Patents by Inventor Jeffrey A. Niemann

Jeffrey A. Niemann has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 9578601
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and devices are described for managing power of a user equipment (UE). A UE modem may determine the state of charge of the battery to determine that the battery is in one of two or more charge state levels, and may invoke one or more modem power saving modes based on the charge state level. Power saving modes may include, for example, reducing a number of available receive chains in a UE, initiating a time delay between one or more frequency scan requests performed by the UE, reducing a rate of neighbor search requests performed by the UE, providing a buffer status report (BSR) parameter that indicates a reduced amount of buffer data relative to an actual amount of buffer data for the UE, and/or adjusting a maximum transmit power level for an uplink channel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 21, 2017
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Vasanth Kumar Ramkumar, Srinivasan Rajagopalan, Jeffrey A. Niemann, Vijay Raman, Christopher Lee Medrano, Jon James Anderson, Amit Mahajan
  • Publication number: 20150131461
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and devices are described for managing power of a user equipment (UE). A UE modem may determine the state of charge of the battery to determine that the battery is in one of two or more charge state levels, and may invoke one or more modem power saving modes based on the charge state level. Power saving modes may include, for example, reducing a number of available receive chains in a UE, initiating a time delay between one or more frequency scan requests performed by the UE, reducing a rate of neighbor search requests performed by the UE, providing a buffer status report (BSR) parameter that indicates a reduced amount of buffer data relative to an actual amount of buffer data for the UE, and/or adjusting a maximum transmit power level for an uplink channel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 17, 2014
    Publication date: May 14, 2015
    Applicant: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Vasanth Kumar Ramkumar, Srinivasan Rajagopalan, Jeffrey A. Niemann, Vijay Raman, Christopher Lee Medrano, Jon James Anderson, Amit Mahajan
  • Publication number: 20150119103
    Abstract: Methods, systems and devices for prioritizing communication technologies to allocate resources in a mobile device. The mobile device may employ a dual subscription, dual active (DSDA) configuration in which two subscriptions may be associated with concurrently active communications, such as voice or data calls. The mobile device may identify current states that indicate the type of communications associated with the subscriptions. In an embodiment, an applications processor within the mobile device may perform the state identifications. The mobile device may determine priorities of the concurrently active subscriptions based on the identified states. In an embodiment, the priorities may be determined by a modem processor within the mobile device. When the priorities are determined to be the same, the mobile device may perform a tiebreaker algorithm to further identify priorities. Based on the determined priorities, the mobile device may allocate resources to favor the subscription with the higher priority.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2013
    Publication date: April 30, 2015
    Applicant: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Francis Ming-Meng NGAI, Reza Shahidi, Amit Mahajan, Sridhar Bandaru, Ashish Gaonekar, Jeffrey Niemann, Henri Felix Begin, Ling Hang, Srikanth Chintala, Shivank Nayak
  • Patent number: 8996331
    Abstract: A method and system for managing one or more thermal policies of a portable computing device (PCD) includes monitoring temperature of the portable computing device with internal thermal sensors and external thermal sensors. If a change in temperature has been detected by at least one thermal sensor, then a thermal policy manager may increase a frequency in which temperature readings are detected by the thermal sensors. The thermal policy manager may also determine if a current temperature of the portable computing device as detected by one or more of the thermal sensors falls within one or more predetermined thermal states. Each thermal state may be assigned a unique set of thermal mitigation techniques. Each set of thermal mitigation techniques may be different from one another. The sets of thermal mitigation techniques may differ according to quantity of techniques and impacts on performance of the PCD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Jon James Anderson, Jeffrey A. Niemann, Bohuslav Rychlik, Sumit Sur
  • Patent number: 8996330
    Abstract: A method and system for managing one or more thermal policies of a portable computing device (PCD) includes monitoring temperature of the portable computing device with internal thermal sensors and external thermal sensors. If a change in temperature has been detected by at least one thermal sensor, then a thermal policy manager may increase a frequency in which temperature readings are detected by the thermal sensors. The thermal policy manager may also determine if a current temperature of the portable computing device as detected by one or more of the thermal sensors falls within one or more predetermined thermal states. Each thermal state may be assigned a unique set of thermal mitigation techniques. Each set of thermal mitigation techniques may be different from one another. The sets of thermal mitigation techniques may differ according to quantity of techniques and impacts on performance of the PCD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Jon James Anderson, Jeffrey A. Niemann, Bohuslav Rychlik, Sumit Sur
  • Publication number: 20150031326
    Abstract: Methods, devices, and systems for a mobile device to execute user experience software that dynamically determines operating policies that are suited for managing resources, such as transceivers, processors, and other units within the mobile device. In an aspect, a processor executing the user experience software may monitor for activity information that indicates a user's interactions with the mobile device. Based on the activity information, a processor executing the user experience software may match a circumstance defined by the activity information with a stored activity profile. The activity profile may include information indicating aggregated resource usage associated with the matched circumstance. A processor executing the user experience software may implement an operating policy based on the activity profile that manages how the mobile device utilizes resources.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 24, 2013
    Publication date: January 29, 2015
    Applicant: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Henri BEGIN, Jeffrey NIEMANN, Jon ANDERSON, Richard STEWART, Francis NGAI
  • Patent number: 8942857
    Abstract: Methods and systems for leveraging temperature sensors in a portable computing device (“PCD”) are disclosed. The sensors may be placed within the PCD near known thermal energy producing components such as a central processing unit (“CPU”) core, graphical processing unit (“GPU”) core, power management integrated circuit (“PMIC”), power amplifier, etc. The signals generated by the sensors may be monitored and used to trigger drivers running on the processing units. The drivers are operable to cause the reallocation of processing loads associated with a given component's generation of thermal energy, as measured by the sensors. In some embodiments, the processing load reallocation is mapped according to parameters associated with pre-identified thermal load scenarios.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 27, 2015
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Jon James Anderson, Sumit Sur, Jeffrey A. Niemann, James M. Artmeier
  • Patent number: 8768666
    Abstract: Methods and systems for managing thermal load distribution on a portable computing device (“PCD”) include storing on a PCD a plurality of thermal load steering scenarios which identify simulated thermal load conditions for the PCD, corresponding simulated workloads that produced the simulated thermal load conditions, and thermal load steering parameters for steering the simulated thermal load to a predetermined spatial location on the PCD. A scheduled workload for the PCD is monitored to identify a match with one of the thermal load steering scenarios so that the workload may be scheduled according to a thermal load steering parameter. Another method includes initiating a thermal mitigation technique on a PCD and determining a current graphical load being processed by the PCD. A graphics feature associated with the current graphical load is identified. The graphics feature is then disabled while maintaining a frame rate to reduce temperature of the PCD.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Jon J. Anderson, James M. Artmeier, Jeffrey A. Niemann, Sumit Sur
  • Patent number: 8675615
    Abstract: A method and system for temperature-driven airlink selection in a multi-mode wireless device is disclosed. The method may include monitoring a temperature in the multi-mode wireless device while the multi-mode wireless device operates in a first airlink mode, determining whether to switch the airlink mode of the multi-mode wireless device in response to a change in the monitored temperature, and switching the multi-mode wireless device to operate in a second airlink mode in response to a determination to switch the airlink mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 3, 2011
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Jon James Anderson, Joshua D. Thielen, Sumit Sur, Jeffrey A. Niemann
  • Patent number: 8650423
    Abstract: The aspects enable a computing device or microprocessor to scale the frequency and/or voltage of a processor to an optimal value balancing performance and power savings in view of a current processor workload. Busy and/or idle duration statistics are calculated from the processor during execution. The statistics may include a running average busy and/or idle duration or idle/busy ratio, a variance of the running average and a trend of the running average. Current busy or idle durations or an idle-to-busy ratio may be computed based on collected statistics. The current idle-to-busy ratio may be compared to a target idle-to-busy ratio and the frequency/voltage of the processor may be adjusted based on the results of the comparison to drive the current running average toward the target value. The target value of idle-to-busy ratio may be adjusted based on the calculated variance and/or trend values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 11, 2014
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Qing Li, Sumit Sur, Jeffrey A. Niemann, James M. Artmeier
  • Patent number: 8601300
    Abstract: Various embodiments of methods and systems for controlling and/or managing thermal energy generation on a portable computing device that contains a heterogeneous multi-core processor are disclosed. Because individual cores in a heterogeneous processor may exhibit different processing efficiencies at a given temperature, thermal mitigation techniques that compare performance curves of the individual cores at their measured operating temperatures can be leveraged to manage thermal energy generation in the PCD by allocating and/or reallocating workloads among the individual cores based on the performance curve comparison.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Jon J. Anderson, Sumit Sur, Jeffrey A. Niemann, James M. Artmeier
  • Patent number: 8595520
    Abstract: Various embodiments of methods and systems for determining the thermal status of processing components within a portable computing device (“PCD”) by measuring leakage current on power rails associated with the components are disclosed. One such method involves measuring current on a power rail after a processing component has entered a “wait for interrupt” mode. Advantageously, because a processing component may “power down” in such a mode, any current remaining on the power rail associated with the processing component may be attributable to leakage current. Based on the measured leakage current, a thermal status of the processing component may be determined and thermal management policies consistent with the thermal status of the processing component implemented. Notably, it is an advantage of embodiments that the thermal status of a processing component within a PCD may be established without the need to leverage temperature sensors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 26, 2013
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Qing Li, Jon J. Anderson, James M. Artmeier, Jeffrey A. Niemann, Sumit Sur
  • Publication number: 20130097415
    Abstract: The aspects enable a computing device or microprocessor to adjust the operations of a processor in view of a current processor workload based on a histogram-like data structure. A histogram-like data structure characterizing one of processor busy and/or idle durations or busy/idle ratios is generated at runtime and used to model the processor workload. The processor workload is used to predict future processing requirements and to adjust the processor's operations such that they are commensurate with the processing and workload requirements. The histogram-like data structure may alternatively be used to estimate a current quality of service (QoS) of a communication link so that link management actions may be taken.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 12, 2012
    Publication date: April 18, 2013
    Applicant: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Qing Li, Sumit Sur, Jeffrey A. Niemann, Bohuslav Rychlik
  • Publication number: 20130097609
    Abstract: Various embodiments of methods and systems for determining the thermal status of processing components within a portable computing device (“PCD”) by measuring leakage current on power rails associated with the components are disclosed. One such method involves measuring current on a power rail after a processing component has entered a “wait for interrupt” mode. Advantageously, because a processing component may “power down” in such a mode, any current remaining on the power rail associated with the processing component may be attributable to leakage current. Based on the measured leakage current, a thermal status of the processing component may be determined and thermal management policies consistent with the thermal status of the processing component implemented. Notably, it is an advantage of embodiments that the thermal status of a processing component within a PCD may be established without the need to leverage temperature sensors.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2011
    Publication date: April 18, 2013
    Applicant: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Qing Li, Jon J. Anderson, James M. Artmeier, Jeffrey A. Niemann, Sumit Sur
  • Publication number: 20130097443
    Abstract: The aspects enable a computing device or microprocessor to scale the frequency and/or voltage of a processor to an optimal value balancing performance and power savings in view of a current processor workload. Busy and/or idle duration statistics are calculated from the processor during execution. The statistics may include a running average busy and/or idle duration or idle/busy ratio, a variance of the running average and a trend of the running average. Current busy or idle durations or an idle-to-busy ratio may be computed based on collected statistics. The current idle-to-busy ratio may be compared to a target idle-to-busy ratio and the frequency/voltage of the processor may be adjusted based on the results of the comparison to drive the current running average toward the target value. The target value of idle-to-busy ratio may be adjusted based on the calculated variance and/or trend values.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 21, 2011
    Publication date: April 18, 2013
    Applicant: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Qing Li, Sumit Sur, Jeffrey A. Niemann, James M. Artmeier
  • Publication number: 20130073875
    Abstract: Various embodiments of methods and systems for controlling and/or managing thermal energy generation on a portable computing device that contains a heterogeneous multi-core processor are disclosed. Because individual cores in a heterogeneous processor may exhibit different processing efficiencies at a given temperature, thermal mitigation techniques that compare performance curves of the individual cores at their measured operating temperatures can be leveraged to manage thermal energy generation in the PCD by allocating and/or reallocating workloads among the individual cores based on the performance curve comparison.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 29, 2011
    Publication date: March 21, 2013
    Inventors: Jon J. ANDERSON, Sumit Sur, Jeffrey A. Niemann, James M. Artmeier
  • Publication number: 20120281558
    Abstract: A method and system for temperature-driven airlink selection in a multi-mode wireless device is disclosed. The method may include monitoring a temperature in the multi-mode wireless device while the multi-mode wireless device operates in a first airlink mode, determining whether to switch the airlink mode of the multi-mode wireless device in response to a change in the monitored temperature, and switching the multi-mode wireless device to operate in a second airlink mode in response to a determination to switch the airlink mode.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 3, 2011
    Publication date: November 8, 2012
    Inventors: Jon James ANDERSON, Joshua D. Thielen, Sumit Sur, Jeffrey A. Niemann
  • Publication number: 20120271481
    Abstract: Methods and systems for leveraging temperature sensors in a portable computing device (“PCD”) are disclosed. The sensors may be placed within the PCD near known thermal energy producing components such as a central processing unit (“CPU”) core, graphical processing unit (“GPU”) core, power management integrated circuit (“PMIC”), power amplifier, etc. The signals generated by the sensors may be monitored and used to trigger drivers running on the processing units. The drivers are operable to cause the reallocation of processing loads associated with a given component's generation of thermal energy, as measured by the sensors. In some embodiments, the processing load reallocation is mapped according to parameters associated with pre-identified thermal load scenarios.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 3, 2011
    Publication date: October 25, 2012
    Inventors: Jon James ANDERSON, Sumit SUR, Jeffrey A. NIEMANN, James M. ARTMEIER
  • Publication number: 20120179303
    Abstract: A method and system for managing one or more thermal policies of a portable computing device (PCD) includes monitoring temperature of the portable computing device with internal thermal sensors and external thermal sensors. If a change in temperature has been detected by at least one thermal sensor, then a thermal policy manager may increase a frequency in which temperature readings are detected by the thermal sensors. The thermal policy manager may also determine if a current temperature of the portable computing device as detected by one or more of the thermal sensors falls within one or more predetermined thermal states. Each thermal state may be assigned a unique set of thermal mitigation techniques. Each set of thermal mitigation techniques may be different from one another. The sets of thermal mitigation techniques may differ according to quantity of techniques and impacts on performance of the PCD.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 22, 2011
    Publication date: July 12, 2012
    Applicant: QUALCOMM INCORPORATED
    Inventors: Jon James Anderson, Jeffrey A. Niemann, Bohuslav Rychlik, Sumit Sur
  • Publication number: 20120179416
    Abstract: A method and system for managing one or more thermal policies of a portable computing device (PCD) includes monitoring temperature of the portable computing device with internal thermal sensors and external thermal sensors. If a change in temperature has been detected by at least one thermal sensor, then a thermal policy manager may increase a frequency in which temperature readings are detected by the thermal sensors. The thermal policy manager may also determine if a current temperature of the portable computing device as detected by one or more of the thermal sensors falls within one or more predetermined thermal states. Each thermal state may be assigned a unique set of thermal mitigation techniques. Each set of thermal mitigation techniques may be different from one another. The sets of thermal mitigation techniques may differ according to quantity of techniques and impacts on performance of the PCD.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 5, 2011
    Publication date: July 12, 2012
    Inventors: Jon James ANDERSON, Jeffrey A. Niemann, Bohuslav Rychlik, Sumit Sur