Apple Inc.

Michael F Culbert

Keith Alan Cox

David Gerard Conroy

Timothy John Millet

Brian D Howard

Brett C Bilbrey

Manu Gulati

Josh P De Cesare

Duncan Robert Kerr

Richard Charles Williams

Dave Robbins Falkenburg

Daisie Iris Huang

Scott James Forstall

Chris A Ligtenberg

David I Simon

Peter M Arnold

Brian Quentin Huppi

Aleksandar Pance

John C Difonzo

Robert L Bailey

Eric J Albert

Richard D Cappels

Andrew Gong

David Radcliffe

Dave Radcliffe

Christoph Horst Krah

Scott M Herz

Kapil Vinod Sakariya

William C Athas

Michael M Lee

Gaurav Kapoor

David Tupman

Donald Joseph Novotney

Ian C Hendry

Kenneth Christian Dyke

Tim Millet

Roberto G Yepez

Guy G Sotomayor

David J Redman

Nick King

Matthew G Watson

Andrew Bradley Just

Thomas W Costa

Adrian T Sheppard

David Matthew Powers

Eve Brasfield

Daniel Ariel West

Amanda R Rainer

Mike Nugent

Ingrid Aligaen

Chris Niederauer

Gregory N Christie

Nicholas V King

Victor H Yin

Michael R Smith

Brijesh Tripathi

Anthony Joseph Guetta

Jahan C Minoo

Joshua P De Cesare

Erik P Machnicki

Shane J Keil

Barry J Corlett

Geoffrey Grant Stahl

Daniel S Keen

Victor Manuel Tiscareno

Gilbert H Herbeck

Jung Wook Cho

Anand Dalal

Kit-Man Wan

Henri C Lamiraux

Richard Wayne DeVaul

Stephen John Chick

Mushtaq A Sarwar

Jay S Laefer

Geoff Stahl

Michael J Nugent

Ryan Jeffrey Du Bois

Kevin Saul

Simon Patience

Daniele Reni

David Harrington

Christopher H Krah

Eric Albert

David Powers

Richard W Devaul

In an embodiment, an integrated circuit may include one or more CPUs, a memory controller, and a circuit configured to remain powered on when the rest of the SOC is powered down. The circuit may be configured to receive audio samples from a microphone, and match those audio samples against a predetermined pattern to detect a possible command from a user of the device that includes the SOC. In response to detecting the predetermined pattern, the circuit may cause the memory controller to power up so that audio samples may be stored in the memory to which the memory controller is coupled. The circuit may also cause the CPUs to be powered on and initialized, and the operating system (OS) may boot. During the time that the CPUs are initializing and the OS is booting, the circuit and the memory may be capturing the audio samples.

Always-on audio control for mobile device

In an embodiment, a system on a chip (SOC) includes a component that remains powered when a central processing unit (CPU) processor and a memory controller of the SOC are powered off. The component may include a sensor capture unit to capture audio samples from an audio detector circuit and write them to a memory of the component. A processor of the component may be configured to search the audio samples for a predetermined pattern during a time when the CPU processor and the memory controller are powered down. In some embodiments, based on the audio samples filling to a threshold level in the memory of the component and a lack of detection of the predetermined pattern, the component is configured to wake up the memory controller and a path to the memory controller in order to write the audio sample to a memory controlled by the memory controller.

System on a chip with always-on component with powered-down configurations to process audio samples

Methods and apparatuses to manage working states of a data processing system. At least one embodiment of the present invention includes a data processing system with one or more sensors (e.g., physical sensors such as tachometer and thermistors, and logical sensors such as CPU load) for fine grain control of one or more components (e.g., processor, fan, hard drive, optical drive) of the system for working conditions that balance various goals (e.g., user preferences, performance, power consumption, thermal constraints, acoustic noise). In one example, the clock frequency and core voltage for a processor are actively managed to balance performance and power consumption (heat generation) without a significant latency. In one example, the speed of a cooling fan is actively managed to balance cooling effort and noise (and/or power consumption).

Methods and apparatuses for controlling the temperature of a data processing system

Various embodiments of a wirelessly powered local computing environment are described. The wireless powered local computing environment includes at least a near field magnetic resonance (NFMR) power supply arranged to wirelessly provide power to any of a number of suitably configured devices. In the described embodiments, the devices arranged to receive power wirelessly from the NFMR power supply must be located in a region known as the near field that extends no further than a distance D of a few times a characteristic size of the NFMR power supply transmission device. Typically, the distance D can be on the order of 1 meter or so.

Wireless power utilization in a local computing environment

Apparatuses and methods to operate a display device of an electronic device. In some embodiments, a method includes receiving a user setting of a display control parameter, and altering, based on the user setting, an effect of an ambient light sensor value (ALS) on control of the display control parameter. Also, according to embodiments of the inventions, a method of operating a display of an electronic device includes receiving a change to one of a display brightness output level and an ambient light sensor output level, and altering, according to the change, a display contrast output level. In some embodiments, a method of operating a proximity sensor of an electronic device includes receiving a light sensor output, and altering, according to the output, an on/off setting of a proximity sensor. Other apparatuses and methods and data processing systems and machine readable media are also described.

Backlight and ambient light sensor system

A control indication assembly. A first control mounted on a surface of a computer is coupled to a first sensor, to a first sensing circuit to send an electrical signal to the first control when a user-touch occurs to the first sensor, and to a first indicator to indicate an occurrence of said user-touch. A second control mounted on a surface of a display which is coupled to the computer is coupled to a second sensor, to a second sensing circuit to send an electrical signal to said second control when said user-touch occurs to the display, and to a second indicator to indicate an occurrence of the user-touch. The first and second control are configured such that the first and second indicator are synchronized to exhibit identical behaviors when the user-touch occurs to either the first control or the second control.

Methods and apparatuses using control indicators for data processing systems

Exemplary embodiments of methods and apparatuses to provide a cooling arrangement for a system are described. The system includes a component coupled to a heat sink. A signal associated with a temperature control of the component is asserted. A target temperature of the heat sink is adjusted based on the signal. In one embodiment, a temperature control loop of the heat sink is operated. The temperature of the heat sink may be monitored using one or more sensors placed on the heat sink. An operation of the component, a cooling unit coupled to the heat sink, or both, may be adjusted based on a relationship between the temperature of the heat sink and an adjusted target temperature. Adjusting the target temperature of the heat sink based on the asserted signal increases efficiency of the system while decreasing cooling.

Methods and apparatuses for dynamic power control

Methods and apparatuses are disclosed for improving graphics abilities while switching between graphics processing units (GPUs). Some embodiments may include a display system, including a plurality of graphics processing units (GPUs) and a memory buffer coupled to the GPUs via a timing controller, where the memory buffer stores data associated with a first video frame from a first GPU within the plurality of GPUs and where the timing controller is switching between the first GPU and a second GPU within the plurality.

Display system with improved graphics abilities while switching graphics processing units

A communications system by which a user may provide inputs using an accessory device is provided. The accessory device may provide instructions to the communications device over any suitable wired or wireless communications path. The accessory device may include any suitable input mechanism for providing an input, including for example one or more switches, sliders, knobs, keys, motion sensing components, environmental sensing components, or any other input mechanism that the user may actuate. A communications system by which a communications device may transmit urgent communications requests is provided. The user may select an urgent option when transmitting a communications request to cause the recipient communications device to enable an urgent mode in which the recipient communications device may change the notification scheme to ensure that the recipient receives the urgent communications request.

Urgent communications

Growing community of inventors

Monte Sereno, CA, United States of America

Michael F Culbert