Handheld devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDA) and mobile phones, are now being equipped with hardware and software to handle several different computing tasks. Handheld devices are being equipped with communications adapters to allow the handheld devices to access the Internet, other handheld devices, and other information handling systems. Handheld devices are also being used to process multimedia data, such as audio and video data. Many handheld devices are capable of playing video on an integrated screen. Handheld devices are being integrated with more components to handle the increased functionality. However, as more components are integrated with the handheld devices and as processing increases, the handheld devices draw more power.
Power is limited on most handheld devices. Most desktop computers take power from a power supply connected to an alternating current (AC) power outlet and generally don't need to worry about conserving power. Handheld devices generally take their power from standard power cells. Handheld devices are designed to be small and light to make them portable for consumers. The power cells are generally selected to be small and light to not hinder the handheld device. However, the increased processing performed to handle new functionality, such as communications or multimedia playback, takes more power from the handheld devices than general processing tasks the handheld devices were originally used for.
Current methods of reducing power consumption are not adequate. To conserve power, a handheld device may reduce the speed at which its central processing unit (CPU) is run. However, inhibiting the CPU reduces the performance of the handheld device in most or all of the functions of the handheld device. Alternatively, specific functions or hardware components within the handheld device may be completely disabled to conserve power. However, completely disabling functions within the handheld device reduces a stability expected by a user. Power-saving modes can be enabled through software by having a software application decide processing can be reduced. However, such applications are not generally aware of the effect of running in a reduced power mode on other components within the device. The application may not be aware of all the processes running within the device. From the above discussion, it is apparent that an improved method of conserving power within a system would be useful.