Devices routing wakeup signals using physical layer directly to power management circuit without waking up link layer

• US 9,684,361 B2
• Filed: 01/16/2015
• Issued: 06/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Park, Hyun Tae, Song, Je Hyuck, Min, Jong Kyun, Lee, Chang Duck, Jang, Hyun Kyu
• Primary Examiner(s): Suryawanshi, Suresh
• Application Number:
  US14/599,054
• Publication Number:
  US 20150205339A1
• Time in Patent Office: 886 Days
• Field of Search: 713323
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3278 Power saving in modem or I/O interface
• 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

Abstract

In a method of operating a device, signals associated with wakeup of the device are detected using a first physical layer among a plurality of physical layers, and a detection signal is generated based on the detected signals. The detection signal is transmitted directly to a power management circuit. The first physical layer is included in logical lane #0 or physical lane #0.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a power management circuit; and

a plurality of physical layers, a first of the plurality of physical layers being configured to detect changes in signals associated with a wakeup of the device, and to transmit a detection signal directly to the power management circuit based on the detection.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein:

the first physical layer is included in one of logical lane #0 and physical lane #0; and

the first physical layer includes a squelch detector at an analog front end, the squelch detector being configured to generate the detection signal.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the detection signal is associated with RX_Hibern8Exit_Type-I.

4. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

a link layer, wherein

the power management circuit is configured to power off the link layer, and to supply power to the link layer in response to the detection signal.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein:

the first physical layer is a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI); and

the link layer is one of a MIPI UniPro and a MIPI low latency interface (LLI).

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the first physical layer is further configured to detect a transition of the signals associated with the wakeup of the device from DIF-Z to DIF-N, and to generate the detection signal according to a detection result.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is one of a universal flash storage (UFS), a display, and an image sensor.

8. A data processing system comprising:

a device;

an application processor integrated circuit (IC) configured to control the device;

a plurality of lanes connected between the application processor IC and the device; and

wherein the device includes,

a power management circuit, and

a plurality of physical layers, a first of the plurality of physical layers being configured to detect changes in signals associated with a wakeup of the device from the application processor IC, and to transmit a detection signal directly to the power management circuit based on the detection.

9. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the device is a universal flash storage (UFS).

10. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein:

the first physical layer is included in one of logical lane #0 and physical lane #0; and

the first physical layer includes a squelch detector at an analog front end, the squelch detector being configured to generate the detection signal based on the detection.

11. The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the device further comprises:

a link layer, wherein

the squelch detector is further configured to transmit the detection signal directly to the power management circuit without passing through the link layer.

12. The data processing system of claim 11, wherein:

the first physical layer is a mobile industry processor interface (MIPI); and

the link layer is one of a MIPI UniPro and a MIPI low latency interface (LLI).

13. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the first physical layer is further configured to detect a transition of the signals associated with the wakeup of the device from DIF-Z to DIF-N, and to generate the detection signal according to a detection result.

14. The data processing system of claim 8, wherein the signals associated with the wakeup of the device indicate transition of the device from a HIBERN8 state to one of a SLEEP state and STALL state.

15. The data processing system of claim 14, wherein all of the plurality of physical layers, except for the first physical layer, are powered off in the HIBERN8 state.

16. A device comprising:

a power management controller configured to control power to the device based on a wakeup detection signal; and

an analog front end circuit at a physical layer of the device, the analog front end circuit being configured to generate the wakeup detection signal in response to detection of changes in a wakeup command signal, and to transmit the wakeup detection signal to the power management controller without passing through a device management entity at a link layer of the device.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein:

the analog front end circuit includes a squelch detector configured to generate the wakeup detection signal based on the detected changes in the wakeup command signal; and

the power management controller is configured to control power to the squelch detector and the link layer based on the wakeup detection signal.

18. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

a digital front end circuit configured to communicate with the analog front end circuit;

wherein

the power management controller is further configured to control power to the digital front end circuit based on the wakeup detection signal.

19. The device of claim 16, further comprising:

a digital front end circuit configured to receive the wakeup detection signal from the analog front end circuit, and output the wakeup detection signal to the power management controller without passing through the device management entity.

20. The device of claim 16, wherein the device is a UFS storage device.