Memory apparatus and energy-saving control method thereof
AssigneeVIA Technologies, Inc.
InventorsYi-Lin Lai, Chen-Te Chen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A memory apparatus and an energy-saving control method thereof are provided. The internal clock signal sent to a specific circuit group is stopped outputting when it is determined that no processing command is to be processed currently and current events are finished being processed, so as to reduce power consumption of a control chip.
Claims25
A memory apparatus, comprising:
- a plurality of non-volatile memory units;
- and
- a control chip coupled to the non-volatile memory units and coupled to a host computer via a signal transmission interface, the control chip comprising:
- a specific circuit group coupled to a clock generation unit;
- a memory control unit coupled to the clock generation unit and the non-volatile memory units to control an access of the non-volatile memory units;
- and
- an energy-saving control unit coupled to the clock generation unit, the specific circuit group, and the memory control unit,
- wherein the control chip further determines whether the host computer sends a processing command to the signal transmission interface, and when the control chip determines that no processing command is to be processed currently and current events are finished being processed, the energy-saving control unit controls the clock generation unit to stop outputting an internal clock signal to the specific circuit group and the memory control unit, such that the control chip enters a standby mode from a normal mode,
- wherein a power consumption of the control chip in the standby mode is lower than the power consumption of the control chip in the normal mode.
An energy-saving control method of a memory apparatus, wherein the memory apparatus comprises a plurality of non-volatile memory units and a control chip, the control chip is coupled to a host computer, the control chip further comprises a memory control unit, the memory control unit is configured to control an access of the non-volatile memory units, and the energy-saving control method of the memory apparatus comprises:
- determining whether the host computer sends a processing command;
- and
- when it is determined that no processing command is to be processed currently and current events are finished being processed, stopping outputting an internal clock signal to the specific circuit group and the memory control unit, such that the control chip enters a standby mode from a normal mode,
- wherein a power consumption of the control chip in the standby mode is lower than the power consumption of the control chip in the normal mode.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.