Power aware adaptive polling
First Claim
1. A method for adapting the periodicity of polling for pending device service requests in a data processing system having a system processor and one or more input/output (I/O) devices, comprising the steps of:
- polling the I/O devices of the data processing system for pending service requests;
recording whether there was a pending service request;
adaptively adjusting one or more system polling variables when there is no pending service request from at least one of the I/O devices;
based on accumulated data, determining that the I/O devices are idle; and
in response to said determining step, placing the system processor in a low power state.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for adapting the periodicity of polling for pending service requests, by polling system devices for pending service requests, recording whether or not there was a pending service request and, based on accumulated data, determining whether or not the system devices are idle. Based on this determination, the system may elect to enter a power conservation mode until device activity is signaled, or an adjustable period of time elapses. The adaptation mechanism may alter the periodicity of the timer interrupt, disable or enable device interrupts, and modify variables used to determine system idleness (including minimum latency and minimum idleness thresholds). In this manner, the system can conserve power while maintaining system performance and responsiveness.
-
Citations
21 Claims
-
1. A method for adapting the periodicity of polling for pending device service requests in a data processing system having a system processor and one or more input/output (I/O) devices, comprising the steps of:
-
polling the I/O devices of the data processing system for pending service requests; recording whether there was a pending service request; adaptively adjusting one or more system polling variables when there is no pending service request from at least one of the I/O devices; based on accumulated data, determining that the I/O devices are idle; and in response to said determining step, placing the system processor in a low power state. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A data processing system comprising:
-
at least one system processor; a memory device connected to said system processor; one or more input/output (I/O) devices connected to said system processor; and program instructions stored in said memory device for adapting the periodicity of polling for pending service requests, by polling said I/O devices for pending service requests, recording whether there was a pending service request, adaptively adjusting one or more system polling variables when there in no pending service request from at least one of the I/O devices, based on accumulated data determining that the I/O devices are idle, and responsively placing said system processor in a low power state. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A computer program product executed in a data processing system for adapting the periodicity of polling for pending device service requests,the data processing system having a system processor and one or more input/output (I/O) devices, comprising:
-
a computer-readable medium; and program instruction residing in said medium for polling the I/O devices for pending service requests, recording whether there was a pending service request, adaptively adjusting one or more system polling variables where there is no pending request from at least one of the I/O devices, based on accumulated data determining that the I/O devices are idle, and responsively placing the system processor in a low power state. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
Specification