METHOD FOR OPERATING A DATA PROCESSING DEVICE, A DATA PROCESSING DEVICE AND A DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM

摘要

In order to reduce a power consumption of a data processing device (10) for use in a networked data processing system, the crystal oscillator device (16) and corresponding clock signal generator circuit (14) are switched off, when the data processing device is idle. However, restart of the crystal oscillator device results in a relatively long start-up period, during which relatively much energy is consumed. In accordance with the present invention, during the idle state, the crystal oscillator device is alternatingly switched on and off at a predetermined frequency and with a predetermined duty cycle. Thus, it is possible to substantially shorten the start-up period and substantially reduce the average power consumption in the idle state.