Reduced Power State Network Processing

• US 20100165897A1
• Filed: 12/30/2008
• Published: 07/01/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Sood, Kapil
• Granted Patent: US 8,498,229 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/10 Current supply arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/90 Buffering arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A network interface controller of a computing device is disclosed that processes network packets without waking the computing device. The network interface controller may detect that a secured connection with an access point has been disconnected and may reconnect to the access point without waking the computing device. The network interface controller may support roaming between access points without waking the computing device. The network interface controller may also support establishing, re-establishing and maintaining a secured session with another computing device while a computing device is in a sleep state.

Claims

1. A method comprising

placing a computing device in a sleep state,

receiving one or more network packets while the computing device is in a sleep state, and

responding to the one or more network packets without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein

receiving the one or more network packets comprises receiving one or more link layer packets, and

responding comprises responding to the one or more link layer packets without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein

receiving the one or more network packets comprises receiving one or more Internet layer packets, and

responding comprises responding to the one or more Internet layer packets without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein

receiving the one or more network packets comprises receiving one or more application layer packets, and

responding comprises responding to the one or more application layer packets without waking the processor from the sleep state.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising detecting that a secure connection with a network has been disconnected, wherein receiving and responding to the one or more network packets comprises re-establishing the secure connection with the network without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving and responding to the one or more network packets without waking the computing device from the sleep state comprises performing an IEEE 802.11i four-way handshake to establish the secured connection with an access point of the network in response to detecting the secured connection has been disconnected.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving and responding to the one or more network packets without waking the computing device from the sleep state comprises performing a hand-off from one wireless access point to another wireless access point without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving and responding to the one or more network packets without waking the computing device from the sleep state comprises permitting an IEEE 802.11r roaming of the computing device from one wireless access point to another wireless access point without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising

filtering the one or more network packets based upon a plurality of filters that identify network packets to be processed by a processor of the computing device, and

waking the processor in response to the plurality of filters indicating that the processor is to process a network packet of the one or more network packets.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a network interface controller with authentication data for a secure session, wherein receiving and responding to the one or more network packets comprises establishing the secured session based upon the authentication data without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein receiving and responding to the one or more network packets comprises establishing the secured session with another computing device per a transport layer security (TLS) protocol.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising

creating one or more virtual machines that consume less power than the processor in a fully powered stated, and

processing the one or more network packets with the one or more virtual machines without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

13. A machine readable medium comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed, result in a network interface controller of a computing device

detecting a wireless connection with an access point has been disconnected while the computing device is in a sleep state, and

re-establishing the wireless connection with the access point without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

14. The machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of instructions further result in the network interface controller re-establishing the wireless connection by performing an IEEE 802.11i four-way handshake with the access point.

15. The machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of instructions further result in the network interface controller disconnecting the wireless connection to the wireless access point and establishing a wireless connection to another wireless access point as the computing device moves from a first position to a second position.

16. The machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the plurality of instructions further result in the network interface controller disconnecting the wireless connection to the wireless access point and establishing the wireless connection to the another wireless access point per the IEEE 802.11r roaming protocol.

17. The machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of instructions further result in the network interface controller

filtering an incoming network packet based upon a plurality of filters, and

waking the computing device from the sleep state in response to the plurality of filters indicating that a processor of the computing device is to process the incoming network packet.

18. The machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of instructions further result in the network interface controller,

establishing a secured session with another computing device without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

19. The machine readable medium of claim 13, wherein the plurality of instructions further result in the network interface controller,

establishing the secured session with another computing device per a transport layer security (TLS) protocol without waking the computing device from the sleep state.

20. The machine readable medium of claim 19, wherein the plurality of instructions further result in the network interface controller,

decrypting a network packet received via the secured session, and

waking the computing device in response to determining based upon decrypted contents of the network packet and a filter of a plurality of filters that a processor of the computing device is to process the network packet.

21. A computing device, comprising

memory to store instructions including instructions associated with establishing a secured session with another computing device on a network,

a processor to execute the instructions stored in the memory, and

a network interface controller to send and receive signals to and from the network, and to establish the secured session with the another computing device on the network without waking the processor from a sleep state.

22. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the network interface controller includes a transport layer security (TLS) protocol core to establish the secured session with the another computing device per a transport layer security (TLS) protocol without waking the processor from the sleep state.

23. The computing device of claim 22, wherein

the processor prior to entering the sleep state provides the TLS protocol core with authentication data for the secured session, and

the TLS protocol core is to establish the secured session based upon the authentication data provided by the processor.

24. The computing device of claim 22, wherein the network interface controller includes a deep packet filtering core to wake the computing device based upon a plurality of filters and contents of a network packet, wherein the TLS protocol core is to decrypt the network packet received via the secured session and provide decrypted contents to the deep packet filtering core.

25. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the network interface controller is to

detect a wireless connection with an access point of the network has been disconnected while the processor is in a sleep state, and

re-establish the wireless connection with the access point without waking the processor from the sleep state.

26. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the network interface controller is to

detect a secure connection with the network has been disconnected while the processor is in a sleep state, and

re-establish the secure connection with the network without waking the processor from the sleep state.

27. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the network interface controller is to

detect a secure wireless connection with the network has been disconnected while the processor is in a sleep state, and

re-establish the secure wireless connection with the network per an IEEE 802.11i secure link protocol without waking the processor from the sleep state.

28. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the network interface controller further comprises a intrusion protection core to identify packets associated with intrusion attempts and prevent packets identified as being associated with intrusion attempts from waking the processor from the sleep state.

29. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the network interface controller further comprises a virus protection core to identify packets associated with a computer virus and prevent packets identified as being associated with a computer virus from waking the processor from the sleep state.

30. The computing device of claim 21, wherein the network interface controller further comprises a service application discovery core to process packets associated with application discovery and prevent packets identified as being associated with application discovery from waking the processor from the sleep state.