Power sensitive wireless communication radio management

#One feature of a mobile or wearable device is the device's operational use time, i.e. the duration for which the device may be continuously used as a function of the device's stored energy (e.g. battery) capacity. Most mobile devices are designed to automatically search or poll for signals from various wireless communication networks (e.g. cellular phone, Wi-Fi, 3G, etc.) and/or to search or poll for other devices using various wireless communication technologies (e.g., Bluetooth®, Wi-Fi Direct®, etc.), regardless of what other devices the mobile device is currently connected. When sending or receiving data, mobile devices typically use such wireless communication networks or technologies. However, each different type of wireless technology uses a different amount of electrical power. Typically, mobile devices are configured to transfer data using the fastest data connection available (i.e., the data connection having the greatest available bandwidth).

#In some examples a method includes predicting, by a wearable device, an amount of data to be transferred from a computing device, and determining, by the wearable device, based on the amount of data, a particular wireless communication technology from a plurality of wireless communication technologies of the wearable computing device predicted to use the least amount of power for transferring the data. The method may also include determining, by the wearable device, whether the wearable device can connect to the computing device using the particular wireless communication technology, and, responsive to determining that the wearable device can connect to the computing device using the particular wireless communication technology, transferring, by the wearable device and using the particular wireless communication technology, the data.

#In some example, a method includes determining, by a wearable device, whether the wearable device is connected to a computing device using a first wireless communication technology from a plurality of wireless communication technologies of the wearable device, and responsive to determining that the wearable device is not connected to the computing device using the first wireless communication technology, determining, by the wearable device, whether the wearable device is currently being worn. The method may also include, responsive to determining that the wearable device is currently being worn: determining, by the wearable device, whether the wearable device can connect to the computing device using a second wireless communication technology from the plurality of wireless communication technologies, wherein the first wireless communication technology uses less power to establish and maintain a connection with the computing device than the second wireless communication technology, and, responsive to determining that the wearable device can connect to the computing device using the second wireless communication technology, establishing, by the wearable device, a connection to the network using the second wireless communication technology.

#FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an example system that includes computing devices that intelligently manage communication components in accordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure.

#FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example configuration of a wearable device that intelligently manages communication components in accordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure.

#FIG. 3 is a table illustrating example communication component states, in accordance with one or more techniques of this disclosure.

#In general, the disclosure is directed to techniques for power sensitive intelligent wireless communication radio management, which may reduce power consumption by a computing device (e.g., cellular phone, tablet computer, computerized watch or eyeglasses, etc.) when sending or receiving data. For instance, a computing device commonly has more than one wireless communication radio, where each radio may be capable of receiving and/or transmitting a signal (e.g. cellular, Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, LTE, Bluetooth®, etc.). Each wireless communication radio may use a different amount of power for sending or receiving a particular amount of data. The computing device may determine how much data is likely to be transferred and may select a wireless communication radio to use for the data transfer based on the total amount of power likely to be required to complete the data transfer. That is, techniques of this disclosure may enable a computing device to minimize the amount of electrical power required to transfer data by intelligently selecting the wireless communication radio used to perform the data transfer.

#In some examples, in addition to intelligently selecting the wireless communication radio, the computing device may selectively activate, deactivate, or adjust reconnection attempt parameters of one or more wireless communication radios based on a current context of the computing device. The current context may include one or more connections to other computing devices, detected movement of the computing device, computing device usage history, current location of the computing device, current charge level or state of the computing device, activity state of a user of the computing device, current time, etc. By actively managing the power state and/or reconnection policies of the wireless communication radios, the computing device may reduce the power usage of the computing device, thereby increasing the battery life of the computing device or enabling the computing device to utilize a smaller battery to achieve the same battery life.

#Throughout the disclosure, examples are described wherein a computing device and/or computing system may analyze information (e.g., locations, speeds, accelerations) associated with the computing device and information (e.g., captured images, communications, calendars, files and notes) associated with the user of the computing device only if the computing device and/or the computing system receives explicit permission from the user of the computing device to analyze the information. For example, in situations discussed below in which the computing device and/or computing system may collect or may make use of information associated with the user and the computing device, the user may be provided with an opportunity to provide input to control whether programs or features of the computing device and/or computing system can collect and make use of user images and information (e.g., information about a user's e-mail, a user's social network, social actions or activities, profession, a user's preferences, or a user's past and current location), or to dictate whether and/or how the computing device and/or computing system may receive content that may be relevant to the user. In addition, certain data may be treated in one or more ways before it is stored or used by the computing device and/or computing system, so that personally-identifiable information is removed. For example, a user's identity may be treated so that no personally identifiable information can be determined about the user, or a user's geographic location may be generalized where location information is obtained (such as to a city, ZIP code, or state level), so that a particular location of a user cannot be determined. Thus, the user may have control over how information is collected about the user and used by the computing device and/or computing system.