Multi-state power management for computer systems

• US 5,710,929 A
• Filed: 06/02/1995
• Issued: 01/20/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/1990
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: St Clair Intellectual Property Consultants Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Vadem Limited
• Inventors: Fung, Henry Tat-Sang
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrity, John E.
• Application Number:
  US08/458,189
• Time in Patent Office: 963 Days
• Field of Search: 395/800, 395/750, 364/273.1, 364/273.3, 364/DIG. 1
• US Class Current: 713/322
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00315 Microtiter plates
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00317 Microwell devices, i.e. having large numbers of wells
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00605 the compounds being directly bound or immobilised to solid supports
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00659 Two-dimensional arrays
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00686 Automatic
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00691 using robots
• CPC Class Codes: B01J 2219/00707 separated from the reactor apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: C40B 60/14 for creating libraries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3209 Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3221 of disk drive devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• 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

Abstract

A power conservation system for use in a computer system. The power conservation system has an activity mointor and a plurality of modes of operation. By controlling the power mode of operation in response to the activity of the computer system, the power consumption of the computer system is controlled. Coupling of circuit power and clock signals are used to control power consumption and both hardware and software components may separately or together monitor and control operation.

Claims

1. A computer system having an activity level and a power consumption level and comprising a power management system and a plurality of computer system devices powered by a single common computer power supply, said plurality of computer system circuits including a CPU device, a plurality of input/output devices, a memory device, and a single common system bus which directly connects the CPU device with the input/output devices, wherein said power management system comprises:

an activity monitor that monitors the activity level computer system and generates a first inactivity indicator after a first predetermined period of inactivity and a second inactivity indicator a second predetermined period of inactivity after generating the first inactivity indicator;

a state controller that has three powered modes of operation including a first state, a second state, and a third state, said state controller being responsive to the activity monitor and transitions from said first state to said second state in response to said first inactivity indicator, and transitions from said second state to said third state in response to said second inactivity indicator; and

a power switching circuit responsive to the state controller which couples said single computer power supply to a first predetermined group of the computer system devices when the state controller is in said first state, to a second predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system devices than the first predetermined group when the state controller is in said second state, and to a third predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system devices than the second predetermined group when the state controller is in said third state;

said state controller generates a state control signal identifying the current operating state as one of said first state, said second state, and said third state; and

wherein said power switching circuit further comprises;

a first state power control circuit outputting a plurality of first state power control signals, each one of said plurality of signals being associated with at least one particular device, for directing power only to each of said first predetermined group of computer devices when operating in said first state;

a second state power control circuit outputting a plurality of second state power control signals, each one of said plurality of signals being associated with at least one particular device, for directing power only to each of said second predetermined group of computer devices when operating in said second state;

a third state power control circuit outputting a plurality of third state power control signals, each one of said plurality of signals being associated with at least one particular device, for directing power only to each of said third predetermined group of computer devices when operating in said third state;

a power control signal multiplexer circuit receiving said plurality of first, second, and third state power control signals and selecting one particular plurality of power control signals to output from among said plurality of first, second, and third power control signals in response to said state control signal; and

a plurality of switches, each said switch connected between said power supply and at least one of said computer system devices, for controlling coupling of power from said power supply to said connected computer system devices in response to said particular plurality of power control signals;

whereby the power consumption level of the computer system is controlled in response to the activity level of the computer system.

2. The computer system in claim 1, wherein:

said first state power control circuit comprises a first register storing a plurality of bits, each said bit identifying a power ON/OFF condition for the associated computer system device when said computer system is operating in said first state;

said second state power control circuit comprises a second register storing a plurality of bits, each said bit identifying a power ON/OFF condition for the associated computer system device when said computer system is operating in said second state; and

said third state power control circuit comprises a third register storing a plurality of bits, each said bit identifying a power ON/OFF condition for the associated computer system device when said computer system is operating in said third state.

3. The computer system in claim 2, wherein said first state comprises a DOZE state, said second state comprises a SLEEP state, and said third state comprises a SUSPEND state.

4. The computer system in claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of switches comprises a transistor in the line supplying Vcc from said power supply to each of said connected device.

5. The computer system in claim 1, wherein each of said input/output devices are connected to system bus by tristate logic.

6. A computer system having an activity level and a power consumption level and comprising a power management system and a plurality of computer system devices powered by a single common computer power supply, said plurality of computer system circuits including a CPU device, a plurality of input/output devices, a memory device, and a single common system bus which directly connects the CPU device with the input/output devices, wherein said power management system comprises;

an activity monitor that monitors the activity level of the computer system and generates a first inactivity indicator after a first predetermined period of inactivity and a second inactivity indicator a second predetermined period of inactivity after generating the first inactivity indicator;

a state controller that has three powered modes of operation including a first state, a second state, and a third state, said state controller being responsive to the activity monitor and transitions from said first state to said second state in response to said first inactivity indicator, and transitions from said second state to said third state in response to said second inactivity indicator; and

a power switching circuit responsive to the state controller which couples said single computer power supply to a first predetermined group of the computer system devices when the state controller is in said first state, to a second predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system devices than the first predetermined group when the state controller is in said second state, and to a third predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system devices than the second predetermined group when the state controller is in said third state; and

wherein

said activity monitor that monitors the activity level of the computer system further comprises;

means for identifying each of a plurality of computer operational activities as either an active activity or an idle activity and for associating each of said plurality of activities with a predetermined activity value and with either a first arithmetic sign for activities identified as active activities or with a second arithmetic sign opposite to said first sign for activities identified as idle activities; and

an activity count accumulator for accumulating an activity count upon the occurrence of each of a plurality of predefined activities including means for adding to a stored activity count, upon the occurrence of any one of said plurality of predefined activities, a predetermined activity value associated with said particular activity; and

means for comparing the accumulated stored activity count with a conserve threshold and for causing said first inactivity indicator when said computer system is operating in said first state and said second inactivity indicator signal when said computer system is operating in said second state if the accumulated activity count has a predetermined algebraic relationship relative to the conserve threshold; and

wherein

said state controller is responsive to transition said powered state of operation from said first state to said second state when said computer system is operating in said first state, and to transition said powered state of operation from said second state to said third state when said computer system is operating in said second state;

whereby the power consumption level of the computer system is controlled in response to the activity level of the computer system.

7. The computer system in claim 6, wherein said computer system identifies at least one of said plurality of computer system devices by a device address communicated over said bus;

and wherein said activity monitor further comprises;

a memory configured for storing an address range data defining a particular range of device addresses;

detector means, operatively coupled to said bus for monitoring address references communicated over said bus and to said memory for reading said stored address range data, and for comparing said address references with said address range data to generate an activity signal indicating that an address communicated over said bus was within the address range specified by one of said stored address range data;

an activity timer, operatively coupled to said detector means to receive said activity signal if generated, and either;

(i) in response to receipt of said activity signal within a first predetermined period of time, resetting said activity timer to a predetermined condition, and (ii) in response to failing to receive said activity signal within said first predetermined period of time, generating said first inactivity signal, and (iii) in response to failing to receive said activity signal within said second predetermined period of time, generating a said second inactivity signal; and

wherein

said state controller is operatively coupled to said activity timer to receive said first inactivity indicator signal and said second inactivity indicator signal and to said detector means to receive said activity signal, for controlling an operating condition of at least one of said computer system devices;

said state controller controlling transition of said or each computer system device from a first state to a second state in response to receipt of said first inactivity indicator signal, controlling transition of said or each computer system device from a second state to said third state in response to receipt of said second inactivity indicator signal, and controlling transition of said or each computer system device from said second and said third state to said first state in response to receipt of said activity signal.

8. A computer system having an activity level and a power consumption level and comprising a power management system and a plurality of computer system devices powered by a single common computer power supply, said plurality of computer system circuits including a CPU device, a plurality of input/output devices, a memory device, and a single common system bus which directly connects the CPU device with the input/output devices, wherein said power management system comprises:

an activity monitor that monitors the activity level of the computer system and generates a first inactivity indicator after a first predetermined period of inactivity and a second inactivity indicator a second predetermined period of inactivity after generating the first inactivity indicator;

a state controller that has three powered states of operation including a first state, a second state, and a third state, said state controller being responsive to the activity monitor and transitions from said first state to said second state in response to said first inactivity indicator, and transitions from said second state to said third state in response to said second inactivity indicator; and

a power switching circuit responsive to the state controller which couples said single computer power supply to a first predetermined group of the computer system devices when the state controller is in said first state, to a second predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system devices than the first predetermined group when the state controller is in said second state, and to a third predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system devices than the second predetermined group when the state controller is in said third state;

said state controller generates a state control signal identifying the current operating state as one of said first state, said second state, and said third state; and

wherein said power switching circuit further comprises;

a first state power control circuit outputting a plurality of first state power control signals, each one of said plurality of signals being associated with at least one particular device, for directing power only to each of said first predetermined group of computer devices when operating in said first state;

a second state power control circuit outputting a plurality of second state power control signals, each one of said plurality of signals being associated with at least one particular device, for directing power only to each of said second predetermined group of computer devices when operating in said second state;

a third state power control circuit outputting a plurality of third state power control signals, each one of said plurality of signals being associated with at least one particular device, for directing power only to each of said third predetermined group of computer devices when operating in said third state;

a power control signal multiplexer circuit receiving said plurality of first, second, and third state power control signals and selecting one particular plurality of power control signals to output from among said plurality of first, second, and third power control signals in response to said state control signal; and

a plurality of switches, each said switch connected between said power supply and at least one of said computer system devices, for controlling coupling of power from said power supply to said connected computer system devices in response to said particular plurality of power control signals;

said first state power control circuit comprises a first register storing a plurality of bits, each said bit identifying a power ON/OFF condition for the associated computer system device when said computer system is operating in said first state;

said second state power control circuit comprises a second register storing a plurality of bits, each said bit identifying a power ON/OFF condition for the associated computer system device when said computer system is operating in said second state; and

said third state power control circuit comprises a third register storing a plurality of bits, each said bit identifying a power ON/OFF condition for the associated computer system device when said computer system is operating in said third state; and

wherein

said first state comprises a DOZE state, said second state comprises a SLEEP state, and said third state comprises a SUSPEND state;

whereby the power consumption level of the computer system is controlled in response to the activity level of the computer system.

9. A computer system having an activity level and a power consumption level and comprising a power management system and a plurality of computer system devices powered by a single common computer power supply and being responsive to receipt of at least one clock signal, said plurality of computer system circuits including a CPU device, a plurality of input/output devices, a memory device, and a single common system bus which directly connects the CPU device with the input/output devices, wherein said power management system comprises:

an activity monitor that monitors the activity level of the computer system and generates a first inactivity indicator after a first predetermined period of inactivity and a second inactivity indicator a second predetermined period of inactivity after generating the first inactivity indicator;

a state controller that has three powered modes of operation including a first state, a second state, and a third state, said state controller being responsive to the activity monitor and transitions from said first state to said second state in response to said first inactivity indicator, and transitions from said second state to said third state in response to said second inactivity indicator;

a power switching circuit responsive to the state controller which couples device operating power from said single computer power supply to a first predetermined group of the computer system devices when the state controller is in said first state, to a second predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system devices than the first predetermined group when the state controller is in said second state, and to a third predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system devices than the second predetermined group when the state controller is in said third state; and

a clock switching and control circuit, separate and operating independently from said power switching circuit, for reducing a frequency of said at least one clock signal communicated to said computer devices;

whereby the power consumption level of the computer system is controlled in response to the activity level of the computer system.

10. A method for operating a computer system having an activity level and a power consumption level and comprising a plurality of computer system circuits including a CPU, a plurality of input/output circuits, a memory circuit, and a common system bus which connects said CPU with said memory circuit and said input/output circuits, and having a plurality of functional power states, said plurality of computer system circuits configured to receive circuit operating power signal from a single common computer power supply and to receive an oscillating clock signal different from said operating power signal, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

monitoring the activity level of the computer system and generating a first inactivity indicator after a first predetermined period of inactivity and a second inactivity indicator a second predetermined period of inactivity after generating the first inactivity indicator;

switching the power state of the computer system from a first state to a second state in response to the first inactivity indicator;

switching the power state of the computer system from the second state to a third state in response to the second inactivity indicator;

coupling said circuit operating power signal from said common power supply and said clock signal at a first frequency to a first predetermined group of the computer system circuits when the computer system is in said first state;

coupling said circuit operating power signal from said common power supply to a second predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system circuits than the first predetermined group when the computer system is in said second state;

coupling said clock signal at a second frequency lower than said first frequency to a predetermined group of said computer system circuits when the computer system is in said second state;

coupling said circuit operating power signal from said common power supply to a third predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system circuits than the second predetermined group when the computer system is in said third state; and

said power consumption level of the computer system being automatically controlled by said computer system in response to the monitored activity level of the computer system.

11. A computer system having an activity level and a power consumption level and comprising a power management system and a plurality of computer system devices powered by a single common computer power supply, said plurality of computer system circuits including a CPU device, a plurality of input/output devices, a memory device, and a single common system bus which directly connects the CPU device with the input/output devices, wherein said power management system comprises:

an activity monitor that monitors the activity level of the computer system and generates a first inactivity indicator after a first predetermined period of inactivity and a second inactivity indicator a second predetermined period of inactivity after generating the first inactivity indicator;

a state controller that has three powered modes of operation including a first state, a second state, and a third state, said state controller being responsive to the activity monitor and transitions from said first state to said second state in response to said first inactivity indicator, and transitions from said second state to said third state in response to said second inactivity indicator; and

a power switching circuit responsive to the state controller which couples said single computer power supply to a first predetermined group of the computer system devices when the state controller is in said first state, to a second predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system devices than the first predetermined group when the state controller is in said second state, and to a third predetermined group comprising fewer of the computer system devices than the second predetermined group when the state controller is in said third state;

said state controller generating a state control signal identifying the current operating state as one of said first state, said second state, and said third state; and

wherein

said power switching circuit further comprises;

a power control circuit generating a plurality of power control signals, each one of said plurality of power control signals being associated with at least one particular computer device;

said power control circuit being responsive to said state control signal to generate said power control signals such that said operating power is directed only to each of said first predetermined group of computer devices when operating in said first state, only to each of said second predetermined group of computer devices when operating in said second state, and only to each of said third predetermined group of computer devices when operating in said third state; and

a plurality of switches, each said switch connected between said power supply and at least one of said computer system devices, responsive to said power control signals for controlling coupling of said operating power from said power supply to said computer system devices in response to receipt of said plurality of power control signals;

whereby the power consumption level of the computer system is controlled in response to the activity level of the computer system.

12. The computer system in claim 11, wherein said computer devices comprise electronic circuits including transistors, and wherein said device operating power comprises a transistor bias supply voltage for said transistors.