component runs in the kernel mode.

8. The computer program product according to claim 7, It is characterized in that The step of controlling the wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module comprises: If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has turned on the game mode, the wireless communication module of the electronic device is controlled not to perform the background scanning operation.

9. The computer program product according to claim 7, It is characterized in that The electronic device communicates with an access point AP through a channel, and the step of controlling a wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module comprises: If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has turned on the game mode, the wireless communication module of the electronic device is controlled not to switch to other channels to determine whether there are other APs that can establish a link or determine the signal quality of other channels.

10. The computer program product according to claim 7, It is characterized in that The step of controlling the wireless communication module of the electronic device not to perform at least one operation that will reduce the throughput of the wireless communication module comprises: If it is determined that the operating system of the electronic device has turned on the game mode, the wireless communication module of the electronic device is controlled not to enter a low power consumption state.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, It is characterized in that The step of determining whether the operating system of the electronic device turns on the gaming mode comprises: A service is executed on the user mode to detect whether the operating system of the electronic device has turned on the game mode.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, It is characterized in that The service is executed by executing a dynamic link library DLL file.

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