System on a Chip with Always-On Processor Which Reconfigures SOC and Supports Memory-Only Communication Mode

摘要

In an embodiment, a system on a chip (SOC) includes a component that remains powered when the remainder of the SOC is powered off. The component may include a sensor capture unit to capture data from various device sensors, and may filter the captured sensor data. Responsive to the filtering, the component may wake up the remainder of the SOC to permit the processing. The component may store programmable configuration data, matching the state at the time the SOC was most recently powered down, for the other components of the SOC, in order to reprogram them after wakeup. In some embodiments, the component may be configured to wake up the memory controller within the SOC and the path to the memory controller, in order to write the data to memory. The remainder of the SOC may remain powered down.

主权项

1. An integrated circuit comprising:
at least one processor forming a central processing unit in the integrated circuit; a memory controller configured to couple to a memory during use; and a first component coupled to the processor and the memory controller, wherein the first component is configured to remain powered while the processor and the memory controller are powered off, and wherein the first component is configured to cause the memory controller to power up, to program the memory controller using memory controller configuration data stored in the first component, and to communicate with the memory controller during a time that the processor is powered down.