Notebook having secondary processor coupled by a multiplexer to a content source or disk drive

• US 20070239921A1
• Filed: 09/29/2006
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NVIDIA Corporation
• Original Assignee: PortalPlayer USA, Inc. (NVIDIA Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Jason, Toorians, Arman
• Granted Patent: US 8,782,291 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/306
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1616 with folding flat displays, e.g. laptop computers or notebooks having a clamshell configuration, with body parts pivoting to an open position around an axis parallel to the plane they define in closed position
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1637 Details related to the display arrangement, including those related to the mounting of the display in the housing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1643 the display being associated to a digitizer, e.g. laptops that can be used as penpads details related to the relative motion of the display enclosure with respect to the body enclosure, e.g. to move between laptop and tablet PC configuration G06F1/1615
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1684 Constructional details or arrangements related to integrated I/O peripherals not covered by groups G06F1/1635 - G06F1/1675
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/14 Digital output to display device ; Cooperation and interconnection of the display device with other functional units
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/1438 using more than one graphics controller
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2360/06 Use of more than one graphics processor to process data before displaying to one or more screens
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2370/047 using display data channel standard [DDC] communication
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/3208 organic, e.g. using organic light-emitting diodes [OLED]
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 3/36 using liquid crystals
• 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

In some embodiments, a notebook including a content source (e.g., a DVD or other display data source), mass storage device (e.g., hard disk drive), auxiliary display subsystem (including an auxiliary processor), PC chipset, a multiplexer between the content source, auxiliary processor, and PC chipset, and another multiplexer between the mass storage device, auxiliary processor and PC chipset, and methods implemented thereby. The auxiliary display subsystem can be operable (without communicating with the notebook'"'"'s CPU) when the notebook is in a low-power state.

Claims

1. A notebook, including:

at least one auxiliary processor;

a content source;

a PC chipset including a CPU; and

a multiplexer coupled between the content source, the auxiliary processor, and the PC chipset, wherein the multiplexer is has a first state in which it passes data from the content source to the auxiliary processor and a second state in which it passes data from the content source to the PC chipset.

2. The notebook of claim 1, also including:

a mass storage device; and

a second multiplexer coupled between the mass storage device, the auxiliary processor, and the PC chipset, wherein the second multiplexer has a first state in which it passes data from the mass storage device to the auxiliary processor and a second state in which it passes data from the mass storage device to the PC chipset.

3. The notebook of claim 1, wherein the content source is a DVD drive.

4. The notebook of claim 1, wherein the mass storage device is a hard disk drive.

6. The notebook of claim 1, wherein the mass storage device is a hard disk drive.

5. A notebook, including:

at least one auxiliary processor;

at least one mass storage device;

a PC chipset including a CPU; and

a multiplexer coupled between the mass storage device, the auxiliary processor, and the PC chipset, wherein the multiplexer has a first state in which it passes data from the mass storage device to the auxiliary processor and a second state in which it passes data from the mass storage device to the PC chipset.

7. A notebook, including:

a keyboard controller;

an auxiliary display subsystem including an auxiliary processor, wherein the auxiliary processor is coupled to the keyboard controller by a serial bus;

a content source;

a PC chipset including a CPU; and

a multiplexer coupled between the content source, the auxiliary processor, and the PC chipset, wherein the multiplexer has a first state in which it passes data from the content source to the auxiliary processor and a second state in which it passes data from the content source to the PC chipset.

8. The notebook of claim 7, wherein the serial bus is a two-wire serial bus.

9. The notebook of claim 8, wherein the serial bus is an SMB.

10. The notebook of claim 8, wherein the serial bus is an I2C bus.

11. The notebook of claim 7, wherein the notebook is operable in a low-power state, and the auxiliary processor and the keyboard controller are configured to A communicate with each other via the serial bus, without communicating with the CPU, when the notebook is in the low-power state.

12. A notebook, including:

a keyboard controller;

an auxiliary display subsystem including an auxiliary processor, wherein the auxiliary processor is coupled to the keyboard controller by a serial bus;

a mass storage device;

a PC chipset including a CPU; and

a multiplexer coupled between the mass storage device, the auxiliary processor, and the PC chipset, wherein the multiplexer has a first state in which it passes data from the mass storage device to the auxiliary processor and a second state in which it passes data from the mass storage device to the PC chipset.

13. The notebook of claim 12, wherein the content source is a DVD drive.

14. The notebook of claim 12, wherein the mass storage device is a hard disk drive.

15. A method of operating a notebook including an auxiliary processor, a PC chipset including a CPU, and at least one content source, said method including the steps of:

(a) controlling a multiplexer to assert a signal indicative of at least one of data, at least one address bit, and at least one control bit from one of the content source and the auxiliary processor to the other of the content source and the auxiliary processor while the notebook is in a low-power state; and

(b) controlling the multiplexer to assert another signal indicative of at least one of data, at least one address bit, and at least one control bit from one of the content source and the PC chipset to the other of the content source and the PC chipset.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein step (b) is performed while the notebook is in a fully powered state.

17. A method of operating a notebook including an auxiliary processor, a PC chipset, and at least one mass storage device, said method including the steps of:

(a) controlling a multiplexer to assert a signal indicative of at least one of data, at least one address bit, and at least one control bit from one of the mass storage device and the auxiliary processor to the other of the mass storage device and the auxiliary processor while the notebook is in a low-power state; and

(b) controlling the multiplexer to assert another signal indicative of at least one of data, at least one address bit, and at least one control bit from one of the mass storage device and the PC chipset to the other of the mass storage device and the PC chipset.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein step (b) is performed while the notebook is in a fully powered state.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the mass storage device is a hard disk drive and step (b) is performed while the notebook is in a fully powered state