Fast platform hibernation and resumption of computing systems

A method comprising:

• transitioning a computing system from an operational state to a first reduced power state upon receipt of a request, the first reduced power state including the storage of context information for the computing system in a volatile system memory;
• and
• transitioning by a power management logic the computing system from the first reduced power state to a second reduced power state, including the power management logic copying the context data from the volatile system memory to a nonvolatile memory in the transition to the second reduced power state, wherein the copying of the context data includes the power management logic:
• scanning the volatile system memory to locate non-active memory elements in the volatile system memory,
• generating a zero page filter to indicate locations of the non-active memory elements in the volatile system memory,
• eliminating the non-active memory elements from the volatile system memory based on the zero page filter to generate compressed context data,
• storing the compressed context data and the zero page filter in the nonvolatile memory, and
• placing the apparatus in the second reduced power state upon completion of storing the compressed context data and the zero page filter.

A system comprising:

• a DRAM (dynamic random access memory) element;
• a nonvolatile memory element;
• a processor to operate according to an operating system, the processor to transition the system from an operational power state to a first reduced power state upon receipt of a request, the first reduced power state including the storage of context information for the system in the volatile system memory;
• power management logic to transition the system between the first reduced power state and a second reduced power state, the power management logic to copy the context data from the DRAM element to the nonvolatile memory element in a transition from the first reduced power state to the second reduced power state and to restore the context information from nonvolatile memory element to the DRAM element in a transition from the second reduced power state to the first reduced power state;
• and
• a hardware memory scrubber to store zeros in elements of the DRAM element prior to the restoration of the context information from nonvolatile memory element to the DRAM element;
• wherein the power management logic to copy the context data from the DRAM element to the nonvolatile memory element includes the power management logic to:
• scan the volatile system memory to locate non-active memory elements in the volatile memory and generate a zero page filter of the non-active memory elements;
• eliminate the non-active memory elements from the volatile system memory based on the zero page filter to generate compressed context data;
• store the compressed context data and the zero page filter in the nonvolatile memory;
• and
• place the system in the second reduced power state upon completion of storing the compressed context data and the zero page filter.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

• transitioning a computing system from an operational state to a first reduced power state upon receipt of a request, the first reduced power state including the storage of context information for the computing system in a volatile system memory;
• and
• transitioning by a power management logic the computing system from the first reduced power state to a second reduced power state, including the power management logic copying the context data from the volatile system memory to a nonvolatile memory in the transition to the second reduced power state, wherein the copying of the context data includes the power management logic:
• scanning the volatile system memory to locate non-active memory elements in the volatile system memory,
• generating a zero page filter to indicate locations of the non-active memory elements in the volatile system memory,
• eliminating the non-active memory elements from the volatile system memory based on the zero page filter to generate compressed context data,
• storing the compressed context data and the zero page filter in the nonvolatile memory, and
• placing the apparatus in the second reduced power state upon completion of storing the compressed context data and the zero page filter.