Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06T—IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL
  • G06T1/00—General purpose image data processing
  • G06T1/60—Memory management
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
  • G06F1/26—Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof
  • G06F1/32—Means for saving power
  • G06F1/3203—Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
  • G06F1/3206—Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
  • G06F1/3215—Monitoring of peripheral devices
  • G06F1/3218—Monitoring of peripheral devices of display devices
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
  • G06F1/26—Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof
  • G06F1/32—Means for saving power
  • G06F1/3203—Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
  • G06F1/3234—Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
  • G06F1/325—Power saving in peripheral device
  • G06F1/3265—Power saving in display device
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
  • G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
  • G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
  • G06F1/26—Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof
  • G06F1/32—Means for saving power
  • G06F1/3203—Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
  • G06F1/3234—Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
  • G06F1/325—Power saving in peripheral device
  • G06F1/3275—Power saving in memory, e.g. RAM, cache
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
  • G09G—ARRANGEMENTS OR CIRCUITS FOR CONTROL OF INDICATING DEVICES USING STATIC MEANS TO PRESENT VARIABLE INFORMATION
  • G09G2330/00—Aspects of power supply; Aspects of display protection and defect management
  • G09G2330/02—Details of power systems and of start or stop of display operation
  • G09G2330/021—Power management, e.g. power saving
  • G09G2330/022—Power management, e.g. power saving in absence of operation, e.g. no data being entered during a predetermined time
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02D—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
  • Y02D10/00—Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02D—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
  • Y02D30/00—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
  • Y02D30/50—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Definitions

• the static image frame content is stored in a memory subsystem (e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM)).
• DRAM dynamic random access memory
• the DRAM may be coupled to, for example, a System on Chip (SoC) that houses various system components (e.g., memory clients, a mobile display processor, a DRAM memory controller, and a system cache, among other components).
• SoC System on Chip
• the frame content is stored in DRAM, such as, double data rate (DDR) memory.
• DDR double data rate
• the mobile display controller or processor reads the pixel data and feeds it to the display panel.
• Static display refresh power is a key contributor to the amount of time such devices can be used on a single battery charge, as well as for browser power
• One such method comprises: prefetching static image frame content from a DRAM memory device into a system cache; during a static display refresh operation, a display processor reading the static image frame content from the system cache while the DRAM memory device is in a power-saving, self-refresh state; and the display processor feeding the static image frame content to a mobile display.
• the system comprises a system on chip, a volatile memory device, and a power-saving static display refresh module.
• the SoC comprises a system cache, a display processor, and a memory controller.
• the volatile memory device resides off- chip and is coupled to the memory controller.
• the power-saving static display refresh module comprises logic configured to: prefetch static image frame content from the volatile memory device into a system cache; during a static display refresh operation, read the static image frame content from the system cache while the volatile memory device is in a power-saving, self-refresh state; and feed the static image frame content to a mobile display.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system for reducing power consumption for static image display refresh.
• FIG. 2 is a combined block/flow diagram illustrating the operation of an embodiment of a power-saving static display refresh method in the system of FTG. 1 .
• FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of the architecture, operation, and/or functionality of the power-saving static display refresh module(s) in the system of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 4 is a series of timing diagrams illustrating a burst prefetch into the system cache.
• FIG. 5 is a combined block/flow diagram illustrating the operation of another embodiment of the power-saving static display refresh method in the system of FIG. 1.
• FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a portable computer device comprising the system of FIG. 1.
• an “application” may also include files having executable content, such as: object code, scripts, byte code, markup language files, and patches.
• an "application” referred to herein may also include files that are not executable in nature, such as documents that may need to be opened or other data files that need to be accessed.
• content may also include files having executable content, such as: object code, scripts, byte code, markup language files, and patches.
• content referred to herein, may also include files that are not executable in nature, such as documents that may need to be opened or other data files that need to be accessed.
• a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer.
• an application running on a computing device and the computing device may be a component.
• One or more components may reside within a process and/or thread of execution, and a component may be localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more computers.
• these components may execute from various computer readable media having various data structures stored thereon.
• the components may communicate by way of local and/or remote processes such as in accordance with a signal having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, distributed system, and/or across a network such as the Internet with other systems by way of the signal).
• a portable computing device may include a cellular telephone, a pager, a PDA, a smartphone, a navigation device, or a hand-held computer with a wireless connection or link.
• FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 for reducing power consumption for static image display refresh in a DRAM memory system.
• the system 100 may be
• the system 100 comprises a system on chip (SoC) 102 coupled to a memory system comprising DRAM 104.
• SoC system on chip
• the SoC 102 comprises various on-chip components, including one or more memory clients 106 that request memory resources from DRAM 104.
• the memory clients 106 may comprise one or more processing units (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), graphics processing unit (GPU), digital signal processor (DSP), mobile display processor 106, etc.), a video encoder, or other clients requesting read/write access to DRAM 104.
• the memory clients 106, a system cache 108, mobile display processor 110, and memory controller 1 14 may be interconnected via a SoC bus 1 16.
• the mobile display processor 1 10 acquires, processes, and feeds display data (including static image frame content 120) to the display device 118.
• the system 100 comprises power-saving static display refresh module(s) 1 12, which generally comprise the logic for reducing power consumption during static image display refresh of static image frame content 120 using the system cache 108.
• power-saving static display refresh module(s) 1 12 may be integrated in mobile display processor 1 10, memory controller 1 14, system cache 108, or other components.
• FIG. 2 illustrates one exemplary implementation of a method for reducing power consumption during static image display refresh using system cache 108.
• system cache 108 comprises a system-level cache used by, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) to reduce the average time to access memory.
• the system cache 108 may comprise one or more of a plurality of independent CPU or other caches organized as a hierarchy of cache levels (e.g. , LI, L2, L3, etc.).
• the mobile display processor 110 may initiate static image display refresh.
• the mobile display processor 1 10 may issue one or more prefetches of the static image frame content 120 stored in DRAM 104 into the system cache 108.
• the mobile display processor 1 10 may issue a prefetch command (arrow 201) to the system cache 108.
• the prefetch command may include data defining a variable burst length for prefetching the static image frame content 120 from DRAM 104 into the system cache 108.
• the system cache 108 (or an associated memory controller 1 14) sends a request to DRAM 104 to prefetch the static image frame content 120.
• the static image frame content 120 (or a portion thereof) may be prefetched in a burst mode defined by a prefetch burst length (BL) at a relatively higher bandwidth (e.g., Gigabytes/sec).
• BL prefetch burst length
• the static image frame content 120 is stored in the system cache 108.
• the mobile display processor 1 10 may read pixel data from the system cache 108 (arrow 207). It should be appreciated that the mobile display processor 1 10 may read-out the prefetched static image frame content 120, from the system cache 108, at a read burst length (BL) that is less than the prefetch burst length and at a relatively lower bandwidth (e.g. ,
• the mobile display processor 1 10 While the mobile display processor 1 10 is reading refresh data from the system cache 108, the DRAM 104 and associated components may be placed in a power-saving, self-refresh state. For example, in an embodiment, the memory controller 1 14 may be turned off and/or the DRAM 104 may be placed in a self-refresh state to reduce power consumption during static image refresh. At arrow 209, the mobile display processor 1 10 may feed the refresh data to the display device 1 18.
• FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a method 300 implemented in the system 100 for reducing power consumption during static image display refresh.
• static image display refresh may be initiated by, for example, the mobile display processor 1 10 or other components in system 100.
• the static image frame content stored in DRAM memory 104 may be prefetched into system cache 108.
• the mobile display processor 108 may issue one or more prefetches into system cache 108.
• the mobile display processor 108 may send prefetch commands or "hints" to system cache 108.
• the prefetch command(s) may define a prefetch burst length based on the available bandwidth.
• the mobile display processor 108 may start issuing read transactions for screen refresh through system cache 108 instead of through DRAM 104. While the mobile display processor 108 is reading the static image frame content 120 from system cache 108, at block 308, the DRAM 104 may be placed in a power- saving, self-refresh state. It should be appreciate that additional power savings may be yielded by turning off other unnecessary power- consuming components, such as, for example memory controller 114. At block 310, the mobile display processor 118 feeds the static image frame content 120 to the display device 118.
• FIG. 4 illustrates timing diagrams associated with the DRAM 104 (DRAM timeline 401), the system cache 108 (system cache timeline 403), and the mobile display processor 1 10 (MDP timeline 405) during the power-saving static display refresh performed by the system 100.
• DRAM timeline 401 the static image frame content 120 stored in DRAM 104 may be prefetched into system cache 108 at a predefined or variable burst length based on the available bandwidth.
• Blocks 407 and 409 represent portions of the static image frame content 120 that are prefetched into the system cache 108. The width of blocks 407 and 409 define the corresponding burst length.
• a first block 407 may be prefetched into system cache 108 at a first time.
• the first block 407 may then be read-out of the system cache 108 by the mobile display processor 110 in smaller-sized chunks of data ( . e. , blocks 407a - 407f) at a slower bandwidth.
• prefetching into system cache 108 may occur at a relatively higher bandwidth (e.g., Gigabytes/sec) than the bandwidth at which the mobile display processor 108 reads the data from system cache 108 (e.g., Megabytes/sec).
• the prefetched data contained in first block 407 may be divided into smaller data blocks 407a, 407b, 407c, 407d, 407e, and 407f.
• the mobile display processor 108 reads out each of blocks 407a - 407f at the relatively lower bandwidth. While blocks 407a - 407f are being read from system cache 108, DRAM 104 may be placed in the power-saving, self-refresh state as described above.
• the second block 409 may be prefetched into system cache 108.
• the time between prefetched blocks 407 and 409 may be based on the DDR self-refresh rate.
• the prefetched data contained in second block 409 may be similarly divided into smaller blocks 409a 409f (note only blocks 409a 409c are illustrated for simplicity).
• the mobile display processor 108 reads out each of blocks 409a - 409f while DRAM 104 may be placed in the power-saving, self- refresh state.
• FIG. 5 illustrates another exemplary implementation of a method for reducing power consumption during static image display refresh using system cache 108.
• a portion of the static image frame content 120a is prefetched into system cache 108 and refreshed by mobile display processor 108 from system cache 108.
• a remaining portion of the static image frame content 120b is read from DRAM 104.
• This partial frame buffer embodiment may be implemented in situations in which the size of available memory in system cache 108 is not large enough for the frame buffer. In this approach, the DRAM 104 is placed in the power-saving, self-refresh state while the mobile display processor 108 is reading from system cache 108.
• the mobile display processor 1 10 may issue one or more prefetches of the static image frame content 120a stored in DRAM 104 into the system cache 108.
• the mobile display processor 1 10 may issue a prefetch command (arrow 501) to the system cache 108.
• the system cache 108 (or an associated memory controller 1 14) sends a request to DRAM 104 to prefetch the portion 120a of static image frame content 120 based on the available memory in system cache 108.
• the portion 120a of static image frame content 120 is stored in the system cache 108.
• the mobile display processor 1 10 may read portion 120a from the system cache 108 (arrow 504) and feed it to display device 1 18 (arrow 505).
• While the mobile display processor 1 10 is reading portion 120a from the system cache 108, the DRAM 104 and associated components may be placed in a power-saving, self-refresh state.
• the remaining portion 120b of static image frame content 120 may be read by mobile display processor 108 from DRAM 104 (arrow 506) and fed to display device 1 18 (arrow 507).
• FIG. 6 illustrates the system 100 incorporated in an exemplary portable computing device (PCD) 600.
• PCD portable computing device
• the SoC 322 may include a multicore CPU 602.
• the multicore CPU 602 may include a zeroth core 410, a first core 412, and an Nth core 414.
• One of the cores may comprise, for example, a graphics processing unit (GPU) with one or more of the others comprising the CPU.
• a display controller 328 and a touch screen controller 330 may be coupled to the CPU 602.
• the touch screen display 108 external to the on-chip system 322 may be coupled to the display controller 328 and the touch screen controller 330.
• FIG. 6 further shows that a video encoder 334, e.g., a phase alternating line (PAL) encoder, a sequential color a memoire (SECAM) encoder, or a national television system(s) committee (NTSC) encoder, is coupled to the multicore CPU 602.
• a video amplifier 336 is coupled to the video encoder 334 and the touch screen display 606.
• a video port 338 is coupled to the video amplifier 336.
• a universal serial bus (USB) controller 340 is coupled to the multicore CPU 602.
• a USB port 342 is coupled to the USB controller 340.
• Memory 104 and a subscriber identity module (SIM) card 346 may also be coupled to the multicore CPU 602.
• SIM subscriber identity module
• Memory 104 may reside on the SoC 322 or be coupled to the SoC 322 (as illustrated in FIG. 1).
• the memory 104 may comprise a DRAM memory system (FIG. 1) as described above.
• a digital camera 348 may be coupled to the multicore CPU 602.
• the digital camera 348 is a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera or a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) camera.
• CCD charge-coupled device
• CMOS complementary metal-oxide semiconductor
• a stereo audio coder-decoder (CODEC) 350 may be coupled to the multicore CPU 602. Moreover, an audio amplifier 352 may coupled to the stereo audio CODEC 350. In an exemplary aspect, a first stereo speaker 354 and a second stereo speaker 356 are coupled to the audio amplifier 352. FIG. 6 shows that a microphone amplifier 358 may be also coupled to the stereo audio CODEC 350.
• a microphone 360 may be coupled to the microphone amplifier 358.
• a frequency modulation (FM) radio tuner 362 may be coupled to the stereo audio CODEC 350.
• an FM antenna 364 is coupled to the FM radio tuner 362.
• stereo headphones 366 may be coupled to the stereo audio CODEC 350.
• FIG. 6 further illustrates that a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 368 may be coupled to the multicore CPU 602.
• An RF switch 370 may be coupled to the RF transceiver 368 and an RF antenna 372.
• a keypad 204 may be coupled to the multicore CPU 602.
• a mono headset with a microphone 376 may be coupled to the multicore CPU 602.
• a vibrator device 378 may be coupled to the multicore CPU 602.
• FIG. 6 also shows that a power supply 380 may be coupled to the on-chip system 322.
• the power supply 380 is a direct current (DC) power supply that provides power to the various components of the PCD 600 that require power.
• the power supply is a rechargeable DC battery or a DC power supply that is derived from an alternating current (AC) to DC transformer that is connected to an AC power source.
• AC alternating current
• FIG. 6 further indicates that the PCD 600 may also include a network card 388 that may be used to access a data network, e.g., a local area network, a personal area network, or any other network.
• the network card 388 may be a Bluetooth network card, a WiFi network card, a personal area network (PAN) card, a personal area network ultra-low-power technology (PeANUT) network card, a television/cable/satellite tuner, or any other network card well known in the art.
• the network card 388 may be incorporated into a chip, i.e., the network card 388 may be a full solution in a chip, and may not be a separate network card 388.
• the touch screen display 606, the video port 338, the USB port 342, the camera 348, the first stereo speaker 354, the second stereo speaker 356, the microphone 360, the FM antenna 364, the stereo headphones 366, the RF switch 370, the RF antenna 372, the keypad 374, the mono headset 376, the vibrator 378, and the power supply 380 may be external to the on-chip system 322.
• the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium.
• Computer-readable media include both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another.
• a storage media may be any available media that may be accessed by a computer.
• such computer-readable media may comprise RAM, ROM,
• EEPROM electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
• NAND flash NOR flash
• M-RAM magnetically readable media
• P-RAM electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
• R-RAM electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
• CD-ROM compact disc-read only memory
• any other medium that may be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that may be accessed by a computer.
• any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium.
• the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line ("DSL"), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave
• coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium.
• Disk and disc includes compact disc (“CD”), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (“DVD”), floppy disk and blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.
• CD compact disc
• DVD digital versatile disc
• floppy disk floppy disk
• blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.

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• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Controls And Circuits For Display Device (AREA)

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• 2014
  • 2014-03-02 US US14/194,743 patent/US20150248741A1/en not_active Abandoned
• 2015
  • 2015-02-28 KR KR1020167025110A patent/KR20160129857A/ko not_active Withdrawn
  • 2015-02-28 EP EP15711930.6A patent/EP3114544A1/en not_active Withdrawn
  • 2015-02-28 JP JP2016554575A patent/JP2017516123A/ja active Pending
  • 2015-02-28 CN CN201580011283.2A patent/CN106062662A/zh active Pending
  • 2015-02-28 WO PCT/US2015/018203 patent/WO2015134337A1/en not_active Ceased

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