Stand-by mode transitioning

• US 20080060041A1
• Filed: 08/30/2006
• Published: 03/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Klebanov, Ilya, Hui, Kwok P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,004,617 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/132
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4418 Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/63 Generation or supply of power specially adapted for television receivers

Abstract

A device for rapidly instituting an active mode of a digital-television enabled system, the system including a first, volatile memory configured to load and store software instructions, includes: an input configured to receive first digital audio and video information; a first output configured to convey second audio and information toward a display regarding the first audio and video information; at least one second output configured to convey commands to, and receive information from, the first memory; and a processor configured to perform functions in accordance with software instructions stored in first and second memories and to cause the first memory to load software instructions for provision to the processor such that first instructions for processing at least one of the first audio information and the first video information are loaded and stored by the first memory with a higher priority than second instructions for performing other functionality.

Claims

1. A device for rapidly instituting an active mode of a digital-television enabled system, the system including a first, volatile memory configured to load and store software instructions, the device comprising:

an input configured to receive first digital audio information and first digital video information;

a first output configured to be coupled to a display and to convey second audio information and second video information toward the display regarding the first audio information and the first video information;

at least one second output configured to be coupled to the first memory and to convey commands to, and receive information from, the first memory; and

a processor configured to be coupled to the first memory and to a second memory and configured to perform functions in accordance with software instructions stored in the first memory and the second memory, the processor being further configured to cause the first memory to load software instructions for provision to the processor such that first instructions for processing at least one of the first audio information and the first video information are loaded and stored by the first memory with a higher priority than second instructions for performing other functionality.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to cause the first memory to load the software instructions for provision to the processor such that the first instructions are loaded and stored by the first memory before the second instructions.

3. The device of claim 1 wherein the processor is configured to cause the first memory to load the software instructions for provision to the processor such that the first instructions are loaded and stored by the first memory in parallel with the second instructions being loaded and stored but before completion of loading and storing of the first instructions, the second instructions are loaded and stored only if loading and storing of the first instructions is not inhibited by the loading and storing of the second instructions.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the first memory is a DRAM.

5. A device for rapidly instituting an active mode of a digital-television enabled system, the device comprising:

an input configured to receive first digital audio information and first digital video information;

a first output configured to be coupled to a display and to convey second audio information and second video information toward the display regarding the first audio information and the first video information;

at least one second output configured to be coupled to volatile memory and to convey commands to, and receive information from, the volatile memory; and

a processor configured to perform functions in accordance with software instructions, wherein the processor is configured to, in response to a request to institute the active mode of the system, cause the volatile memory to activate initial software stored in the system during a stand-by mode of the system.

6. The device of claim 5 wherein the processor is configured cause the volatile memory to initiate a self-refresh mode of the volatile memory.

7. The device of claim 6 wherein the processor is configured to cause the volatile memory to store a current software state as the initial software.

8. The device of claim 7 wherein in order to cause the volatile memory to activate the initial software, the processor is configured to cause the volatile memory to re-activate the initial software.

9. The device of claim 6 wherein the processor is configured to cause the volatile memory to load the initial software from a non-volatile memory.

10. An integrated circuit chip for processing graphical information and for rapidly instituting an active mode of a digital-television enabled system, the system including a first, volatile memory configured to load and store software instructions, the integrated circuit chip comprising:

an input configured to receive first digital audio information and first digital video information;

a first output configured to be coupled to a display and to convey second audio information and second video information toward the display regarding the first audio information and the first video information;

at least one second output configured to be coupled to the first memory and to convey commands to, and receive information from, the first memory;

a second memory; and

a processor coupled to the second memory and configured to be coupled to the first memory and configured to perform functions in accordance with software instructions stored in the first memory and the second memory, the processor being further configured to, in response to a request to institute an active mode of the system, at least one of;

cause the first memory to load software instructions for provision to the processor such that first instructions for processing at least one of the first audio information and the first video information are loaded and stored by the first memory with a higher priority than second instructions for performing other functionality; and

cause the first memory to activate initial software stored in the system during a stand-by mode of the system.

11. The integrated circuit chip of claim 10 wherein the processor is configured cause the first memory to initiate a self-refresh mode of the first memory.

12. The integrated circuit chip of claim 10 wherein the processor is configured to cause the first memory to load the initial software from a non-volatile memory.