| US 7,558,884 B2 | ||
| Processing information received at an auxiliary computing device | ||
| Andrew J. Fuller, Redmond, Wash. (US); Matthew P. Rhoten, Seattle, Wash. (US); Christopher A. Schoppa, Redmond, Wash. (US); Curt A. Steeb, Redmond, Wash. (US); Juan Perez, Seattle, Wash. (US); Seiya Ohta, Issaquah, Wash. (US); and Niels van Dongen, Seattle, Wash. (US) | ||
| Assigned to Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, Wash. (US) | ||
| Filed on May 03, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/837,895. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2005/0262302 A1, Nov. 24, 2005 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06F 15/16 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 709—248 [709/209; 709/224; 713/324; 345/1.3; 711/113] | 22 Claims |
| 14. In a computing environment having a main computer system, a system comprising:
an auxiliary device, the auxiliary device being associated with a main computer system and receiving first data from the main
computer system while components of the main computer system are powered up, and storing the first data at a cache and displaying
the first data on the auxiliary display such that the display of the first data is primarily controlled by the main computer
system while the components of the main computer system are powered up such that a main CPU, operating system, and application
programs of the main computer system are running, wherein the auxiliary device comprises a secondary processor and the cache
that are powered up even when the components of the main computer system are powered down;
a mechanism coupled to the auxiliary device that receives second data from a data source other than the main computer system
while the components of the main computer system are powered down; and
wherein the auxiliary device processes the second data received from the other source to modify the first data stored in the
cache while the components of the main computer system are powered down such that the main CPU, operating system, and application
programs of the main computer system are not running, and wherein the auxiliary device displays the modified first data on
the auxiliary display while the components of the main computer system are powered down such that the display of the modified
first data is controlled only by the auxiliary device firmware,
wherein a battery controller of the main computer system continues to operate while the components of the main computer system
are powered down, and
wherein the auxiliary device is connected to the main computer system via SMBus (System Management bus).
|