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:
Aug. 17, 2010
Filed:
Jul. 29, 2008
Chien-ping LU, Cupertino, CA (US);
Stephen D. Lew, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Robert William Chapman, Mountain View, CA (US);
Chien-Ping Lu, Cupertino, CA (US);
Stephen D. Lew, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Robert William Chapman, Mountain View, CA (US);
NVIDIA Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A system and method for transitions a computing system between operating modes that have different power consumption characteristics. When a system management unit (SMU) determines that the computing system is in a low activity state, the SMU transitions the central processing unit (CPU) into a low power operating mode after the CPU stores critical operating state of the CPU in a memory. The SMU then intercepts and processes interrupts intended for the CPU, modifying a copy of the critical operating state. This effectively extends the time during which the CPU stays in lower power mode. When the SMU determines that the computing system exits a low activity state, the copy of the critical operating state is stored in the memory and the SMU transitions the CPU into a high power operating mode using the modified critical operating state.