System and method for collecting power management parameters in a computing device for power over Ethernet
AssigneeBroadcom Corporation
InventorWael William Diab
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method for collecting power management parameters in a computing device for power over Ethernet (PoE). Computing devices such as portable computers can include a collection component that is responsible for gathering power management information from various parts of the computing device. The collected power management information can then be sent to a LAN on motherboard device for use in a PoE allocation scheme.
Claims20
A power over Ethernet method in a computing device having a processing unit, memory and a LAN on motherboard device, comprising:
- retrieving, by a software collection application supported by a software operating system executed by said processing unit, power management information for said computing device, said power management information including application load information for one or more software applications being executed by said processing unit;
- forwarding, via an input/output controller coupled to said LAN on motherboard device, said power management information retrieved by said software collection component to said LAN on motherboard device on said computing device;
- and
- transmitting said power management information from said LAN on motherboard device to a switch via a network cable, thereby enabling said switch to manage power provided to said computing device via said network cable based on an analysis of power usage of said computing device as indicated at least in part by said application load information included in said transmitted power management information.
A power over Ethernet computing device, comprising:
- a central processing unit;
- a computer readable program product having instructions that, when executed by said central processing unit, are operative to retrieve power management information relating to application load information for one or more software applications being executed by said central processing unit, said instructions being included in a software collection application supported by a software operating system executed by said central processing unit;
- and
- a LAN on motherboard module that encapsulates said retrieved power management information into layer 2 packets for delivery to a switch for use in a control of power delivered to the computing device.
A power over Ethernet method in a computing device having a central processing unit, memory and a LAN on motherboard device, comprising:
- executing instructions on said central processing unit in said computing device, said executed instructions included in a software collection application supported by a software operating system executed by said central processing unit, said software collection application being operative to retrieve power management information relating to said computing device;
- forwarding, via an input/output controller coupled to said LAN on motherboard device, information based on said retrieved power management information to said LAN on motherboard device on said computing device;
- and
- transmitting information based on said power management information from said LAN on motherboard device to a switch via a network cable, thereby enabling said switch to manage power provided to said computing device via said network cable based on an analysis of power usage of said computing device as indicated at least in part by said power management information.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.