Electronic Paper Display update scheduler for extremely low power non-volatile embedded systems

Abstract

Aggressive use of low power modes in embedded systems using emerging non-volatile or low power compute state retainable devices can greatly reduce its power consumption of idle-state[1]. However, in general, non-volatile devices require comparatively large power to switch between the stable states. Therefore, to realize extremely low power mobile platforms with powerful multimedia application processor running solely on photovoltaic-power, mitigating power consumption of its active-state is the next issue. Replacing power hungry conventional LCDs with non-volatile displays is inevitable in realizing such low power platforms, but naive replacement is insufficient. As such, low power control cognizant of non-volatile device properties is necessary[2]. We propose a display update request scheduling scheme designed for a promising non-volatile display: Electronic Paper Display(EPD) and give deep analysis of power consumption. Proposed scheme dynamically rearranges update requests ill-suited for EPDs to localized and collision-free low power consuming requests at the device driver level, reducing EPD-based tablet's energy consumption by up to 49% without requiring application specific modifications.(Keywords: non-volatile computing, operating system, embedded system, low power display scheduling)