Patent Application
20150142350
The present disclosure relates to estimating power consumption. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to estimating power consumption for a print device.
Energy consumption reporting and control for a device, such as an office device, is becoming more interesting to consumers. As electricity becomes more expensive, and consumers strive to become more environmentally conscious, accurate power consumption and modeling is becoming more important.
Many office devices such as printers, copiers and multifunction devices (e.g., a single device capable of scanning, printing, faxing and/or copying) are capable of operating in one or more states. For example, when a device is not used for a given period of time, the device may enter a “sleep” state. During a sleep state, various components in the device go into low power operation or are turned off completely. Once the device receives a request to perform a specific function, the device may exit the sleep state and operate as normal.
Existing techniques for energy estimation use a variety of methods, each having differing accuracy and precision. Some estimation techniques require polling a device to acquire the current state of the device. For example, a printing device may be in a high energy state such as printing, or a low energy state such as idle or sleep modes. When a printing device responds to a polling request indicating its current state, the polling device lists the responding device as being in that state until the next poll, even though the device may only be in that state for a small percentage of the polling period.
To continue the print device example, a polling device may poll a print device every 30 minutes. If the print device responds that it is in print mode, the polling device will list the printing device as being in print mode until the next poll. Printing at a print device typically consumes a high amount of power for a short amount of time. Thus, existing polling techniques produce a high error value as the entire polling period is set to a high power state such as printing, even though the polled device may only be in that high power state for a small percentage of the time period.
In one general respect, the embodiments disclose a method of polling a device. The method includes send a first polling request to a device to be polled after an elapsed first period of time, receiving a first polling response from the device to be polled, determining a mode the device to be polled is currently operating in based upon the first polling response, and if the device to be polled is operating in a high power state, sending a second polling request to the device to be polled after an elapsed second period of time, wherein the second period of time is shorter than the first period of time.
In another general respect, the embodiments disclose a system for polling a device. The system includes a processing device and a non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with the processing device. The computer readable medium includes one or more programming instructions for causing the processing device to send a first polling request to a device to be polled after an elapsed first period of time, receive a first polling response from the device to be polled, determine a mode the device to be polled is currently operating in based upon the first polling response, and if the device to be polled is operating in a high power state, send a second polling request to the device to be polled after an elapsed second period of time, wherein the second period of time is shorter than the first period of time.
This disclosure is not limited to the particular systems, devices and methods described, as these may vary. The terminology used in the description is for the purpose of describing the particular versions or embodiments only, and is not intended to limit the scope.
As used in this document, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meanings as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art. As used in this document, the term “comprising” means “including, but not limited to.”
As used herein, a “device” refers to an electronic device configured to perform one or more specific functions. Each device has an associated power model that defines the device's power consumption during certain states as well as the device's power consumption during transitions between certain states.
A “power model” refers to an estimated representation of power usage for a specific device. If the device is a multifunction device configured to operate in multiple states, the power model includes power consumption levels for each of the multiple states as well as power consumption information for transitioning between from one state to another. A power model may be provided by the manufacturer of a device, or determined by measuring the power consumption of the device as it operates.
A “printing device” refers an electronic device that is capable of receiving commands, and/or printing text characters and/or images on a substrate, and/or scanning images. Printing devices may include, but are not limited to, network printers, production printers, copiers and other devices using ink or toner, and scanners. A printing device may also perform a combination of functions such as printing and scanning, in which case such a device may be considered a multifunctional device.
A “state transition log” or a “power state log” refers to a record of state transitions at a printing device, as well as timing information between the state transitions. For example, a power state log may indicate at what time a print device transitioned to a print state, and at what time the print device exited the print state and entered an idle state.
A “computing device” refers to a device that processes data in order to perform one or more functions. A computing device may include any processor-based device such as, for example, a server, a personal computer, a personal digital assistant, a web-enabled phone, a smart terminal, a dumb terminal and/or other electronic device capable of communicating in a networked environment. A computing device may interpret and execute instructions.
The present disclosure is directed to a method of estimating power consumption at a device, such as an office printing device, based upon a dynamic polling schedule that may be altered or changed based upon results received from a particular poll.
Typical printing devices spend a large percentage of time in lower power states such as idle or sleep states, having a typically less than 10% utilization rate. As indicated above, existing polling techniques use a static polling period when polling various devices. If a polled device indicates that it is currently in a high power state, the polling device records the polled device as being in the high power state for the entire polling period. This type of polling technique can lead to large errors, however, as the polled device may only be in the high power state for a small percentage of the polling period.
The method and process as described herein provides a polling technique that uses dynamic polling periods. For example, if the polling device receives an indication that the polled device is in a high power state, the polling device may reduce the polling period to a short period of time, and continually poll the device until the polled device responds that it is operating in a low power state. The polling device may then rest the polling period to the original length of time, and continue polling the polled device at the original intervals.
It should be noted that, as used herein, a high power state refers to a state where a specific device is using a higher amount of power when compared to the amount of power the devices uses when in an idle or sleep mode. Conversely, a low power state refers to a state where a specific device is using about the average amount of power it uses during is idle or sleep mode, e.g., the amount of power the device typically uses when not performing a specific job. For example, a printing device is typically operating in an idle or sleep mode. As used herein, idle or sleep modes would be considered low power states for a printing device. Alternatively, print mode would be considered a high power state for the print device, as the print device uses a much larger amount of power during that mode when compared to idle or sleep modes.
To determine whether a device is operating in a high or low power state, a monitoring device may categorize the various modes of the device being monitored as either high power or low power prior to monitoring the device. For example, for a multi-function print device, scanning, copying and printing modes may be categorized as high power states, while emailing, faxing, idle and sleep modes may be categorized as low power states. Alternatively, the monitoring device may use a particular threshold to delineate between the two modes. For example, a printing device may use 900 Watts when in print mode, 80 watts when in idle mode, and 5 Watts when in sleep mode. For this device, the delineation threshold may be set at 100 Watts such that any mode above 100 Watts is considered a high power state, and any mode below 100 Watts may be considered a low power state. It should be noted that this delineation method is shown by way of example only, and determining if a device is operating in a high power state or a low power state may vary based upon the device doing the monitoring as well as the operational modes of the device being monitored.
Initially, a polling device such as a monitoring computer polls 102 a print device, and receives 104 a response from the print device. In this example, the poll may include a request for the print device to reply with an indication of what mode the print device is currently operating in. T print device may generate and transmit a response to the monitoring computer indicating what mode the print device is currently operating in. Based upon the response, the monitoring computer may determine 106 whether the polled printing device is operating in a high energy state.
To determine 106 if the polled print device is in a high energy state, the monitoring computer may access an associated power model or other similar information to determine whether the response form the print device indicates a high energy state. For example, if the print device responds that it is currently operating in an idle mode, the monitoring computer may determine 106 that the printing device is not in a high energy mode based upon the power model associated with the print device. Alternatively, the monitoring computer may follow a set of rules for all print devices. For example, if a print device is currently printing, it is in a high power state. For any other non-printing modes, the print device is in a low power state.
If the monitoring computer determines 106 that the polled device is not in a high energy state, the polling device may update a data log related to the operation of the polled device, and wait 108 a standard polling period until polling 102 the device again.
Conversely, if the monitoring computer determines 106 the polled device is operating in a high energy state, the monitoring computer may change 110 the polling period such that the polled device is polled at a higher frequency. For example, the monitoring device may change 110 the polling period from 30 minutes to one minute. Alternatively, the monitoring computer may determine a shortened polling period for the polled device based upon historic operational data related to the polled device. For example, if the polled device typically handles large print jobs that last an average of 3 minutes, the monitoring computer may change 110 the polling period to three minutes. Additional historic information such as job frequency may also impact how the monitoring computer changes 110 the polling period.
After changing 110 the polling period, the monitoring computer may wait 112 the new polling period before polling 114 the device again. Like before, the monitoring computer may receive 116 a response from the polled device, the response indicating what mode the polled device is currently operating in. Based upon the response, the monitoring computer may determine 118 whether the polled printing device is still operating in a high energy state. If the polled device is not operating in a high energy state, the monitoring computer may wait 108 a standard polling period (to continue the above example, 30 minutes) before polling 102 the device again. Conversely, if the monitoring computer determines 118 that the polled device is still operating in a high energy mode, the monitoring computer may wait 112 the new polling period (e.g., one minute) before polling 114 the device again. This process is further explained below in reference to
It should be noted that the process as shown in
Additionally, it should be noted that the polling periods as described in reference to
In estimating energy and power consumption at a device, the frequency of polling may directly impact the accuracy of the results. For example, polling at a greater frequency (e.g., every one minute) may provide more accurate results than polling at a lower frequency (e.g., every 30 minutes). However, polling at a greater frequency may require additional resources at the monitoring computer, thus reducing the overall efficiency of the estimation technique. Conversely, as outlined above, polling infrequently may result in a device being assigned a high power state for an entire polling period, when the device was in the high power state for only a small portion of the polling period.
It should be noted that the data shown in
Additional techniques may be used in combination with the process as described above in regard to
The monitoring device may poll 404 the device. Similar to polling as described in
Based upon the power state log information, the monitoring computer may determine 410 a power log for the previous polling period for the device. A power log is a representation of the actual power used for each mode the device may be in, for an appropriate amount of time.
The monitoring computer may determine 410 by converting the information from the power state log (i.e., what mode was the device operating in and for how long) into actual wattage values based upon the information contained within the power model (i.e., how much power does the device use in each mode per unit of time).
Using the converted power information, the monitoring computer may determine 412 an average power consumed by the device since the last poll period. To determine the average power, the monitoring computer may multiple the change in time for each mode of operation times the average power used by the device in that mode. For example, a monitoring device may poll a printing device every five minutes. During a polling period (such as polling period 520 as shown in
TE=deltaT1*P1+deltaT2*P2+deltaT3*P3,
where TE is total energy, deltaT1 is the time spent in the first mode, P1 is the power used in the first mode, deltaT2 is the time spent in the second mode, P2 is power used in the second mode, deltaT3 is the time spent in the third mode, and P3 is the power spent in the third mode. It should be noted that three modes are shown by way of example only, and the number of modes would vary based upon the polling period length and the frequency of use of the device being polled.
Substituting in values form the above example, the above equation would read TE=180*80+30*900+90*80, where TE=48600. To determine 412 the average power, the monitoring computer may divide the total energy TE by the total length of the polling period, i.e., 48600/300=162 Watts. Thus, in the above example, the polled device uses an average of 162 Watts during the polling period. However, it should be noted that his is an estimated average of the power used by the polled device over the polling period. More specific equations using the polled devices transition states (e.g., the power required to transition between modes) may be used. However, the equations as shown above are merely for explanatory purposes only.
After determining 412 the average power consumed during the previous polling period, the monitoring computer may wait 414 a polling period before polling 404 the device again.
The processes as described in
A controller 620 interfaces with one or more optional memory devices 625 to the system bus 600. These memory devices 625 may include, for example, an external or internal DVD drive, a CD ROM drive, a hard drive, flash memory, a USB drive or the like. As indicated previously, these various drives and controllers are optional devices. Additionally, the memory devices 625 may be configured to include individual files for storing any software modules or instructions, auxiliary data, incident data, common files for storing groups of contingency tables and/or regression models, or one or more databases for storing the information as discussed above.
Program instructions, software or interactive modules for performing any of the functional steps associated with the processes as described above may be stored in the ROM 610 and/or the RAM 615. Optionally, the program instructions may be stored on a tangible computer readable medium such as a compact disk, a digital disk, flash memory, a memory card, a USB drive, an optical disc storage medium, such as a Blu-ray™ disc, and/or other recording medium.
An optional display interface 630 may permit information from the bus 600 to be displayed on the display 635 in audio, visual, graphic or alphanumeric format. Communication with external devices may occur using various communication ports 640. A communication port 640 may be attached to a communications network, such as the Internet or a local area network.
The hardware may also include an interface 645 which allows for receipt of data from input devices such as a keyboard 650 or other input device 655 such as a mouse, a joystick, a touch screen, a remote control, a pointing device, a video input device and/or an audio input device.
It should be noted that printing devices as described above are provided by way of example only. The techniques and processes as taught herein may be applied to additional devices that have varying levels of power consumption based upon their state of operation.
Various of the above-disclosed and other features and functions, or alternatives thereof, may be combined into many other different systems or applications. Various presently unforeseen or unanticipated alternatives, modifications, variations or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art, each of which is also intended to be encompassed by the disclosed embodiments.
