Power budgetting in a computer system having removable devices

Details

Inventors: Robinson, Kurt B.;
Assignee: Intel Corporation (Santa Clara, CA)
Primary Examiner: Envall, Jr.; Roy N.
Assistant Examiner: Moise; Emmanuel L.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Blakely, Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman

A computer system with power budgeting for removable devices is disclosed comprising a nonvolatile memory that contains a power resource table for storing a power consumption indication for at least one resident device for the computer system. The computer system further comprises a removable device that contains a card information structure that stores a power consumption indication for the removable device. A processor executes a power management driver that allocates a power budget to the removable device according to the power resource table and the card information structure. The power management driver updates the power: resource table to indicate the power budget to the removable device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION FIG.
1 illustrates a computer system 10 for one embodiment.
The computer system 10 comprises a processor subsystem 12, a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) subsystem 14, and a non-volatile memory 16.
The computer system 10 further comprises a set of resident devices including a display 18, a keyboard 20, a disk subsystem 22, and a floppy disk subsystem 24.
The processor subsystem 12 communicates with the DRAM subsystem 14, the non-volatile memory 16, and the resident devices over a system bus 34.
The DRAM subsystem 14 provides storage areas for an operating system, a set of application programs, and a set of device driver programs and associated software data structures implemented on the computer system 10.
The non-volatile memory 16 provides storage areas for a set of basic input/output software (BIOS) for the computer system 10.
For one embodiment, the non-volatile memory 16 comprises a flash memory.
For another embodiment, the non-volatile memory 16 comprises a static random access memory with battery power backup.
The display 18 provides display functions for the computer system 10.
The display 18 provides user and software controllable intensity levels and display back-lighting functions.
The amount of electrical power consumption of the display 18 varies according to the display intensity and the intensity of back-lighting.
The computer system 10 implements a display driver program that tracks and controls the intensity and back-lighting levels for the display 18.
The disk subsystem 22 comprises a rotating media mass storage device.
The electrical power consumption for the disk subsystem 22 varies according to an active operating mode and a standby mode.
The disk subsystem 22 consumes maximum electrical power in the active operating mode and minimum power in the standby mode.
The computer system 10 further comprises a socket controller 26.
The socket controller 26 enables random insertion and removal of removable devices for the computer system 10.
The socket controller 26 provides a pair of sockets 38 and 39 for accepting removable cards

Related patents

	Door knob lock monitoring alarm mechanism An interior door knob is described which includes, within its hollow body, an electrically energized circuit including a battery, a normally-open microswitch, and an ...
	Signaling material and method for protecting subterranean structures I claim: 1. A device adapted to be buried in the ground above a structure to be protected, the device comprising: a continuous elongated support formed by a multiplicity ...
	Equipment lock This invention relates to locking mechanism for securing against removal various items of equipment, for example, laboratory equipment such as microscopes, office ...
	Lay-in yarn feed I claim: 1. A circular knitting machine of the type having cylinder needles, dial needles and at least one yarn feeder and wherein the cylinder needles are lifted and ...
	Dual-status, magnetically imagable article surveillance marker Like certain of the markers discussed in the references cited above, the marker of the present invention is intended for use in an electronic article surveillance system ...
	Water detection device I claim: 1. A device for detecting the presence of water in a fuel tank comprising: a water sensing alloy consisting essentially of between about 20% and 45% each by ...

0.014
Archive: All patents - Links Copyright (c)2006 Eipa-patents.org - All rights reserved