Google patents chip design that keeps main processor asleep
Google describes a system where a small, always-on embedded processor handles routine alerts instead of the main CPU. This allows the main processor to stay in a low-power sleep mode for longer periods. The system checks the type of alert to decide which processor should handle it.
In the filing’s own words
Methods, systems, and apparatus for reducing power consumption in interrupt request processing. A computing system can include a system-on-chip (SoC), which in turn can include a central processing unit (CPU), an embedded processor, an interrupt handler and at least one hardware accelerator. The interrupt handler can receive interrupt requests from the SoC and route certain types of interrupt requests to the embedded processor for processing, instead of the CPU. This alleviates the need for the CPU to wake up from a lower power state to process particular interrupt requests.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method implemented at a computing device that includes a system-on-chip comprising a central processing unit (CPU) and an embedded processor, the method comprising: receiving, from a first process executing on the computing device, a first interrupt request; determining, by an interrupt handler and based on one or more attributes of the first interrupt request, that processing of the first interrupt request is to be routed to the embedded processor instead of the CPU; and routing, by the interrupt handler, the first interrupt request to the embedded processor; receiving, from the embedded processor and by the interrupt handler, confirmation that the first interrupt request has been processed by the embedded processor.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Google LLC)
- Official title
- SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR INTERRUPT REQUEST PROCESSING
- Publication number
- US20260299994A1
- Application number
- 19576892
- Filed
- Mar 24, 2026
- Published
- Oct 1, 2026
- Inventors
- 4
- Claims
- 14
Classified under
G06F 9/4818 Physics & computingMore from Google in Chips & hardware
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.