Intelligent power management system
AssigneeEastman Kodak Company
InventorsDavid M. Orlicki, James H. Ford
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An intelligent power management system is particularly applicable to accessory devices that can be coupled to a basic device to provide the basic device with an enhanced feature. The accessory device includes a control processor and a power supply unit, wherein the power supply unit supplies electrical energy to the control processor in response to a control signal received from the basic device. The power supply unit includes a power management circuit that maintains the electrical energy supplied to the control processor during fluctuations of the control signal.
Claims24
An apparatus comprising:
- a basic device including a docking interface;
- and
- an accessory device, including a control processor and a power supply unit, that couples to the docking interface of the basic device;
- wherein the power supply unit supplies electrical energy to the control processor in response to a control signal received from the basic device;
- wherein the control signal provides an indication from the basic device to the accessory device that the accessory device is to be powered on using a power source internal to the accessory device;
- wherein the control signal triggers a transition of the accessory device from a powered-off state in which the power supply unit is deactivated and the control processor is powered off to a powered-on state in which the power supply unit is activated and the control processor is powered on, the control signal being indicative of whether or not an application which requires use of the accessory device is currently running on the basic device.
A digital camera accessory device comprising:
- a lens system;
- a docking interface;
- image processing circuitry that captures image data;
- a control processor that controls the operation of the image processing circuitry to perform an image capture operation;
- and
- a power supply unit that supplies electrical energy to the image processing circuitry and the control processor;
- wherein the power supply unit supplies the electrical energy to the control processor in response to a control signal received from the docking interface;
- wherein the control signal provides an indication to the accessory device that the accessory device is to be powered on using a power source internal to the accessory device;
- and
- wherein the control signal triggers the digital camera accessory device to transition from a powered-off state in which the power supply unit is deactivated and the control processor is powered off to a powered-on state in which the power supply unit is activated and the control processor is powered on.
A method of managing the power requirements of an accessory device coupled to a basic device comprising:
- generating a first control signal with the basic device and supplying the first control signal to the accessory device;
- the first control signal providing an indication from the basic device to the accessory device that the accessory device is to be powered on using a power source internal to the accessory device;
- activating a power supply unit of the accessory device in response to the first control signal to supply electrical power from the power supply unit to a control processor of the accessory device;
- generating a second control signal with the control processor of the accessory device and supplying the second control signal to the power supply unit;
- and
- latching operation of the power supply unit in response to the second control signal to maintain the supply of electrical power from the power supply unit to the control processor regardless of the state of the first control signal;
- wherein the first control signal triggers a transition of the accessory device from a powered-off state in which the power supply unit is deactivated and the control processor is powered off to a powered-on state in which the power supply unit is activated and the control processor is powered on.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.