Back to results
US 10,896,138 B2Granted
Dynamically controlling random access memory retention in a wireless device
AssigneeApple Inc.
InventorsLi Su, Longda Xing
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wireless communication device (UE) may include random access memory and associated software configured to selectively place different memory banks into either an active power on mode, retention mode, or power off mode. The selective placement of memory banks into different modes may be performed based on a variety of factors including software module voting information, a current power mode of the memory banks, one or more software program(s) and/or data currently stored on the memory banks, and a counter that counts an amount of time during which a memory bank is not accessed. The placement of memory banks into different modes may be controlled by a memory controller coupled to the memory banks.
Claims20
A wireless user equipment device (UE), comprising:
- a radio, comprising one or more antennas configured for wireless communication on a cellular network;
- a processing element operably coupled to the radio;
- a random access memory (RAM) coupled to the processing element and configured to store one or more software programs used by the processing element in performing cellular communication functions, wherein the RAM comprises a plurality of memory banks;
- wherein the UE is configured to:
- maintain information for each respective memory bank of the plurality of the memory banks, the information comprising voting information indicating which of two or more software modules have indicated that the respective memory bank should be placed in a retention mode;
- dynamically place one or more of the memory banks of the random access memory(RAM) into the retention mode based at least in part on the information, wherein each of the one or more memory banks are placed into the retention mode based on all software modules associated with the voting information of the respective memory bank indicating that the respective memory bank be placed in the retention mode, wherein the retention mode preserves data in the one or more memory banks and utilizes less power than other memory banks of the memory that are actively in use;
- and
- dynamically place at least one of the memory banks of the RAM into the retention mode based at least in part on an amount of time during which the at least one of the memory banks has not been accessed, wherein the amount of time during which the at least one of the memory banks has not been accessed is determined based on values of one or more counters.
5 more elements
A method for operating a wireless user equipment device (UE), the method comprising:
- maintaining information for each respective memory bank of a plurality of memory banks, wherein the plurality of memory banks are comprised within a random access memory (RAM) comprised within the UE, the information comprising voting information indicating which of two or more software modules of the UE have indicated that the respective memory bank should be placed in a retention mode;
- dynamically placing one or more of the memory banks of the RAM into the retention mode based at least in part on the information, wherein each of the one or more memory banks are placed into the retention mode based on all software modules associated with the voting information of the respective memory bank indicating that the respective memory bank be placed in the retention mode, wherein the retention mode preserves data in the one or more memory banks and utilizes less power than other memory banks of the memory that are actively in use;
- and dynamically placing at least one of the memory banks of the RAM into the retention mode based at least in part on an amount of time during which the at least one of the memory banks has not been accessed, wherein the amount of time during which the at least one of the memory banks has not been accessed is determined based on values of one or more counters.
A non-volatile computer-readable medium that stores instructions that, when executed by a wireless user equipment device (UE), cause the UE to:
- maintain information for each respective memory bank of a plurality of memory banks, wherein the plurality of memory banks are comprised within a random access memory (RAM) comprised within the UE, the information comprising voting information indicating which of two or more software modules of the UE have indicated that the respective memory bank should be placed in a retention mode;
- dynamically place one or more of the memory banks of the RAM into the retention mode based at least in part on the information, wherein each of the one or more memory banks are placed into the retention mode based on all software modules associated with the voting information of the respective memory bank indicating that the respective memory bank be placed in the retention mode, wherein the retention mode preserves data in the one or more memory banks and utilizes less power than other memory banks of the memory that are actively in use;
- and dynamically place at least one of the memory banks of the RAM into the retention mode based at least in part on an amount of time during which the at least one of the memory banks has not been accessed, wherein the amount of time during which the at least one of the memory banks has not been accessed is determined based on values of one or more counters.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.