Patent Application
20060259803
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating method utilized in an electronic assembly, and, more particularly, to an adaptive power saver method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic devices nearly always include a switch for applying and removing power to the electronic device. Many electronic devices, such as computer peripheral devices, require a certain amount of warm-up time before they can be utilized. The turning of peripheral devices on and off manually is not a practical solution to save energy, particularly when the peripheral device is remote from a work station that may include a computer operatively connected to the peripheral device. It is known to utilize a low or no-power state, often called a power-saver mode, which is effected after a period of non-use of the device.
Today's users of electronic devices, such as copiers, printers and multi-functional devices, have conflicting desires regarding the power state of the machine. Users want the machine to be in a state ready to copy, print or scan, but at all other times users would prefer the machine to be in a lower power state for power cost and environmental reasons. The United States Government has mandated power saving states for electronics through initiatives, such the ENERGY STAR® program administered by the Environment Protection Agency. A typical electronic device will “wake-up” upon a first job request and then stay in a ready mode for some time out period and then return to a low power mode. It is not an unusual experience for the user to have to wait for the electronic device to warm-up before executing the requested task.
What is needed in the art is an intelligent, adaptive method for placing an electronic device into a power saving mode.
The present invention provides a method for adaptively entering an electronic device into a power saver mode.
The invention comprises, a method of operating an electronic apparatus including the steps of developing at least one pattern of use of the electronic apparatus; utilizing the at least one pattern of use to develop or select a plurality of use profiles; and polling a user to make a selection from one of the plurality of use profiles to determine when the electronic apparatus should be put into a power save mode.
The above-mentioned and other features and advantages of this invention, and the manner of attaining them, will become more apparent and the invention will be better understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:
Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views. The exemplifications set out herein illustrate one preferred embodiment of the invention, in one form, and such exemplifications are not to be construed as limiting the scope of the invention in any manner.
Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to
Imaging apparatus 12 can be, for example, an inkjet printer, an electrophotographic printer, a copier, a thermal transfer printer or a multi-functional device (MFD) that includes a print engine, a scanner and possibly a fax unit. For example, as shown in
Controller 18 includes a processor unit and associated memory 28. Controller 18 communicates with print engine 20 by way of communication link 30. Controller 18 communicates with scanner 24 by way of communications link 32. User interface 26 is communicatively coupled to controller 18 by way of communication link 34. Controller 18 serves to process print data and to operate print engine 20 during printing, as well as to operate scanner 24 and process image data obtained by way of scanner 24.
In the context of the examples for imaging apparatus 12 described herein, print engine 20 can be, for example, an inkjet print engine, an electrophotographic print engine or a thermal transfer engine, configured for forming an image on a substrate 36, such as a sheet of paper, transparency or fabric. Print engine 20 operates on printing cartridge 22 to form text and images on substrate 36.
Scanner 24 may be in the form of a sheet feed or flatbed scanner. As is known in the art, a sheet feed scanner transports a sheet to be scanned past a stationary sensor device. In a flatbed scanner, the sheet or object to be scanned is held stationary, and a scanning bar including a sensor is scanned over the stationary sheet or object.
Host 14, which may be optional, may be, for example, a personal computer including memory 40, an input device 42, such as a keyboard, and a display monitor 44. Host 14 further includes a processor, input/output interfaces and at least one mass data storage device such as a hard drive, CD Rom or a DVD unit.
Host 14 includes in memory 40 a software program including program instructions that function as an imaging driver 46 for imaging apparatus 12. Imaging driver 46 is in communication with controller 18 of imaging apparatus 12 by way of communication link 16. Imaging driver 46 facilitates communication between imaging apparatus 12 and host 14 and may provide formatted print data to imaging apparatus 12, and more particularly, to print engine 20 to print an image or text.
The present invention uses a combination of usage data and user feedback so that the imaging apparatus 12 and/or host 14 can determine the optimal times of entering a power saver mode and a ready mode. Although the present invention may operate in either imaging apparatus 12 or host 14, or as a combination of imaging apparatus 12 and host 14, for simplicity of understanding, the present invention will be presented as being a method that operates in imaging apparatus 12 and may send and receive information to/from host 14. Imaging apparatus 12 includes an algorithm that utilizes the present invention to gather usage experience and polling of the user to determine the best time to be in a power saver mode. There are several different implementations of the present invention which are summarized herein. There are three main inputs into the power saver artificial intelligence (AI): those being user setup information, user polling response and current usage, along with current date and time information available from imaging apparatus 12. User setup information consists of data entered by the user that is related to intended usage patterns of imaging apparatus 12. User polling response is data obtained by polling the user on host 14 or on imaging apparatus by way of user interface 26 before, during or after an operation is performed on imaging apparatus 12. Current usage information is obtained from the current operations that are being performed. The specific combinations of the three inputs that are used by the specific embodiments are described hereinbelow. The power saver AI stores these inputs and the decisions made from these inputs in memory as needed. In addition, the power saver AI uses these inputs along with data in the memory to determine if the device should be in a power saver mode or in a ready mode.
One embodiment uses the current usage input to determine the power mode. The device learns usage patterns and then determines when to be in a power saver or power ready mode based on these patterns. The usage patterns can be classified as absolute or relative. The absolute pattern makes reference to specific days and/or time. For example, if usage is determined to be considerably higher on Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, the device is in a ready mode during that time on those days. A relative pattern is based upon time relative to an initial operation of the device. For example, if usage is determined to be usually grouped within a two hour time-span, the device would stay in a ready mode for two hours after an initial operation.
Another embodiment is a user setup embodiment in which setup information is entered by the user in the use profile; the information that is entered reflects what a user decides best fits the user's situation. This can be done by way of interaction with the driver or a dialogue upon the first installation of imaging apparatus 12 to host 14 or when requested by the user. Such a profile relies upon the absolute and/or relative patterns, as discussed above. The power saver AI stores this profile in memory and based upon the current date/time (or time elapsed since initial usage if a relative profile) the appropriate power mode is then selected so as to put imaging apparatus 12 in a power saver mode or a ready mode.
Yet another embodiment of the present invention utilizes polling and current usage inputs to determine the power mode. Statistical observation, similar to a previous embodiment, is performed to determine usage patterns. After a certain number of operations have been performed, the user is polled to select a possible profile that matches the device usage by the user. The power saver AI selects a few of the profiles that are possible, based upon the match obtained from gathering usage data. The user has the opportunity to select one of these profiles, and that profile is then used by the power saver AI to determine the power mode timing.
Another embodiment uses statistical and polling information that is initially input by a user into an “initial profile.” The user enters information into the initial profile, statistical observation of usage patterns is performed, and the user is polled and given the option to switch to a different profile, when such a profile is determined by the power saver AI to optimize the power usage of imaging apparatus 12.
A further embodiment of the present invention uses polling and current usage inputs to determine the power mode. After an initial operation, the user is polled to determine intended future use of the device. One of at least two types of polling can occur. The first type simply asks if continued usage is planned and a YES or NO answer is received. If YES, imaging apparatus 12 stays in a ready mode for a predetermined period of time (such as 4 hours or 8 hours). If the answer is NO, imaging apparatus 12 enters power saver mode either immediately or in a short amount of time, such as 5 minutes. The second type of polling asks the user the expected length of time of continued usage of imaging apparatus 12. This is done with suggested amounts of time, such as 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours or 8 hours; or it can accept a numeric entry from the user to represent the expected length of usage of imaging apparatus 12. The power saver AI then keeps the device in ready mode for that length of time.
Still yet another embodiment of the present invention has a statistical aspect in combination with polling when a usage anomaly occurs. This implementation uses statistical techniques and an initial use profile, each of which are discussed above. Usage is observed, patterns are determined and the power saver AI selects a power mode based upon these patterns. However, if an operation occurs outside of a normal usage pattern, the user is polled to determine intended future usage. Such a polling can be of the YES/NO or length of time polling implementation described above. Further, this implementation can incorporate an initial intended usage profile setup.
It is not desirable to annoy a user with unnecessary polling on monitor 44 or user interface 26. As such, every polling operation can include the option to never be polled again, or to not be polled for a predetermined period of time, for example, for the rest of the day. In addition, polling can be timed out, such that after a reasonable period of time a default selection is made if the user does not respond to the polling. A diminishing timer bar can be displayed on display monitor 44 and/or user interface 26 to indicate the remaining amount of time to respond to the poll. For both polling and setup, the user can be notified that the reason for being asked about an intended usage is to save power, and to have the device ready when needed. The data gathering portion of the methods described herein can employ a mechanism to systematically remove older data, for instance keeping only the last three weeks of usage data. Further it is contemplated that statistical methods including data confidence methods can be utilized by the power saver AI for the selection of use profiles.
Now, additionally referring to
Now, additionally referring to
Now, additionally referring to
If at step 152, it is determined that imaging apparatus 12 should be placed in a power save mode, method 150 proceeds to step 156 and imaging apparatus 12 is placed into a power save mode. The power save mode causes reduced power consumption by imaging apparatus 12 by turning off portions of imaging apparatus 12 such as heating elements, lights and/or displays. At step 158, it is decided whether imaging apparatus 12 is needed for use. If no use of imaging apparatus 12 is required, indicated, for example, by no recent receipt of data, the decision causes method 150 to return to step 152. If at step 158 it is determined that imaging apparatus 12 is needed for use, then imaging apparatus 12 is awakened at step 160 and method 150 proceeds to point B, which may continue to point B of method 200 depicted in
Now, additionally referring to
Now, additionally referring to
As way of illustration, patterns of usage may be gathered for periods of pre-selected times such as illustrated in the following table where the numbers in the day of the week rows indicate the number of jobs performed by the device within the two hour time period:
In the forgoing table the number of uses of imaging apparatus 12 is determined for pre-selected two hour time periods. The power saver AI can use this pattern of use to predict the times of usage of imaging apparatus 12. For example for a given day of the week imaging apparatus 12 may be turned on for each two hour period, which is supported by this pattern of use. For example, on a Monday, imaging apparatus 12 is placed in a ready mode at 8 a.m. and at noon it is put into power saver mode. At 2 p.m. it is put into ready mode until 6 p.m., when it is returned to power saver mode. Further, the frequency of use can be used to determine when imaging apparatus 12 is placed in a ready mode. For example, time periods in which the usage is at least 2 would cause imaging apparatus 12 to be in a ready mode and for all other time periods imaging apparatus 12 would be in a power save mode. This would require a user that used imaging apparatus 12 during a low use period to wait until imaging apparatus 12 was ready to function.
In another embodiment, the power saver AI can determine how often two or more contiguous two-hour time periods have usage activity. If frequent usage is determined, such as the number of uses exceeds a predetermined value, then a relative power ready mode pattern may be applied. For instance, if a job were performed at 10 A.M. on Saturday with no other historical usage data, the machine may be placed in a relative power ready pattern for 2 hours after this job. Also usage data for a prior week or multiple weeks may be accumulated to determine usage patterns. Further, systematic removal of older data may be used to track current usage patterns, for instance keeping only the prior two weeks worth of usage data.
Advantageously the present invention is adaptive in determining the use profile of imaging apparatus 12, which is utilized to reduce the energy usage of imaging apparatus 12. While described as reducing the power of imaging apparatus 12, the present invention can also be utilized on host 14 or portions of host 14, such as display monitor 44.
While this invention has been described as having a preferred design, the present invention can be further modified within the spirit and scope of this disclosure. This application is therefore intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the invention using its general principles. Further, this application is intended to cover such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which this invention pertains and which fall within the limits of the appended claims.
