Integrated driver electronic (IDE) device power control

• US 20020116652A1
• Filed: 02/16/2001
• Published: 08/22/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle America, Inc. (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Sun Microsystems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Chen, Rong-Dyi
• Granted Patent: US 6,857,079 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3228 Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3256 Power saving in optical drive
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3268 Power saving in hard disk drive
• 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

Methods and apparatus for power managing IDE devices. A driver is coupled to a switch, the driver receiving a control signal from a computer system, the control signal indicating whether the computer system is in a power-save mode. The driver drives the switch which generates an output control signal to an IDE device. When the operating system detects that the computer system has been idle for a certain period of time, the operating system toggles the control signal that feeds into the driver which shuts off the switch so that power feeding to the IDE device is shut off.

Claims

1. An electronic circuit, comprising:

a first driver coupled to an input terminal;

a first switch coupled to said first driver; and

a first integrated driver electronic (IDE) device coupled to said first switch.

2. The electronic circuit of claim 1, wherein said first driver comprises a transistor.

3. The electronic circuit of claim 2, wherein said transistor comprises a field effect transistor.

4. The electronic circuit of claim 3, wherein said field effect transistor comprises a metal oxide field effect transistor.

5. The electronic circuit of claim 2, wherein said transistor comprises an N-channel transistor.

6. The electronic circuit of claim 1, wherein said first switch comprises a transistor.

7. The electronic circuit of claim 1, further comprising a connector coupled to said first switch.

8. The electronic circuit of claim 7, wherein said connector comprises an IDE controller.

9. The electronic circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

a second driver coupled to said input terminal;

a second switch coupled to said second driver; and

a second integrated driver electronic (IDE) device coupled to said second switch, wherein said second IDE device operates at a different power level than said first IDE device.

10. The electronic circuit of claim 1, wherein said first IDE device comprises a DVD CD-ROM.

11. An integrated driver electronics (IDE) device power control circuit, comprising:

a first transistor coupled to an input terminal, said input terminal receiving a control signal; and

a second transistor coupled to said first transistor, said first transistor driving said second transistor to generating an output signal for operating an IDE device.

12. The power control circuit of claim 11, wherein said first transistor comprises a MOSFET.

13. The power control circuit of claim 12, wherein said MOSFET comprises an N-channel MOSFET.

14. The power control circuit of claim 11, wherein said control signal comprises a signal informing said power control circuit whether a computer system is in a power save mode.

15. The power control circuit of claim 11, wherein said power control circuit controls power to at least one IDE device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

determining said computer system has been idle for a predetermined time; and

toggling said control signal.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising saving context to a memory prior to entering said power-save mode.

20. The computer system of claim 19, further comprising:

computer readable medium configured to determine said computer system has been idle for a predetermined time; and

computer readable medium configured to save context to a memory prior to entering said power-save mode.

16. A method for controlling power supplied to an IDE device, comprising:

sending a control signal to a driver indicating a computer system controlling said IDE device is entering a power-save mode;

generating a signal to turn off a switch coupled to said driver; and

turning off power to said IDE device.

19. A computer system, comprising:

computer readable medium configured to send a control signal to a driver indicating a computer system is entering a power-save mode;

operating a power control circuit in response to said control signal, said power control circuit comprising a field effect transistor which controls power provided to at least one integrated driver electronics (IDE) device.