Determining expected exceeding of maximum allowed power consumption of a mobile electronic device

1. A method for determining an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption of a mobile electronic device, the method comprising:

determining power consumption of the device in a current operating state;

determining, for a first process executable by a processor of the device, process-specific power consumption of the device which would be caused by execution of the first process;

determining as to whether an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption would occur for a case in which a new instance of the first executable process would be executed, which is currently not executed, and that possible present instances of the first executable process, which are currently executed, are continued to be executed; and

if it has been determined that an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption would occur, outputting information about the expected exceeding of the maximum allowed power consumption.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

outputting an information designative for the first executable process associated with the information about the expected exceeding of the maximum allowed power consumption.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining respective process-specific power consumption of the device for one or more further executable processes.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining the power consumption of the device in the current operating state as the sum of the process-specific power consumptions of a plurality of processes which are currently executed by one or more processors of the device.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

outputting the deficiency, by which the maximum allowed power consumption would be exceeded, and the process-specific power consumption of at least one process, which is currently executed by a processor of the device, associated with the information about the expected exceeding of the maximum allowed power consumption.

6. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

determining a process or a group of processes for which it holds true that the process or the group of processes are currently executed by the one or more processors of the device and the expected exceeding of the maximum allowed power consumption would not occur in a case in which the new instance of the first executable would be executed and that the process or the group of processes would not be further executed.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

outputting an information designative for the determined process or the determined group of processes associated with the information about the expected exceeding of the maximum allowed power consumption.

8. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein a process-specific power consumption is determined for an executable process based on a power consumption typically caused by the execution of the first process.

9. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein a process-specific power consumption is determined for an executable process taking into consideration a power consumption measured in executing the process.

10. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

determining and outputting for at least one process, which is currently executed by a processor of the device, the portion of the process-specific power consumption of the power consumption of the device in the current operating state.

11. The method of claim 3 ,

wherein the first executable process is executable by the one processor of the device; and

wherein at least one process is executable by another processor of the device.

12. The method of claim 1 ,

wherein at least one process is an application program, and

wherein a user of the device can decide to start or to terminate the execution of the at least one application program.

13. The method of claim 12 ,

wherein the first executable process is an application program available for the user of the device, and

wherein during the operation of the device it is repeatedly determined as to whether the expected exceeding of the maximum allowed power consumption would occur in a case in which the new instance of the first executable process would be executed.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a residual energy reservoir available for the operation of the device; and

determining a first expected residual operating time which holds true for a case in which the new instance of the first executable process would be executed and that the possible present instances of the first executable process would be continued to be executed.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

outputting the determined first expected residual operating time.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:

outputting information designative for the first executable process associated with the determined first expected residual operating time.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

determining a second expected residual operating time for a case in which the new instance of the first executable process would be executed and that at least one process, which is currently executed by a processor of the device, would not be continued to be executed.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

deciding which processes which are currently executed by at least one processor of the device no longer need to be continued to be executed; and

determining the second expected residual operating time for a case in which those currently executed processes for which it has been decided that they no longer need to be continued to be executed, would not be continued to be executed.

19. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

outputting the determined second expected residual operating time.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

outputting an information designative for the first executable process associated with the determined second expected residual operating time.

21. The method of claim 14 ,

wherein the first executable process is an application program available for the user of the device, and

wherein the first expected residual operating time is repeatedly determined during the operation of the device.

22. A device for determining an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption of a mobile electronic device, the device comprising:

a power consumption determination circuit configured to determine power consumption of the device in a current operating state, and to determine process-specific power consumption of the device which would be caused by execution of a first process executable by a processor of the device;

a power consumption comparing circuit configured to determine as to whether an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption would occur for a case in which a new instance of the first executable process would be executed, which is currently not executed, and that possible present instances of the first executable process, which are currently executed, are continued to be executed; and

an outputting circuit configured to output, if it has been determined that an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption would occur, information about the expected exceeding of the maximum allowed power consumption.

23. A mobile electronic device, comprising:

a processor; and

a device for determining an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption of the mobile electronic device, the device for determining an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption of the mobile electronic device comprising:

a power consumption determination circuit configured to determine a power consumption of the device in a current operating state, and to determine process-specific power consumption of the device which would be caused by the execution of a first process executable by a processor of the device;

a power consumption comparing circuit configured to determine as to whether an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption would occur for a case in which a new instance of the first executable process would be executed, which is currently not executed, and that possible present instances of the first executable process, which are currently executed, are continued to be executed; and

an outputting circuit configured to output, if it has been determined that an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption would occur, information about the expected exceeding of the maximum allowed power consumption.

24. A computer-readable program product storing program code for causing a computer to perform a method comprising:

determining power consumption of the device in a current operating state;

determining, for a first process executable by a processor of the device, process-specific power consumption of the device which would be caused by execution of the first process;

determining as to whether an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption would occur for a case in which a new instance of the first executable process would be executed, which is currently not executed, and that possible present instances of the first executable process, which are currently executed, are continued to be executed; and

if it has been determined that an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption would occur, outputting information about the expected exceeding of the maximum allowed power consumption.

25. A device for determining an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption of a mobile electronic device, the device comprising:

a power consumption determination means for determining power consumption of the device in a current operating state, and for determining process-specific power consumption of the device which would be caused by execution of a first process executable by a processor of the device;

a power consumption comparing means for determining as to whether an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption would occur for a case in which a new instance of the first executable process would be executed, which is currently not executed, and that possible present instances of the first executable process, which are currently executed, are continued to be executed; and

an outputting means for outputting if it has been determined that an expected exceeding of a maximum allowed power consumption would occur, information about the expected exceeding of the maximum allowed power consumption.