POLLING DETERMINATION

• US 20150095524A1
• Filed: 09/28/2013
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Han, Kyungtae, Diefenbaugh, Paul, Sharp, Sarah
• Granted Patent: US 9,058,422 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/22 using successive scanning, e.g. polling G06F13/24 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/32 using combination of interrupt and burst mode transfer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/34 with priority control
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/366 using a centralised polling arbiter
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Techniques for polling an input/output (I/O) device are described herein. The techniques include polling a device for data from the I/O device, and receiving the data from the I/O device at the host device as a result of the polling. The techniques include determining whether the data received is the same as data received at a previous polling of the I/O device. Upon determining the data received is the same, the techniques include decreasing the polling rate if the data is the same, and if it is not the same. Upon determining the data is not the same, the techniques include increasing the polling rate if the data is not the same.

Claims

1. A method for determining a polling rate for an input/output (I/O) device communicatively coupled to a host device, the method comprising:

polling the I/O device for data from the I/O device;

receiving the data from the I/O device at the host device as a result of the polling;

determining whether the data received is the same as data received at a previous polling of the I/O device, wherein determining whether the data is the same as data received at a previous polling comprises;

sampling the data a plurality of times previous to a current sample; and

determining whether the data received in the current sample is different from the average data received during the plurality of times;

decreasing the polling rate if the data is the same; and

, if it is not the same, increasing the polling rate.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the I/O device is an I/O device having an interrupt endpoint, wherein a polling rate is predetermined by the host device, and the predetermined polling rate is changed based on the decreasing or increasing of the polling rate.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the I/O device is an Universal Serial Bus device having an interrupt endpoint protocol.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the I/O device is a unified I/O device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the polling rate is increased only if the difference between the current sample and the average data received during the plurality of times is above a threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a rate of change is the time required to change the polling rate, the method comprising:

increasing the rate of change when the polling rate is to be increased;

or

decreasing the rate of change when the polling rate is to be decreased.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the data comprises coordinates indicating a position of a mouse, the method further comprising sending a no acknowledgement (NACK) signal to the host device when the position of the mouse is unchanged.

5. (canceled)

8. A system for determining a polling rate for an input/output (I/O) device communicatively coupled to a host device, the system comprising:

a processing device;

a system memory, wherein the system memory comprises code to direct the processing device to;

poll the I/O device for data from the I/O device;

receive the data from the I/O device at the host device as a result of the polling;

determine whether the data received is the same as data received at a previous polling of the I/O device, wherein to determining whether the data is the same as data received at a previous polling comprises;

sampling the data a plurality of times previous to a current sample; and

determining whether the data received in the current sample is different from the average data received during the plurality of times;

decrease the polling rate if the data is the same; and

, if it is not the same, increase the polling rate.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the I/O device is an I/O device having an interrupt endpoint, wherein a polling rate is predetermined by the host device, and the predetermined polling rate is changed based on the decreasing or increasing of the polling rate.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the I/O device is an Universal Serial Bus (USB) device having an interrupt endpoint protocol.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the I/O device is a unified I/O device.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the polling rate is increased only if the difference between the current sample and the average data received during the plurality of times is above a threshold.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein a rate of change is the time required to change the polling rate, comprising code to direct the processing device to:

increase the rate of change when the polling rate is to be increased;

or

decrease the rate of change when the polling rate is to be decreased.

29. The system of claim 8, wherein the data comprises coordinates indicating a position of a mouse, wherein the operations comprise sending a no acknowledgement (NACK) signal to the host device when the position of the mouse is unchanged.

12. (canceled)

15. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium comprising instructions to direct a processor to carry out operations, the operations comprising:

polling an input/output (I/O) device for data from the I/O device;

receiving the data from the I/O device at a host device as a result of the polling;

determining whether the data received is the same as data received at a previous polling of the I/O device, wherein determining whether the data is the same as data received at a previous polling comprises;

sampling the data a plurality of times previous to a current sample; and

determining whether the data received in the current sample is different from the average data received during the plurality of times;

decreasing the polling rate if the data is the same; and

, if it is not the same, increasing the polling rate.

16. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the I/O device is an I/O device having an interrupt endpoint, wherein a polling rate is predetermined by the host device, and the predetermined polling rate is changed based on the decreasing or increasing of the polling rate.

17. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the I/O device comprises:

a Universal Serial Bus device having an interrupt endpoint protocol;

is a unified I/O device;

or

any combination of the above.

19. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the polling rate is increased only if the difference between the current sample and the average data received during the plurality of times is above a threshold.

20. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein a rate of change is the time required to change the polling rate, the method comprising:

increasing the rate of change when the polling rate is to be increased;

or

decreasing the rate of change when the polling rate is to be decreased.

30. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the data comprises coordinates indicating a position of a mouse, wherein the code is to direct the processing device to send a no acknowledgement (NACK) signal to the host device when the position of the mouse is unchanged.

18. (canceled)

21. An apparatus for determining a polling rate for an input/output (I/O) device communicatively coupled to a host device, comprising:

a controller, at least partially comprising hardware, of an I/O device interface;

logic, at least partially comprising hardware logic, the logic configured to;

poll the I/O device for data from the I/O device;

receive the data from the I/O device at the host device as a result of the polling;

determine whether the data received is the same as data received at a previous polling of the I/O device, wherein determining whether the data is the same as data received at a previous polling comprises;

sampling the data a plurality of times previous to a current sample; and

determining whether the data received in the current sample is different from the average data received during the plurality of times;

decrease the polling rate if the data is the same; and

, if it is not the same, increase the polling rate.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the I/O device is an I/O device having an interrupt endpoint, wherein a polling rate is predetermined by the host device, and the predetermined polling rate is changed based on the decreasing or increasing of the polling rate.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the I/O device is an Universal Serial Bus (USB) device having an interrupt endpoint protocol.

24. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the I/O device is a unified I/O device.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the polling rate is increased only if the difference between the current sample and the average data received during the plurality of times is above a threshold.

27. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein a rate of change is the time required to change the polling rate, wherein the logic is to:

increase the rate of change when the polling rate is to be increased;

or

decrease the rate of change when the polling rate is to be decreased.

31. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the data comprises coordinates indicating a position of a mouse, wherein the logic is to sending a no acknowledgement (NACK) signal to the host device when the position of the mouse is unchanged.

25. (canceled)