Sensor Power Management via Dormant Mode Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Portable devices with multiple sensors face challenges in balancing power consumption and environmental awareness, as high-resolution sensors consume more power, leading to the need for strategies to conserve battery life while maintaining monitoring capabilities.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where a secondary sensor with lower power consumption is activated when a primary sensor enters a dormant mode, allowing the device to continue monitoring for stimuli, and switching back to the primary sensor when a stimulus is detected.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a high-resolution sensor is activated to maintain environmental awareness, then sensing capability is improved, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically switches between high-resolution and low-resolution sensors based on operational conditions. The high-resolution sensor is activated when precise environmental awareness is needed, while the low-resolution sensor handles routine monitoring, optimizing the balance between sensing capability and power consumption in real-time
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the operational parameters of the sensing system by switching between different sensor resolution levels. This allows the system to adjust its power consumption and sensing precision according to actual needs, using high-resolution sensing only when necessary and low-resolution sensing for general monitoring
2Use of energy by moving object
If a high-power sensor is disabled to conserve battery life, then power consumption is reduced, but environmental awareness is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The low-resolution sensor acts as an intermediary that maintains basic environmental awareness at lower power consumption levels. When the high-resolution sensor is disabled, the low-resolution sensor continues to monitor the environment, ensuring that fundamental awareness is preserved while consuming less power
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically activates the high-resolution sensor when environmental awareness requirements increase, ensuring reliability is maintained only when necessary. This dynamic switching allows the system to conserve power during normal operation while preserving the ability to maintain full environmental awareness when needed
Data Source
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AI summary
In a particular embodiment, an apparatus includes a first sensor that has an active mode and a dormant mode. When operating in the active mode, the first sensor has a first power consumption level. The apparatus further includes a second sensor that has a second power consumption level that is less than the first power consumption level (i.e., the power consumption level of the first sensor). The second sensor is deactivated when the first sensor is operating in the active mode. The apparatus includes logic to activate the second sensor when the first sensor transitions from the active mode to the dormant mode.