Deterministic Power Saving State Transition via Timeout Monitoring
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Solution Overview
Problem
Computer devices often fail to enter low power states efficiently, leading to unnecessary power consumption and battery drain, due to issues such as incorrect device drivers or hardware components not entering idle states despite reduced clock signals.
Innovation Solution
The operating system detects events indicating the need to enter a power-saving mode and sends notifications to an embedded controller to perform processes placing hardware components in low power states. If the low power state is not achieved within a time-out period, the system identifies and attempts to fix the cause, eventually transitioning to a second operating mode like Hibernate if necessary.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If the system transitions to intermediate power modes to reduce power consumption, then energy efficiency is improved, but the system may fail to enter the low power state due to incorrect device drivers or hardware components not entering idle states
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a feedback mechanism by monitoring whether hardware components have successfully entered idle states through status registers. When a component fails to enter the idle state within an expected timeframe, the system detects this condition and triggers corrective actions, such as forcing the component into a lower power state or investigating the root cause (e.g., incorrect device drivers). This closed-loop feedback ensures reliable transition to low power states despite potential software or hardware issues.
Solution Approach 2:
Before transitioning to an intermediate power mode, the system performs preliminary actions by sending commands to hardware components to enter idle states and verifying their status in advance. The system waits for confirmation that components have successfully transitioned before completing the power mode switch. This preliminary verification prevents incomplete transitions and ensures that the system can reliably enter the intended low power state.
2Reliability
If the system implements monitoring and corrective actions to ensure deterministic low power state entry, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The power management system implements self-service by autonomously monitoring hardware component states and automatically executing corrective actions when failures are detected. The embedded controller independently determines whether components have entered idle states, identifies failures, and triggers appropriate responses (such as forcing lower power states or logging errors) without requiring external intervention. This self-managing approach improves reliability while minimizing the need for additional complex control infrastructure.
Data Source
AI summary
An apparatus comprises a first circuitry to perform, in response to a first message from an operating system, a first process to place a computer device in a first operating mode, store state information in a volatile memory of the computer device, and start a timer for a time-out period for performing the first process. First components of the computer device are in a low power state. A second circuitry to detect, after the time-out period, a failure of the first process. A third circuitry to perform, in response to the detected failure of the first process, a second process to place the computer device in a second operating mode and store state information in a non-volatile memory of the computer device. The volatile memory is operational in the first operating mode and is in a low power state in the second operating mode.