System and method for hardware manipulation in a computing device

1. A device, comprising:

an operating system including a power control policy for a component of the device and an effector program controlling power for the component based on the power control policy; and

power control hardware controlled by the effector program to implement the power control policy for the component; and

a configuration utility receiving a method for controlling the power control hardware and generating the effector using the method,

wherein the configuration utility is executed during a startup procedure of the device and thereafter does not occupy a runtime memory of the device.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the configuration utility further receives a description of the component and generates the effector using the description.

3. The device of claim 1 , wherein the description includes an Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) description.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the configuration utility includes an ACPI Machine Language (AML) interpreter.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the effector program is a separately executable program.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the operating system is at least partially loaded onto the device after execution of the configuration utility.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the component is one of an integral hardware component of the device and an external hardware component electrically coupled to the device.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the component is one of a processor, a non-volatile memory, a volatile memory, an input/output device and a display.

9. The device of claim 1 , further comprising:

a processor executing the operating system, wherein the processor has less capabilities than a general purpose computer processor.

10. The device of claim 1 , further comprising:

a runtime memory storing the operating system during execution, wherein the runtime memory has less storage space than a general purpose computer memory.

11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the power control policy includes a plurality of states for the component.

12. A method, comprising:

determining, by a configuration utility, a power state for a component;

executing, by the configuration utility, an effector program to produce a control output corresponding to the power state;

terminating an execution of the configuration utility;

loading an operating system, after terminating the execution of theconfiguration utility; and

controlling power supplied to the component so that the component enters the power state.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the effector program is a separately executable program.

14. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

receiving a method for controlling the component; and

generating the effector program based on the method.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

receiving a description of the component, the description being used for generating the effector program.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the power state is a plurality of power states and the effector program is a plurality of effector programs, each of the power states corresponding to one of the plurality of effector programs.

17. The method of claim 12 , wherein the component is one of a processor, a non-volatile memory, a volatile memory, an input/output device and a display.

18. A device, comprising:

a memory storing a set of instructions;

a processor configured to execute the instructions, the instructions being operable to,

determine, by a configuration utility, a power state for a component,

produce, by the configuration utility, a control output corresponding to the power state;

terminate an execution of the configuration utility; and

load an operating system, after terminating the execution of the configuration utility; and

power control hardware receiving the control output and controlling power supplied to the component so that the component enters the power state.