Charging Servant

Charging Servant help

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Content

Ch. 1 Overview

Ch. 2 Define preferred charging intervals

Ch. 2.1 Adding a new time interval

Ch. 2.2 Removing a time interval

Ch. 3 Power consumption statistics

Ch. 3.1 Initial statistics data

Ch. 3.2 The background service behaviour

Ch. 4 EULA FOR Charging Servant

Chapter 1 Overview

The Charging Servant by UBVASA will help you to avoid ending up in situations where you are about to use your phone, but find that it does not have enough (or any) power left.

This is done in the following way:

You will first have to think a bit about what time periods that would be convenient for you to be reminded to charge your phone. This could e. g. be in the evening (like between 19.00 and 22.00) when you (often) are at home, and could plug your phone into a charger. This information you then enter into the app, see ch. 2.

The app, which after being installed will initiate a background service that wakes up once every hour, will then at every wake up check the power left in the battery, and calculate a prediction on when the battery runs empty (for more about that, see ch. 3). It then checks the time periods for charging that you have defined, and finds the closest one prior in time to when the battery runs empty. If the current time then is found to be within this time period it then uses the Android NotificationManager to issue a notification that if you do not start to charge within this time period, the battery will not last until next defined time period. It will continue to remind you about this every ten minutes during the time period until you either plug it in for charging, or unchecks the button 'Alarm on/off'.

Chapter 2 Define preferred charging intervals

Charging Servant is initially set up with a predefined time period, which is 'Mon-Sun' between 18.00 and 21.00. Time intervals are defined by a 'Weekly scope', a start time, and a period length.

The 'Weekly Scope' alternatives available are:

'Mon-Sun', 'Mon-Fri', 'Fri-Sat', 'Mon', 'Tue', 'Wed', 'Thu', 'Fri', 'Sat', 'Sun'

The first three are valid during multiple days of the week, while the others are for a single day of the week. This means that whatever you select, it will repeat for every coming week. So if you e. g. during your vacation want the app to remind you at different times, you will need to update your selection of time periods (see both ch. 2.1 and 2.2).

Chapter 2.1 Adding a new time interval

To define a new time period you first push the "Edit charge intervals" button, then in the new menu shown you select 'New' on the topmost spinner. Then you select one of the Weekly scope alternatives on the spinner below. Then you enter the start time for the time period, and its length. The start time but be a valid 24-hour time, and the period length must be at least one hour. After defining all of this, you push the button 'Save charge interval'.

Chapter 2.2 Removing a time interval

To remove an existing time period you first push the "Edit charge intervals" button, then in the new menu shown you select the time period to be removed on the topmost spinner. The time periods are shown on the spinner by their Weekly scope followed by the start time. If you have more than one time period defined with both these parameters the same (i. e. only the period length differs), you will have to select one and then check if it was the one desired. If not you then open the spinner and select the other. After being selected, the parameters for the selection are shown in the input windows. Pushing the button 'Remove charge interval' will remove it. There must always be at least one period defined, so trying to remove the last period will be denied. You must first add another one before being able to remove it.

Chapter 3 Power consumption statistics

Pushing the button 'Show statistics' will take you to a menu showing the power consumption values that the app has registered. As mentioned in the overview it wakes up once every hour to check if charging is needed, and it then also saves the battery charging level. For the statistics it then averages three such measurements. This is done for the three hours from midnight to three, and for the following three hour periods around the clock. So for every day of the week there are eight measurement periods shown. For each of these, the app keeps the record for the last five measurements, and it is the average of these five it uses when estimating the time left before the battery goes empty.

At the top is shown which day that the displayed data belongs to. Pushing any of the buttons 'Next day', or 'Previous' swiches the displayed data to that of another week day.

The consumption data shown is in 'parts of thousand', i. e. in permille, of the fully charged battery. So if the value 53 is shown, it means that 5.3 percent of the fully charged battery was consumed during those three hours.

Chapter 3.1 Initial statistics data

For Charging Servant to initially have any data for making estimations, the database is preloaded with data for a scenario where the battery is consumed in a constant rate that makes it last for two days (48 hours). As this data is preloaded for the complete 7-day measurement range, it means that during the first week of usage the predictions will be a bit off (unless your consumption pattern matches this). After the first week the predictions will start to be done on data that mirrors your consumption pattern.

Chapter 3.2 The background service behaviour

Charging Servant is executed in the background as a service once every hour. It uses the Android AlarmManager support to wake up when it is time for checking the battery charging level. To minimise the power it uses itself,the inexact wake up AlarmManager method is used, which means that Android takes the decision on when to wake it up by trying to bundle it with the wake up of other processes. Therefore its wake-up time will differ somewhat from the exact one hour intervall.

This background service by Charging Servant will automatically be restarted after the phone has been shutdown, you do not have to start the app for this to happen. If you for some reason do not want this service to run anymore you have to uninstall the app.

Chapter 4 END-USER LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR Charging Servant

IMPORTANT PLEASE READ THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE CONTINUING WITH THIS PROGRAM INSTALL: UBVASA End-User License Agreement ("EULA") is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or a single entity) and UBVASA. for the UBVASA software product(s) identified above which may include associated software components, media, printed materials, and "online" or electronic documentation ("SOFTWARE PRODUCT"). By installing, copying, or otherwise using the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, you agree to be bound by the terms of this EULA. This license agreement represents the entire agreement concerning the program between you and UBVASA, (referred to as "licenser"), and it supersedes any prior proposal, representation, or understanding between the parties. If you do not agree to the terms of this EULA, do not install or use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is protected by copyright laws and international copyright treaties, as well as other intellectual property laws and treaties. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is licensed, not sold.

4.1. GRANT OF LICENSE. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is licensed as follows: (a) Installation and Use. UBVASA grants you the right to install and use copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT on your device.

4.2. DESCRIPTION OF OTHER RIGHTS AND LIMITATIONS. (a) Maintenance of Copyright Notices. You must not remove or alter any copyright notices on any and all copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. (b) Distribution. You may not distribute registered copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT to third parties. Evaluation versions available for download from UBVASA"s websites may be freely distributed. (c) Prohibition on Reverse Engineering, Decompilation, and Disassembly. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, except and only to the extent that such activity is expressly permitted by applicable law notwithstanding this limitation. (d) Rental. You may not rent, lease, or lend the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. (e) Support Services. No support is provided (f) Compliance with Applicable Laws. You must comply with all applicable laws regarding use of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT.

4.3. TERMINATION Without prejudice to any other rights, UBVASA may terminate this EULA if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this EULA. In such event, you must destroy all copies of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT in your possession.

4.4. COPYRIGHT All title, including but not limited to copyrights, in and to the SOFTWARE PRODUCT and any copies thereof are owned by UBVASA or its suppliers. All title and intellectual property rights in and to the content which may be accessed through use of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT is the property of the respective content owner and may be protected by applicable copyright or other intellectual property laws and treaties. This EULA grants you no rights to use such content. All rights not expressly granted are reserved by UBVASA.

4.5. NO WARRANTIES UBVASA expressly disclaims any warranty for the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. The SOFTWARE PRODUCT is provided "As Is" without any express or implied warranty of any kind, including but not limited to any warranties of merchantability, noninfringement, or fitness of a particular purpose. UBVASA does not warrant or assume responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any information, text, graphics, links or other items contained within the SOFTWARE PRODUCT. UBVASA makes no warranties respecting any harm that may be caused by the transmission of a computer virus, worm, time bomb, logic bomb, or other such computer program. UBVASA further expressly disclaims any warranty or representation to Authorized Users or to any third party.

4.6. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY In no event shall UBVASA be liable for any damages (including, without limitation, lost profits, business interruption, or lost information) rising out of "Authorized Users" use of or inability to use the SOFTWARE PRODUCT, even if UBVASA has been advised of the possibility of such damages. In no event will UBVASA be liable for loss of data or for indirect, special, incidental, consequential (including lost profit), or other damages based in contract, tort or otherwise. UBVASA shall have no liability with respect to the content of the SOFTWARE PRODUCT or any part thereof, including but not limited to errors or omissions contained therein, libel, infringements of rights of publicity, privacy, trademark rights, business interruption, personal injury, loss of privacy, moral rights or the disclosure of confidential information.

You can read this help information for Charging Servant on a larger screen if surfing to the UBVASA homepage:

https://sites.google.com/site/ubvasa/

I hope Charging Servant will help you to avoid the irritating events of finding your phone powerless!