Patent · US Expired

Method and apparatus for conserving power and system resources in a computer system employing a virtual memory

US5778443A · kind A · utility

25Cited by
15References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 14, 1994
Grant dateJul 7, 1998
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 14, 2014

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
  • CPC primaryY02D10/00
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A computer system has volatile random access memory ("RAM") and nonvolatile auxiliary storage, a virtual memory operating system with some pages of virtual memory resident in RAM and other pages resident in a paging space in auxiliary storage. A time varying operating state for the computer is definable by reference to contents of the memory. A space in auxiliary storage (a "hibernation space") is allocated for storing a portion of RAM as a hibernation image. A first group of the RAM-resident virtual memory pages is stored in the paging space. A second group of the RAM-resident virtual memory pages is stored in the hibernation space. A hibernation state is entered where the computer system is powered off with the system at a certain operating state. The computer system is returned to operation at the certain operating state, which includes powering on the computer system and reading the second group of pages into the RAM.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.