Negotiating a transmit wake time

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9454204-B2
Application number	US-201414504654-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2014
Priority date	Mar 17, 2009
Publication date	Sep 27, 2016
Grant date	Sep 27, 2016

Abstract

Includes receiving, from a link partner, a message specifying a link partner receive wake time and resolving to the lesser of the received link partner receive wake time and a local transmit wake time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, from a link partner, a message specifying a link partner receive wake time;
resolving to a transmit wake time based on the received link partner receive wake time and a local transmit wake time;
after sending a wake message to the link partner, delaying transmission of data destined for the link partner for at least the transmit wake time;
resuming transmission of data to the link partner after the transmit wake time.

2. The method of claim 1 ,
further comprising determining the local transmit wake time based on an amount of buffer to store data destined for the remote link partner; and
wherein delaying transmission comprises buffering data destined for the remote link buffer.

3. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the message further specifies a link partner transmit wake time; and
further comprising determining a local receive wake time based, at least in part, on a wake time of a PHY.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the determining the local receive wake time comprises determining based on a wake requirement of a one of a set of multiple power reduction modes.

5. The method of claim 1 ,
further comprising transmitting a frame to the link partner, the frame comprising the local transmit wake time and a local receive wake time.

6. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the message comprises a link layer discovery protocol frame.

7. The method of claim 1 ,
further comprising transmitting an indication of a quiet/refresh ratio in an even numbered time slot of a link pulse.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the receiving, the resolving, and the buffering comprises receiving, resolving, and buffering at a network interface controller, the network interface controller comprising a PHY, a media access controller, and a direct memory access (DMA) engine.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the message further comprises a wake time for a PHY.

10. A system, comprising:
a network interface controller, the network interface controller comprising:
a PHY;
a media access controller;
a direct memory access engine; and
circuitry to
receive, from a link partner, a message specifying a link partner receive wake time;
resolve to a transmit wake time based on the received link partner receive wake time and a local transmit wake time;
delay transmission of data destined for the link partner for at least the transmit wake time;
resume transmission of data to the link partner after the transmit wake time.

11. The system of claim 10 ,
further comprising circuitry to store a local transmit wake time.

12. The system of claim 10 ,
wherein the PHY comprises circuitry to store a PHY transmit wait time.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the message further specifies a link partner transmit wake time.

14. The system of claim 13 , to determine the local receive wake time based on requirements of one of a set multiple power reduction modes.

15. The system of claim 10 ,
further comprising circuitry to transmit a message to the link partner, the message comprising a local transmit wake time and the local receive wake time.

16. The system of claim 10 ,
wherein the message comprises a link layer discovery protocol frame.

17. The system of claim 10 ,
further comprising circuitry to transmit an indication of a quiet/refresh ratio of the PHY in an even numbered time slot of a link pulse.

18. The system of claim 10 ,
further comprising:
memory;
a processor; and
a power management unit, the power management unit to indicate to the network interface controller a wake period associated with a selected one of multiple power reduction modes.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the power management unit enters a selected one of multiple power reduction modes based on the transmit wake time.

20. A method, comprising:
receiving, from a link partner, a message specifying a link partner transmit wake time;
resolving to a transmit wake time based on the received link partner transmit wake time and a local receive wake time;
after receiving a sleep message from the link partner, entering a system power saving mode based, at least in part, on the resolved receive wake time;
after receiving a wake message from the link partner, exiting the system power saving mode; and
receiving data from the link partner only after the resolved receive wake time.

21. The method of claim 20 ,
further comprising notifying a system power management unit of the resolved transmit wake time.

22. The method of claim 21 ,
wherein notifying the system power management unit comprises notifying after receiving the sleep message.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Wertheimer Aviad
• Hays Robert

Classifications

• G06F1/3203 Primary

  Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode · CPC title

• G06F1/3209

  Monitoring remote activity, e.g. over telephone lines or network connections · CPC title

• Y02B60/43

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02D30/00

  Reducing energy consumption in communication networks · CPC title