Low-power cached ambient computing
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsVinod Chamarty, Lawrence J. Madar, III
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for performing a prefetch processing to prepare an ambient computing device to operate in a low-power state without waking a memory device. One of the methods includes performing, by an ambient computing device, a prefetch process that populates a cache with prefetched instructions and data required for the ambient computing device to process inputs to the system while in the low-power state, and entering the low-power state, and processing, by the ambient computing device in the low-power state, inputs to the system using the prefetched instructions and data stored in the cache.
Claims20
A system comprising:
- multiple integrated client devices, including an ambient computing device that is configured to control operation of the system while the system is in a low-power state;
- a cache configured to cache data requests issued by the ambient computing device;
- and
- a hardware power manager that controls power of components of the system,
- wherein the system is configured to perform a partial power transition from the low-power state by performing operations comprising:
- determining, by the ambient computing device and while the system is in the low-power state, that a service request to the ambient computing device requires particular information that is missing from the cache of the system,
- activating a partition of the cache dedicated to the ambient computing device,
- fetching the required information from a downstream component of the system into the partition of the cache dedicated to the ambient computing device, and
- resuming, by the ambient computing device, operation of the system in the low-power state using the information fetched into the partition of the cache dedicated to the ambient computing device without waking up all components of the system.
A computer-implemented method for processing inputs to a system comprising multiple integrated client devices including an ambient computing device, the method comprising:
- receiving, by the ambient computing device and from a client device of the system, a service request while the system is in a low-power state;
- determining, by the ambient computing device, that the service request requires particular information that is missing from a cache of the system, wherein the cache is populated with prefetched instructions and data required for the ambient computing device to process inputs to the system while in the system is in the low-power state,
- activating a partition of the cache dedicated to the ambient computing device,
- fetching the required information from a downstream component of the system into the partition of the cache dedicated to the ambient computing device, and
- resuming, by the ambient computing device, operation of the system in the low-power state using the information fetched into the partition of the cache dedicated to the ambient computing device without waking up all components of the system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.