Terminal Control Method Reducing Screen-Off Power Consumption

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current power saving modes in terminals, such as smartphones, primarily focus on reducing screen brightness or turning off the screen, which do not effectively address power consumption issues after the screen is turned off, leading to continued energy usage.

Innovation Solution

A terminal control method and apparatus that detects the enabling condition of a power saving mode when the screen is switched off and performs operations like stopping specific application programs, disconnecting network connections, pausing timers, and switching network modes to reduce background power consumption without affecting normal user usage.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Use of energy by moving object

If the screen brightness is turned down or turned off to save power, then the screen power consumption is reduced, but the background application programs continue to consume power

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvescreen power consumptionVSAvoidbackground power consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
Use of energy by moving objectVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system performs preliminary actions by detecting the screen-off state and proactively stopping background application programs, disconnecting network connections, and pausing timers before significant power consumption occurs. This preventive approach addresses background power usage immediately when the screen turns off, rather than waiting for power depletion issues to arise.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically adjusts the operating state of application programs based on screen state. When the screen is off, the system transitions background programs from an active running state to a stopped or paused state, and dynamically switches network connections to disconnected state. This dynamic state adjustment optimizes power consumption according to actual usage conditions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #15Dynamics

2Loss of energy

If background application programs are stopped to reduce power consumption, then power saving is achieved, but user experience may be affected

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvepower consumptionVSAvoiduser experience
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of energyVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The system applies different quality states to different application programs based on their importance and usage patterns. Critical or frequently used programs are maintained in a ready state with minimal resource consumption, while less important programs are completely stopped. This localized differentiation ensures that power saving measures do not uniformly impact all applications, thereby preserving user experience for important functions.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system changes operational parameters of application programs rather than simply stopping them. Programs are transitioned to paused states with adjusted timing parameters, network connections are disconnected rather than terminated, and process priorities are modified. These parameter changes reduce power consumption while maintaining the ability to quickly restore full functionality when needed, thus preserving user experience.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentEP3761621B1Terminal control method and apparatus, and terminal
Publication Date: 2023.05.31 HUAWEI TECH CO LTD
  • EP3761621B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3761621B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP3761621B1 patent drawingFigure 5~6

AI summary

Embodiments of the present invention provide a terminal control method and apparatus, and a terminal. The method includes: when a screen of a terminal is switched from a screen-on state to a screen-off state, detecting whether an enabling condition of a power saving mode is satisfied; and if the enabling condition of the power saving mode is satisfied, performing a power saving operation, where the power saving operation is used to reduce power consumption that occurs when an application program in the terminal runs in a background. In the embodiments of the present invention, power consumption in a screen-off state is reduced as much as possible without affecting normal use of a user.