Polling Agent Emulating Legacy Interfaces for Energy Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional processing systems face inefficiencies in power management due to the need for high power states when handling polling activities for peripheral devices, which limits the ability to maintain low power or performance states, thereby reducing energy efficiency.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a processing system with multiple processing units, where a polling agent handles polling activities on a separate unit, allowing the main unit to operate in lower power states by emulating legacy interfaces for peripheral devices, thus isolating polling overhead to a single processing unit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If polling activities are handled on the main processing unit, then device communication reliability is improved, but power consumption increases due to frequent transitions to high power states
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the processing system into multiple processing units, assigning polling activities to a dedicated polling processing unit while the main processing unit handles other tasks. This segmentation allows the main unit to remain in low power states without compromising communication reliability, as the polling unit independently manages device polling.
Solution Approach 2:
The polling processing unit acts as an intermediary between the main processing unit and peripheral devices. It handles all polling communications, preventing the main unit from needing to wake up frequently. The polling unit mediates between the need for continuous device monitoring and the desire for low power consumption on the main unit.
2Loss of energy
If the processing unit operates in low power states, then energy efficiency is improved, but responsiveness to polling activities deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting processing responsibilities, the patent ensures that polling activities are always handled by an active polling processing unit, maintaining system responsiveness. The main processing unit can sleep without affecting polling responsiveness, as the polling unit remains operational and can immediately respond to device activities.
Solution Approach 2:
The polling processing unit independently handles all polling-related tasks without requiring intervention from the main processing unit. This self-service capability ensures that polling activities continue uninterrupted even when the main unit is in low power states, maintaining both energy efficiency and responsiveness.
3Reliability
If frequent transitions to high power states occur for polling, then device monitoring reliability is improved, but battery life deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the processing workload so that only the polling processing unit needs to remain active for device monitoring, while the main processing unit can enter low power states for extended periods. This segmentation dramatically reduces the overall power consumption and extends battery life while maintaining monitoring reliability through the dedicated polling unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The polling processing unit serves as an intermediary that maintains continuous device monitoring without requiring the main system to wake up frequently. It absorbs the power consumption impact of continuous monitoring, protecting the main system's battery life while ensuring reliable device monitoring continues uninterrupted.
Data Source
AI summary
A first partition of a processing system may use polling to communicate with a device. In addition, the first partition may provide an interface that allows a second partition of the processing system to communicate with the device without requiring the second partition to use polling. For example, the first partition may present the device to the second partition as an interrupt-driven device. In one embodiment, the first partition creates an interface that presents a universal serial bus (USB) peripheral device to the second partition as a legacy peripheral device. The second partition my therefore use the device without conducting polling, and may consume less energy than a partition that conducts polling. Other embodiments are described and claimed.