Patent · US Expired

System for distributed power management in portable computers

US5423045A · kind A · utility

139Cited by
15References
28Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 15, 1992
Grant dateJun 6, 1995
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 15, 2012

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F1/3203
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A provides a system and method for managing power in a portable, pen-based notebook computer. The system and method provides a means for minimizing power consumption by collecting and interpreting power related data of various processing elements while hiding many of the details from the end-user. The system monitors, collects, and acts, upon power-related data in a portable computer to maximize the amount of time the portable computer can be used between battery re-charging with minimal user intervention. The system has a plurality of independently controllable power planes and a plurality of central processing units (CPUs) operating asynchronously with respect to each other. The present invention is further comprised of an on/off glue logic means for monitoring battery condition, user invoked functions, and system state and a power management means for controlling the operation of each of the CPUs as a function of the conditions sensed by a sensing means.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.