Claims
- 1. A system, comprising:
a user interaction detector to produce a signal indicative of whether a user is interacting with the system; a user proximity detector to determine whether a user is proximate to the system and to produce a signal indicative of user proximity, the user proximity detector separate from and responsive to the user interaction detector; a power management module to manage power in the system, the power management module responsive to the signal indicative of user proximity; and a connector shaped and configured to receive a battery to provide power to the system, the connector in communication with the power management module.
- 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the user proximity detector is inactive when the signal indicative of whether a user is interacting with the system indicates that a user is interacting with the system.
- 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interaction detector comprises circuitry to determine whether a user is interacting with the system via at least one of a mouse and a keyboard.
- 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the user proximity detector comprises a camera.
- 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the camera comprises active pixel sensors.
- 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the power management module is to reduce system power consumption in response to the signal indicative of user proximity indicating that a user is not proximate to the system.
- 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the system further includes a display, and wherein the power management module is to reduce system power consumption by reducing an amount of power to the display.
- 8. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is a mobile computing system.
- 9. A power control device for a computer, comprising:
user interaction circuitry to produce a signal indicative of whether a user is interacting with the computer; a user proximity detector separate from the user interaction circuitry and responsive to the signal indicative of whether a user is interacting with the computer, the user proximity detector to produce a signal indicative of user proximity to the computer; and a power control module to manage power in the computer, the power management module responsive to the signal indicative of user proximity.
- 10. The device of claim 9, wherein the user proximity detector is inactive when the signal indicative of whether a user is interacting with the computer indicates that a user is interacting with the computer.
- 11. The device of claim 9, wherein the user proximity detector is active immediately after the signal indicative of whether a user is interacting with the computer indicates that a user is not interacting with the computer.
- 12. The device of claim 9, wherein the user proximity detector is active after the signal indicative of whether a user is interacting with the computer indicates that a user is not interacting with the computer for a time equal to a user inactivity time.
- 13. The device of claim 12, wherein the user inactivity time is user selectable.
- 14. The device of claim 9, wherein the user proximity detector comprises a camera.
- 15. The device of claim 14, wherein the user proximity detector further comprises an image processor to receive image information from the camera and further to process the image information.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims benefit of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/472,592, filed Dec. 27, 1999.
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09472592 |
Dec 1999 |
US |
Child |
10682231 |
Oct 2003 |
US |