SYSTEMS AND METHODS OF EXITING HIBERNATION IN RESPONSE TO A TRIGGERING EVENT

• US 20130166932A1
• Filed: 12/22/2011
• Published: 06/27/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SanDisk Technologies LLC (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sandisk Technologies Incorporated (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: POMERANTZ, Itzhak, IAROVICI, Yaniv, YERUSHALMI, Daniel Zvi, YAIRI, Rahav
• Granted Patent: US 9,069,551 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/323
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3231 Monitoring the presence, absence or movement of users
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3275 Power saving in memory, e.g. RAM, cache
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A method may be performed by an electronic device coupled to a volatile system memory. The method includes entering a hibernation mode of the electronic device, where in the hibernation mode, the volatile system memory is powered off. The method further includes detecting a triggering event and, in response to detecting the triggering event, exiting the hibernation mode. While exiting the hibernation mode, the volatile system memory is powered and a pre-hibernation state of the volatile system memory is restored.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in an electronic device with an application processor coupled to a volatile system memory, performing;

entering a hibernation mode of the electronic device, wherein in the hibernation mode the volatile system memory is powered off;

detecting a triggering event; and

in response to detecting the triggering event, exiting the hibernation mode, wherein while exiting the hibernation mode, the volatile system memory is powered and a pre-hibernation state of the volatile system memory is restored.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein by restoring the volatile system memory in response to the triggering event, a latency of the electronic device to enter an active state in response to a user input is reduced as compared to powering the volatile system memory and restoring the pre-hibernation state after the user input is received.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the triggering event includes:

receiving a signal from a sensor of the electronic device; and

detecting that the signal satisfies a trigger condition.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the sensor is a microphone and wherein the trigger condition corresponds to a difference between the signal and reference audio data.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the sensor is a camera and wherein the trigger condition corresponds to a difference between the signal and reference image data.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the sensor is a capacitor and wherein the trigger condition corresponds to a difference between the signal and reference capacitance data.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein the sensor is an accelerometer and wherein the trigger condition corresponds to a difference between the signal and reference acceleration data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the triggering event includes:

receiving an indication corresponding to a difference between an alarm time and a system clock time; and

detecting that the difference between the alarm time and the system clock time satisfies a pre-alarm wakeup trigger condition.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the triggering event includes:

receiving an indication corresponding to a difference between a predicted use time of the electronic device and a system clock time, wherein the predicted use time is based on historical data; and

detecting that the difference between the predicted use time and the system clock time satisfies a pre-use wakeup trigger condition.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device is coupled to a packaged memory device that includes the volatile system memory, a non-volatile memory, and a controller.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein entering the hibernation mode includes:

copying data from the volatile system memory to the non-volatile memory; and

after copying the data, powering off the volatile memory.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein restoring the pre-hibernation state of the volatile system memory includes copying data from the non-volatile memory to the volatile system memory to restore the data to the volatile system memory.

13. An electronic device comprising:

an application processor;

a triggering event detector configured to detect a triggering event; and

a volatile system memory configured to store data and instructions for the application processor,

wherein in a low-power state, the volatile system memory is powered off, and wherein in response to detecting the triggering event by the triggering event detector, power is restored to the volatile system memory and a pre-hibernation state of the volatile system memory is restored.

14. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the triggering event detector detects the triggering event by receiving a signal from a sensor and detecting that the signal satisfies a trigger condition.

15. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the sensor is a microphone and wherein the trigger condition corresponds to a difference between the signal and reference audio data.

16. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the sensor is a camera and wherein the trigger condition corresponds to a difference between the signal and reference image data.

17. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the sensor is a capacitor and wherein the trigger condition corresponds to a difference between the signal and reference capacitance data.

18. The electronic device of claim 14, wherein the sensor is an accelerometer and wherein the trigger condition corresponds to a difference between the signal and reference acceleration data.

19. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the triggering event detector detects the triggering event by receiving an indication corresponding to a difference between an alarm time and a system clock time and detecting that the difference between the alarm time and the system clock time satisfies a pre-alarm wakeup trigger condition.

20. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the triggering event detector detects the triggering event by receiving an indication corresponding to a difference between a predicted use time of the electronic device and a system clock time, wherein the predicted use time is based on historical data and detecting that the difference between the predicted use time and the system clock time satisfies a pre-use wakeup trigger condition.

21. The electronic device of claim 13, wherein the electronic device is coupled to a packaged memory device that includes the volatile system memory, a non-volatile memory, and a controller.

22. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the low-power state is entered by copying data from the volatile system memory to the non-volatile memory and after copying the data, powering off the volatile memory.

23. The electronic device of claim 21, wherein the pre-hibernation state of the volatile system memory is restored by copying data from the non-volatile memory to the volatile system memory.