Lowest power mode for a mobile drive
AssigneeMarvell International Ltd.
InventorsRavishanker Krishnamoorthy, Yun Yang, Abdul Elaydi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A hard disk drive enters a low power mode to reduce power consumption. To maintain communication with a host device, a communication interface remains energized along with a circuit portion storing configuration data for the communication interface. The hard disk drive may have a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface to provide two-way communication to external data processing equipment. The hard disk drive may have a system on a chip (SoC) core to issue the low power mode entry command. During the low power mode, circuitry for external communication is kept in an active state.
Claims21
A method for a hard disk drive, the method comprising:
- maintaining configuration information for the hard disk drive during a low power mode of operation of the hard disk drive;
- and
- during the low power mode of operation, keeping circuitry for external communication in an active state.
The method of claim I further comprising:
- switching the circuitry from an active configuration in an active mode to a low power configuration in the lower power mode of operation.
A USB hard disk drive having a normal mode and a selectable low power mode, the hard disk drive comprising:
- a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface which provides two-way communication over a USB connection from the USB hard disk drive to external data processing equipment;
- and
- circuitry including storage which maintains USB interface configuration data so that the USB interface is active to receive data read or data write commands over the USB connection when the hard disk drive is in the low power mode.
A USB hard disk drive having a normal mode and a selectable low power mode, the hard disk drive comprising:
- a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface means for providing two-way communication over a USB connection from the USB hard disk drive to external data processing equipment;
- storage means for maintaining USB interface configuration data;
- and
- circuit means responsive to the USB interface configuration data for maintaining the USB interface active to receive data read or data write commands over the USB connection when the hard disk drive is in the low power mode.
A low power mode entry method for a hard disk drive, the method comprising:
- activating a regulator to generate a first regulated signal in the low power mode;
- and
- in response to the first regulated signal, maintaining availability of configuration information for a communication interface to enable external communication with the hard disk drive in the low power mode.
A hard disk drive having a low power mode of operation and an active mode of operation, the hard disk drive comprising:
- a system on a chip (SoC) core to issue a low power mode entry command to initiate entry to the low power mode from the active mode;
- a Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface in communication with the SoC core;
- a first regulator to generate a first signal, the SoC core responsive to the first signal to maintain configuration information for the USB interface during the low power mode, and
- a second regulator to generate a second signal to keep the USB interface active during the low power mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.