Configurable Platform-based Power Management Schemes on the Embedded Tablet System

摘要

A power-aware embedded tablet appliance has been presented, which belongs to the handheld devices of 8.4 to 15 inches medium to large display sizes for versatile pen-based wireless computing applications such as home control and industrial automation. Power consumption is as important a design criterion as performance on such portable systems. Unlike personal computer (PC) system with standard power management/control mechanism, the embedded system requires customization and hardware/software co-design on the power management mechanism. A configurable platform design for power management has been proposed to enable flexible power schemes on designing different user scenarios and application domains. In this paper, the design methodology for a platform-based power management on the embedded tablet has been explored. The methodology considers from the circuit design stage to dynamic power management with various hardware/software co-design issues. Then, a tablet appliance has been developed as an example to illustrate the configurable platform-based power management/control schemes. Furthermore, an implementation on an embedded operation system (OS) with advanced power management software shows the feasibility of this design. Finally, several additional features are proposed including collaborating embedded controller with configurable devices power control and the hot-swappable battery capabilities.