Computer cooling device activity indication
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.
1. A computing device, comprising:
a first portion;
a second portion rotatably coupled with the first portion via a hinge;
a cooling device;
a cooling activity monitor configured to assess a cooling activity of the cooling device; and
a cooling activity reporter configured to, based at least in part on the cooling activity of the cooling device crossing a predefined cooling activity threshold specified by a first activity-to-noise map, communicate a cooling activity indication to a resource manager of the computing device, wherein the first activity-to-noise map corresponds to an open configuration of the computing device having first acoustic properties, the open configuration associated with a first hinge angle between the first portion and the second portion, and wherein a second activity-to-noise map corresponds to a closed configuration of the computing device having second acoustic properties, the closed configuration associated with a second hinge angle between the first portion and the second portion, and wherein the resource manager is configured to, based at least in part on the cooling activity indication, control behavior of one or more software applications by terminating one or more software processes to reduce the cooling activity of the cooling device.
2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the cooling device is a cooling fan, and wherein the cooling activity of the cooling fan is a rotational fan speed of the cooling fan.
3. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the first activity-to-noise map correlates different cooling activity values of the cooling device with a plurality of different cooling device noise levels.
4. The computing device of claim 3 , wherein the predefined cooling activity threshold corresponds to a noise threshold between two different cooling device noise levels of the plurality of different cooling device noise levels.
5. The computing device of claim 3 , wherein the cooling activity indication specifies a cooling device noise level of the plurality of different cooling device noise levels to which the cooling activity of the cooling device corresponds, according to the first activity-to-noise map.
6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the predefined cooling activity threshold is one of a first set of predefined cooling activity thresholds specified by the first activity-to-noise map, and wherein the second activity-to-noise map specifies a second set of predefined cooling activity thresholds, different from the first set of predefined cooling activity thresholds.
7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the predefined cooling activity threshold is specified by the resource manager of the computing device.
8. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the predefined cooling activity threshold is one of two or more different predefined cooling activity thresholds, and the cooling activity indication specifies which of the two or more different predefined cooling activity thresholds is crossed.
9. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the resource manager of the computing device is configured to, based at least in part on the cooling activity indication, control behavior of one or more hardware components of the computing device to reduce the cooling activity of the cooling device.
10. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the resource manager of the computing device is configured to make the cooling activity indication available to the one or more software applications of the computing device.
11. The computing device of claim 1 , further comprising:
a second cooling device;
a second cooling activity monitor configured to assess a cooling activity of the second cooling device; and
a second cooling activity reporter configured to, based at least in part on the cooling activity of the second cooling device crossing a second predefined cooling activity threshold, communicate a second cooling activity indication to the resource manager of the computing device.
12. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the cooling activity monitor and the cooling activity reporter are implemented in firmware installed on a hardware cooling device controller of the cooling device.
13. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the cooling activity reporter is further configured to report the cooling activity of the cooling device to the resource manager of the computing device at a predetermined time interval regardless of whether the cooling activity of the cooling device crosses the predefined cooling activity threshold.
14. A method for computing device cooling, comprising:
at a hardware cooling device controller configured to control a cooling device of a computing device, assessing a cooling activity of the cooling device, wherein the computing device includes a first portion and a second portion rotatably coupled with the first portion via a hinge; and
based at least in part on the cooling activity of the cooling device crossing a predefined cooling activity threshold specified by a first activity-to-noise map, communicating a cooling activity indication to a resource manager of the computing device, wherein the first activity-to-noise map corresponds to an open configuration of the computing device having first acoustic properties, the open configuration associated with a first hinge angle between the first portion and the second portion, and wherein a second activity-to-noise map corresponds to a closed configuration of the computing device having second acoustic properties, the closed configuration associated with a second hinge angle between the first portion and the second portion, and wherein the resource manager is configured to, based at least in part on the cooling activity indication, control behavior of one or more software applications by terminating one or more software processes to reduce the cooling activity of the cooling device.
15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first activity-to-noise map is maintained by the hardware cooling device controller and correlates different cooling activity values of the cooling device with a plurality of different cooling device noise levels.
16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the predefined cooling activity threshold corresponds to a noise threshold between two different cooling device noise levels of the plurality of different cooling device noise levels.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the cooling activity indication specifies a cooling device noise level of the plurality of different cooling device noise levels that the cooling activity of the cooling device corresponds to, according to the activity-to-noise map.
18. A computing device, comprising:
a first portion;
a second portion rotatably coupled with the first portion via a hinge;
a cooling fan;
a cooling activity monitor configured to assess a rotational fan speed of the cooling fan; and
a cooling activity reporter configured to, based at least in part on the rotational fan speed of the cooling fan crossing a predefined cooling activity threshold specified by a first activity-to-noise map, communicate a cooling activity indication to a resource manager of the computing device, the resource manager of the computing device configured to, based at least in part on the cooling activity indication, control one or more software applications of the computing device by terminating one or more software processes to reduce the rotational fan speed of the cooling fan, wherein the first activity-to-noise map corresponds to an open configuration of the computing device having first acoustic properties, the open configuration associated with a first hinge angle between the first portion and the second portion, and wherein a second activity-to-noise map corresponds to a closed configuration of the computing device having second acoustic properties, the closed configuration associated with a second hinge angle between the first portion and the second portion.