The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 07, 1995
Filed:
Jul. 19, 1994
Chandrashekar M Reddy, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Scott D Hirose, San Jose, CA (US);
Sung-Soo Cho, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
James P Kardach, San Jose, CA (US);
Steven M Farrer, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Meeling Roberts, Fremont, CA (US);
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A power suspend mode activates a slow DRAM refresh in a computer system with a limited source of power. The power suspend mode reduces the power consumed by the computer system while preserving the contents of memory. The cyclic refresh of DRAM using a slow refresh clock substantially reduces the power consumed while the computer is suspended. This technique is particularly useful for battery powered portable computer systems. When an external or internal condition causes the computer system to transition to a power down mode, an IO subsystem notifies the CPU which sets control bits in the IO subsystem and a video subsystem. The IO subsystem then begins to generate a slow DRAM refresh pulse. Once the CPU and video subsystem sense the power suspend mode activation, the system memory and video memory are refreshed using the slow refresh clock. The power consumed during the refresh process is thereby greatly reduced. When a resume signal is received by the IO subsystem, the slow refresh clock is terminated and the system memory and video memory are again refreshed using a normal faster clock.