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:
Apr. 10, 2012
Filed:
May. 13, 2009
Josh P. DE Cesare, Campbell, CA (US);
Ruchi Wadhawan, Saratoga, CA (US);
Michael J. Smith, San Francisco, CA (US);
Puneet Kumar, Saratoga, CA (US);
Bernard J. Semeria, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Josh P. de Cesare, Campbell, CA (US);
Ruchi Wadhawan, Saratoga, CA (US);
Michael J. Smith, San Francisco, CA (US);
Puneet Kumar, Saratoga, CA (US);
Bernard J. Semeria, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
In an embodiment, a timer unit may be provided that may be programmed to a selected time interval, or wakeup interval. A processor may execute a wait for event instruction, and enter a low power state for the thread that includes the instruction. The timer unit may signal a timer event at the expiration of the wakeup interval, and the processor may exit the low power state in response to the timer event. The thread may continue executing with the instruction following the wait for event instruction. In an embodiment, the processor/timer unit may be used to implement a power-managed lock acquisition mechanism, in which the processor is awakened a number of times to check the lock and execute the wait for event instruction if the lock is not free, after which the thread may block until the lock is free.