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. 08, 2005
Filed:
Sep. 03, 2002
Jonah M. Alben, San Jose, CA (US);
Dennis K D MA, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Jonah M. Alben, San Jose, CA (US);
Dennis K D Ma, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A graphics processor or display device including a microcontroller that functions as a sequencer, a computer system including at least one such graphics processor or display device, and a microcontroller for use in such a graphics processor or display device. In preferred embodiments, the microcontroller functions as a sequencer for controlling the timing of power up and/or power down operations by one or both of a graphics processor and a display device. The microcontroller is implemented to exclude any capacity to handle interrupts and so can provide guaranteed timing, and is preferably implemented to be small, simple, and programmable, and to store a small number of programs. Each program consists of instructions belonging to a small instruction set, such as a set consisting of set and clear instructions (for overriding or overwriting specified register bits) and wait, release, and stop instructions. When executing a program, the microcontroller typically overrides (in an ordered sequence) state and control bits that would otherwise be asserted.