How to manage dynamic power in a microcontroller using its non-maskable interrupt
By Ajit Basarur, Shantanu Prasad Prabhudesai, and Nazmul Hoda, Ittiam Systems
pldesignline.com (August 06, 2008)
Abstract
As portable systems become increasingly power-conscious, the need for smart power management becomes equally important. Besides the main processor, an auxiliary Microcontroller Unit (MCU) often resides on such systems to take care of house keeping activities such as various user interfaces and a real-time clock (RTC), which has to tick even when the system is powered off.
In this article, we suggest a mechanism to implement power management scheme for the MCU based on system switch on and off states by using its non-maskable interrupt (NMI) pin.
1. Typical embedded system overview.
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