Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Rajagopal Venkatachalam

Gregory Nielsen

Zhangwei Xu

Mika Juhani Rintamaeki

Ajit Justin

Francisco Cantu De La Garza

Isaac P Ahdout

Alexander Frank

Thomas G Phillips

Curt Andrew Steeb

Martin D Hall

Tristan Anthony Brown

Donghwi Kim

Zeyong Xu

Timothy Allen Jakoboski

Ricardo Lopez-Barquilla

James Duffus

Sandeep Prabhakar

Sachin Ramesh Chandra

Minsoo Kim

Kurt Daverman

Gary Alan Tornquist

Ceceli Ann Wilhelmi

Mark Allan Bellon

Brett A Muzzey

Nicholas Temple

Da Hai Hu

Brendan W Flynn

Brian D Hahn

Vinod Chakravarthy

Gung Moon Chan

Thomas Arthur Sewell

Cho Yu Chong

A method of thermal and power control in a computing device includes, at the computing device, initializing a thermal module of the computing device, receiving data at the thermal module from a first component assigned to an interface of the thermal module, and sending an output to a second component from the thermal module based on the data. Initializing the thermal module includes detecting a presence of a plurality of potential components of the computing device; querying each of the plurality of potential components to determine capabilities of each component; in response to the querying, for each of at least a subset of the plurality of potential components receiving identification information for the component and, based on the received identification information, configuring one or more interfaces of the plurality of predefined interfaces of the thermal module to establish communication with the sub set of components.

Systems and methods for thermal system management

A computing device includes a cooling device and a cooling activity monitor configured to assess a cooling activity of the cooling device. A cooling activity reporter is configured to, based at least in part on the cooling activity of the cooling device crossing a predefined cooling activity threshold, communicate a cooling activity indication to a resource manager of the computing device.

Computer cooling device activity indication

A dynamic peak power management system may prevent brownouts while improving performance and user experience compared to conventional techniques. A current threshold may be set below the maximum current capability (Imax) of a battery. If the current drawn from the battery exceeds the current threshold repeatedly, then system components may be throttled to decrease their peak power usage. If the current drawn from the battery stays below the current threshold for some time, then system components may be unthrottled to improve performance. This dynamic adaptable technique for managing peak power does not unnecessarily sacrifice performance by preemptively throttling system components to avoid the rare worst-case scenario where power spikes of system components perfectly align in time.

Dynamic peak power control

A method of thermal and power control in a computing device includes, at the computing device, initializing a thermal module of the computing device, receiving data at the thermal module from a first component assigned to an interface of the thermal module, and sending an output to a second component from the thermal module based on the data. Initializing the thermal module includes detecting a presence of a plurality of potential components of the computing device; querying each of the plurality of potential components to determine capabilities of each component; in response to the querying, for each of at least a subset of the plurality of potential components receiving identification information for the component and, based on the received identification information, configuring one or more interfaces of the plurality of predefined interfaces of the thermal module to establish communication with the subset of components.

A system for battery current monitoring includes a system power throttle stored in memory and executable by the one or more processors to place a battery of an electronic device into a state of expected zero-drain throughout a time interval while the electronic device remains active, and a battery leakage monitor stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to detect a battery charge leak based on a series of time-separated parameter measurements for the battery collected during the time interval.

Battery charge leakage monitor

A hardware-based security module may contain executable code used to manage the electronic device in which the security module resides. Because the security module may have limited memory, a memory update process is used that allows individual blocks to be separately downloaded and verified. Verification data is sent in a header block prior to sending the individual data blocks.

Secure upgrade of firmware update in constrained memory

Methods and a program of instruction provide a packet schema framework for communication between elements of a pay-as-you-go business model including a provisioning server, an adapted electronic device, and a service provider. The packet schema defines provisioning instructions and content types to support service provisioning, including electronic device configuration and state, time-metering, and other types of functional and administrative tasks as well as to provide a foundation for any future messages needed for product evolution. The schema also defines security at multiple levels to guard against malicious users who may try to hook into the system to fraudulently use and/or configure the electronic devices for their own use and gain.

Packet schema for pay-as-you-go service provisioning

The claimed method and system monitors computer system timer(s) relative to other timers to detect discrepancies and/or may capture an offset to provide a method of more accurately determining a current time. The invention may also provide a method to detect power source tampering using a last known good time and may provide a means to securely initialize system time using an encrypted time stamp.

Method to securely initialize, protect and recover system date/time

A system and method for monitoring a computer, particularly a pay-per-use computer, uses an isolated computing environment or supervisor. The isolated computing environment boots prior to any boot device associated with an operating system, runs concurrently with the operating system and monitors and measures the computer in operation. Once the isolated computing environment determines the computer is not in compliance with the required policies, the isolated computing environment may either impose an impediment to use such as slowing clock speed or completely disable the operating system. The user may have to return the computer to a service provider to restore it from the offending condition and reset the computer to an operational state.

Special PC mode entered upon detection of undesired state

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Redmond, WA, United States of America

Rajagopal Venkatachalam