Apple may be working on saving iPhone battery life using location, usage patterns: A new patent application titled ”Power management for electronic devices,” reveals Apple may be working on a system that saves iPhone battery life by disabling various sensors, closing certain applications based on the energy required to run the device between charges by taking into account a user’s usage pattern. The system proposed by Apple in the patent application, takes into account the time it would take for the next charging time and the current location to use battery life more efficiently based on the estimated power requirements. The system makes use the GPS sensor, and the stored charging location, to determine how much time it would take for the next charge. From the patent application: For example, using a GPS sensor the mobile electronic device may determine, based on its current location, that it may be at least eight hours before the mobile electronic device will be recharged or otherwise connected to an external power source. In this case, the mobile electronic device may modify the power management scheme by adjusting one or more characteristics or settings. In some examples, the mobile electronic device may reduce a data fetching rate (e.g., for email or other data), decrease a display brightness, turn off select applications or prevent those applications from running, and so on. For example, using a GPS sensor the mobile electronic device may determine, based on its current location, that it may be at least eight hours before the mobile electronic device will be recharged or otherwise connected to an external power source. In this case, the mobile electronic device may modify the power management scheme by adjusting one or more characteristics or settings. In some examples, the mobile electronic device may reduce a data fetching rate (e.g., for email or other data), decrease a display brightness, turn off select applications or prevent those applications from running, and so on. The system makes use of power management schemes or profiles, which controls one or more characteristics of one of more components of a mobile device. The power management schemes may be dynamically created based on the reduction of power usage or time estimated until the next anticipated recharge. Users can also customize the power management schemes based on their requirements. For example, certain users may prefer to reduce or turn off data polling for email applications, whereas other users may prefer to deactivate GPS functions, telephone calls, text messages, image capture functions and the like. Certain embodiments may permit users to specify any or all functionality, separately or in groups, to deactivate in order to prolong a device charge. As devices like the iPhone get thinner and come packed with more sensors, improving or maintaining the same battery life will be one of the biggest challenges for Apple. It will also have to come out with innovative software based solutions to improve battery life. We’re already seeing Apple use software based solutions such as intelligent scheduling, opportunistic updates, coalesce updates, push notification triggers etc. to bring us smarter multitasking in iOS 7 without having a major impact on your iPhone’s battery life. The important thing to note is that such software based solutions to improve battery life can be rolled out via a software update, so we don’t need to buy the next generation iOS device to benefit from them. The patent application was filed in 2012, and credits Michael I. Ingrassia, Jr. and Jeffery T. Lee as its inventors.
Posted on: Wed, 31 Jul 2013 13:02:20 +0000
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