Devices and methods for switching and communication among multiple operating systems and application management methods thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10775875-B2
Application number	US-201715856364-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2017
Priority date	Jun 11, 2014
Publication date	Sep 15, 2020
Grant date	Sep 15, 2020

Abstract

A device includes a storage unit and a processing unit. The processing unit includes a processor and is coupled to the storage unit. The processing unit operates a big operating system (BOS) and a little operating system (LOS) and can dynamically switch between the BOS and the LOS according to the system loading status of the device, wherein power consumption and resource requirements of the BOS are different than those of the LOS.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
a storage unit; and
a processing unit including a processor and coupled to the storage unit, wherein the processing unit operates a big operating system (BOS) and a little operating system (LOS) and can dynamically switch between the BOS and the LOS according to a system loading status of the device, wherein the step of dynamically switching includes communicating between the BOS and the LOS which comprises a static communication mechanism and a dynamic communication mechanism, wherein in the static communication mechanism, variables or arrays are defined with a same name in both the BOS operating in a normal mode and the LOS operating in a suspend mode or a hibernation mode, and in the dynamic communication mechanism, the BOS operating in the normal mode and the LOS operating in the suspend mode or the hibernation mode use a same identifier (ID) of variables for performing data transmission between the BOS and the LOS,
wherein power consumption and resource requirements of the BOS are different from those of the LOS.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the BOS is operable in the normal mode and the LOS is operable in the suspend mode, the hibernation mode, or a deep hibernation mode, wherein the normal mode belongs to a non-power-saving mode and the suspend mode, the hibernation mode, and the deep hibernation mode are three different power-saving modes.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the storage unit further comprises a random access memory (RAM) and a read-only memory (ROM), wherein when the device is operated in the suspend mode of the LOS, the power of the RAM is on and the power of the ROM is turned off.

4. The device of claim 3 , wherein when the device is operated in the hibernation mode of the LOS, the power of the RAM and the power of the ROM are both turned off.

5. The device of claim 1 , further comprising a clock generator, wherein when the device is operated in a deep hibernation mode of the LOS, and the device is being shut down and being booted up regularly by using the clock generator to periodically update time or detect at least one sensor.

6. The device of claim 3 , wherein the ROM further comprises a first image file corresponding to the BOS and a second image file corresponding to the LOS, wherein the processor separately loads the first image file or the second image file into the RAM to dynamically switch between the BOS and the LOS, respectively.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor further determines whether the device has applications locked in the suspend mode, the hibernation mode and/or a deep hibernation mode when operating in the LOS to determine whether the LOS operates in the suspend mode, the hibernation mode or the deep hibernation mode.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein when the device is operated under the suspend mode, the hibernation mode or a deep hibernation mode of the LOS, the processor further switches the operation mode to the normal mode of the BOS to continue the operation when detecting that the system loading of the device has increased to exceed a threshold value.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the device is operated in the LOS when performing only simple calculations, time updating or sensor detection.

10. A method for switching between multiple operating systems in a device, wherein the device is operable in a big operating system (BOS) and a little operating system (LOS) and power consumption and resource requirements of the BOS are different from those of the LOS, the method comprising:
detecting system loading status of the device and dynamically switching between the BOS and the LOS according to the detected system loading status of the device, wherein the step of dynamically switching includes communicating between the BOS and the LOS which comprises a static communication mechanism and a dynamic communication mechanism, wherein in the static communication mechanism, variables or arrays are defined with a same name in both the BOS operating in a normal mode and the LOS operating in a suspend mode or a hibernation mode, and in the dynamic communication mechanism, the BOS operating in the normal mode and the LOS operating in the suspend mode or the hibernation mode use a same identifier (ID) of variables for performing data transmission between the BOS and the LOS.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the BOS is operable in the normal mode and the LOS is operable in the suspend mode, the hibernation mode or a deep hibernation mode, wherein the normal mode belongs to a non-power-saving mode and the suspend mode, the hibernation mode, and the deep hibernation mode are three different power-saving modes.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the device further comprises a Tightly Coupled Memory (TCM) and a random access memory (RAM), and the step of dynamically switching between the BOS and the LOS further comprise switching from the BOS to the suspend mode of the LOS to continue the operation, wherein the step of switching from the BOS to the suspend mode of the LOS to continue the operation further comprises:
running the BOS;
backing-up data in the TCM to an unused area in the RAM in the device;
decreasing phase-locked loop (PLL) frequency of the device;
decreasing operation voltage for the device;
loading an image file corresponding to the LOS to the TCM;
turning off the power of unused hardware devices within the device; and
switching the operation of the LOS to the suspend mode and operating in the suspend mode.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the device further comprises a Tightly Coupled Memory (TCM) and a random access memory (RAM), and the step of dynamically switching between the BOS and the LOS further comprise switching from the suspend mode of the LOS to the BOS to continue the operation, wherein the step of switching from the suspend mode of the LOS to the BOS to continue the operation further comprises:
running the LOS;
increasing operation voltage for the device;
increasing PLL frequency of the device;
activating and initializing hardware devices that have previously been turned off in the device;
restoring TCM data backed up in the RAM to the TCM; and
switching the operation of the device to the normal mode of the BOS and operating in the normal mode.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the device further comprises a Tightly Coupled Memory (TCM), and the step of dynamically switching between the BOS and the LOS further comprise switching from the BOS to the hibernation mode of the LOS to continue the operation, wherein the step of switching from the BOS to the hibernation mode of the LOS to continue the operation further comprises:
decreasing PLL frequency of the device;
decreasing operation voltage for the device;
loading an image file corresponding to the LOS to the TCM;
turning off the power of unused hardware devices; and
switching the operation of the LOS to the hibernation mode and operate in the hibernation mode.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the device further comprises the random access memory (RAM) and the read-only memory (ROM), and the step of switching from the BOS to the hibernation mode of the LOS to continue the operation further comprises:
backing-up memory data being used under the normal mode in the TCM and in the RAM of the to an unused area in the ROM of the device before the decreasing of the PLL frequency of the device.

16. The method of claim 10 , wherein the device further comprises a Tightly Coupled Memory (TCM), a random access memory (RAM) and a read-only memory (ROM), and the step of dynamically switchin

Assignees

• Mediatek Singapore Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Ma Liming
• Yang Zhiwei

Classifications

• G06F1/3275

  Power saving in memory, e.g. RAM, cache · CPC title

• G06F9/4418

  Suspend and resume; Hibernate and awake · CPC title

• G06F1/3296 Primary

  by lowering the supply or operating voltage · CPC title

• G06F1/3206

  Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality · CPC title

• G06F9/4403

  Processor initialisation · CPC title