System for managing power of peripheral communications by automatically closing communications channel immediately after finishing a communication with a peripheral device

Abstract

An improved method and apparatus manages communications port contention and power consumption for a handheld computer, particularly handheld computers with a communications protocol that boosts power consumption when active, such as an RS-232 protocol. The improved method provides communications channel management that automatically opens the communications channel in response to a wake-up signal sent to a handheld computer from a peripheral device. The computer peripheral device is explicitly and/or implicitly identified. The opened communications channel is closed in response to receiving some data from the peripheral device, and/or after a device timeout expires without the handheld computer receiving data from the computer peripheral device.

1 . A method of managing a communications port associated with a computing device, the method comprising:
 receiving a wake-up signal over the communications port corresponding to a peripheral connected to the computing device;   responsive to receiving the wake-up signal, causing the computing device to change from a low power state to a high power state;   opening a communications channel to the peripheral;   if the peripheral can be synchronized with the computing device, then performing a synchronization function and automatically closing the communication channel.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, after communicating data between the computing device and the peripheral, automatically closing the communication channel. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the peripheral which can be synchronized with the computing device is a storage device. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , identifying that the connected peripheral is a peripheral that performs a synchronization function. 
     
     
         5 . A computing device comprising:
 means for receiving a wake-up signal over a communications port corresponding to a peripheral connected to the computing device;   means for causing the computing device to change from a low power state to a high power state upon receiving the wake-up signal;   means for opening a communications channel to the peripheral;   means for synchronizing if the peripheral can be synchronized with the computing device; and   automatically closing the communications channel upon completion of the synchronization function.   
     
     
         6 . The computing device of  claim 5 , further comprising means for automatically closing the communication channel after synchronization. 
     
     
         7 . The computing device of  claim 5 , the computing device being configured to identify that the connected peripheral is a peripheral that performs a synchronization function. 
     
     
         8 . A computing device comprising:
 a module that receives a wake-up signal over a communications port corresponding to a peripheral connected to the computing device;   a module that causes the computing device to change from a low power state to a high power state upon receiving the wake-up signal;   a module that opens a communications channel to the peripheral;   a module that synchronizes the computing device with the peripheral if the peripheral can be synchronized with the computing device; and   a module that automatically closes the communication channel after the synchronization.   
     
     
         9 . The computing device of  claim 8 , the computing device being configured to identify that the connected peripheral is a peripheral that performs a synchronization function. 
     
     
         10 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions for controlling a computing device to perform the steps:
 receiving a wake-up signal over the communications port corresponding to a peripheral connected to the computing device;   responsive to receiving the wake-up signal, causing the computing device to change from a low power state to a high power state;   opening a communications channel to the peripheral;   if the peripheral can be synchronized with the computing device, then performing a synchronization function; and   automatically closing the communications channel after the synchronization.