Low-power cached ambient computing

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, and
• activating, by the hardware power manager, one or more components of the system that are necessary to obtain the particular information 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;
• and
• activating one or more components of the system that are necessary to obtain the particular information without waking up all components of the system.