Abstract: A power management technique uses system management interrupt (SMI) to manage states of a processor that includes multiple logical processors. When the SMI is generated, the states of logical processors are verified. When all of the logical processors are idle, the physical processor is placed in a low power state.

Abstract: A component in a computer includes multiple functional unit blocks (FUB). Each FUB may be associated with a sensor and may be managed individually. When the sensor detects that a problem associated with a particular FUB may arise, a controller may be used to adjust operation of the FUB instead of operation of the entire component.

Abstract: A computer system includes one or more panels that are retractable or extendable relative to a display housing. The one or more panels include a panel located at proximally a top edge of the display housing and including an image capturing device. The one or more panels also include a panel located at proximally a left edge and a panel located at proximally a right edge of the display housing and each including one or more sound capturing devices. The one or more panels are synchronously retracted or extended relative to the display housing.

Abstract: A computer system includes a primary display and a secondary display. The secondary display is coupled to a portable device. Information displayed on the secondary display includes information transmitted by the computer system via a short-range communication channel.

Abstract: In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, a computer system may determine focus areas and non-focus areas of the display screen. The brightness of non-focus areas may then be reduced with respect to focus areas, thereby reducing power consumption of the display screen and, hence, reducing power consumption of the computer system. For example, a focus area may be an active window of the display screen and a non-focus area may be an inactive window of the display screen. As another example, a focus area may be a region of the display screen within a vicinity of a cursor (i.e. data entry point), and a non-focus area may be the region outside this vicinity. The size of the vicinity may be measured in radius or in lines of data (e.g. in a word processing or spreadsheet program) surrounding the cursor. The size and shape of the vicinity may be determined by a user.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for associating location information corresponding to a geographic location with information about services available at the geographic location. The information may be stored in a database for subsequent use.

Abstract: When a processor in a computer system is placed in a low power mode, power consumption of the computer system may be further reduced by reducing power consumption of one or more components of a memory coupled to the processor and by reducing power consumption of one or more components of a controller device coupled to the memory. The processor and the controller device may share the memory.

Abstract: After an instruction loads data into a register at a first time, the register is monitored to see if it is read in a next clock cycle. When the data is not read in the next clock cycle, the instruction is classified as a slowable instruction. An instruction address associated with the instruction is used to update a history table. The history table stores information to indicate if an instruction is a slowable instruction or a non-slowable instruction. When the instruction address of the instruction is encountered at a second time, the history table is used to determine if the instruction is slowable or non-slowable.

Abstract: Two timers are used to improve ingress throughput. Decisions to transfer the ingress packets are made based on when the two timers expire. A first timer is used to time how long a first ingress packet waits before it is transferred. When this first timer expires, the all received ingress packets including the first ingress packet are transferred. A second timer is used to time how long to wait for a new ingress packet to be received. The second timer is reset if a new ingress packet is received before expiration of the second timer. When the second timer expires and no new ingress packet is received during the wait, all received ingress packets including the first ingress packet are transferred.

Abstract: A stylus includes one or more stylus tips to initiate different mouse actions. The different mouse actions may be initiated by causing the stylus tip to generate disturbance signals on a touch sensitive device. The different mouse actions may also be initiated by using stylus tips of different characteristics with each characteristic associated with a mouse action.

Abstract: A memory is divided into a number of partitions. The partitions are grouped into a first group of partitions and a second group of partitions. When required by a port, a partition is assigned to the port from a pool of un-assigned partitions. The pool of un-assigned partitions comprises of un-assigned partitions from the first group of partitions and un-assigned partitions from the second group of partitions. The un-assigned partitions from the first group of partitions are assigned to the port until a first threshold is reached. The un-assigned partitions from the second group of partitions are assigned to the port after the first threshold is reached. A second threshold is used to limit a total number of partitions assigned to the port.

Abstract: For one embodiment, a short-range, wireless communication link, such as a Bluetooth link, is established between a mobile phone and a computer system. The mobile phone transmits an access code via the link to the computer system. The access code is generated using data stored in the subscriber identity module (SIM) in the mobile phone. Access to the computer system is granted in response to receiving the access code. In this manner, the SIM is used not only to identify the user during cellular phone calls (or other long-range, wireless communication) but also to authenticate the user and to gain access to a computer system.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus for improving system performance using redundant arithmetic are disclosed. In one embodiment, one or more dependency chains are formed. A dependency chain may comprise of two or more instructions. A first instruction may generate a result in a redundant form. A second instruction may accept the result from the first instruction as a first input operand. The instructions in the dependency chain may execute separately from instructions not in the dependency chain.

Abstract: A radio module that meets FCC Limited Modular Approval including a wireless transceiver and a low-level baseband controller. Only a portion of the baseband associated with a wireless communication protocol is contained within the controller. The remainder of the baseband may be contained within a host computer system to which the module may be coupled such that, for one embodiment, the module may be selectively operated in accordance with one of multiple wireless communication protocols.

Abstract: An apparatus includes a housing and a piston slidingly located within the housing, wherein the piston is made of a permanent magnetic material and the piston is to move by magnetic force wherein fluid is to be pumped by the piston.

Abstract: A system including a plurality of micro heat pipes is used to transfer heat from a die. A die attach block is coupled with the die. The plurality of micro heat pipes (MHPs) are attached to the die attach block to enable the MHPs to be in close contact with the die to absorb heat generated by the die.

Abstract: Frequency spectrums are determined for all possible codes given a predetermined number of bits in a code. A subset of these codes is formed based on spectral properties of codes in a desired frequency band. This subset of code is then used to encode data prior to transmission over a high-speed data bus to reduce undesirable emissions on targeted frequency bands.