Appeal No. 2004-1680
Application No. 09/122,741
acknowledges this difference at page 3 of the answer, but maintains that Pearce
teaches and suggests the use of a controller that prohibits a transition of the information
processing apparatus to the power save mode if the activity of the memory is occurring.
(See answer at page 3, Pearce at Column 5.) We disagree with the examiner and find
that Pearce teaches:
Responsive to detection by the PMU 18 of an I/O activity interrupt from the
generator 15, the ASV is set to BUSY, to indicate the occurrence of I/O
activity during the period, the PSV is set to 0 and the device is caused to
operate in FULL POWER mode, corresponding to PSV=0. Upon the
expiration of the current period, as indicated by the timer's 19 generating a
periodic timer interrupt to the PMU 18, the state of the ASV is checked. If
the ASV is set to BUSY, indicating that I/O activity occurred during the
previous period, the value of PSV and the power consumption mode of the
device 16 remain unchanged and the ASV is set to IDLE. Alternatively, if
the ASV is set to IDLE, indicating that there has been no I/O activity during
the previous period, the PSV is checked to determine the power
consumption mode of the device and, if the device is not already in its
lowest reduced power consumption mode, (i.e., if the PSV is not set to its
maximum value), the PSV is incremented and the device is caused to
operate in its next lowest reduced power consumption mode, that is, the
mode corresponding to the incremented value of the PSV. (Emphasis
added.) (Pearce at column 5, lines 34-53.)
Pearce similarly teaches at column 3, lines 3-17 that:
Upon the expiration of the associated timer, as indicated by the
generation of a periodic timer interrupt to the microcontroller, the state of
the ASV is checked. If the ASV is set to BUSY, indicating that I/O activity
occurred during the previous period, the device remains in FULL POWER
mode, as it is apparently active. Alternatively, if the ASV is set to IDLE,
indicating that there was no I/O activity during the period, the PSV is
checked to determine the mode of operation of the device and, if the
device is not already in its lowest reduced power mode, the PSV is
incremented and the device is caused to operate in its next lowest
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