Power management in electronic systems

1. A method comprising:

initializing a direct memory access profiler in an electronic system;

measuring at least one memory consumption characteristic of the electronic system;

communicating the at least one memory consumption characteristic to a policy manager of the electronic system; and

using the at least one memory consumption characteristic to adjust a power state of the electronic system.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein measuring at least one memory consumption characteristic of the electronic system comprises reading at least one memory consumption parameter from at least one of a data bus, a dynamic memory controller, and a peripheral bus.

3. A method according to claim 1 , wherein measuring at least one memory consumption characteristic of the electronic system comprises reading at least one of a number of cache accesses and a number of cache misses.

4. A method according to claim 1 , wherein using the at least one memory consumption characteristic to adjust a power state of the electronic system comprises:

determining a portion of a memory consumption load generated by non-core operations of the electronic system; and

comparing the portion to a threshold value.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising characterizing the system as being in an active DMA state when the portion exceeds the threshold.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising altering a power state of the electronic, device to accommodate an active DMA state.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein initializing a direct memory access profiler in an electronic system comprises instantiating the direct memory access profiler in a kernel space of an operating system of the electronic system.

8. An electronic apparatus comprising:

at least one processor;

a computer readable medium coupled to the processor and comprising logic instructions encoded in the computer readable medium, wherein the instructions, when executed in a processing system, cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:

initializing a direct memory access profiler in an electronic system;

measuring at least one memory consumption characteristic of the electronic system;

communicating the at least one memory consumption characteristic to a policy manager of the electronic system; and

using the at least one memory consumption characteristic to adjust a power state of the electronic system.

9. The electronic apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising logic instructions encoded in the computer readable medium which, when executed, configure the processor to read at least one memory consumption parameter from at least one of a data bus, a dynamic memory controller, and a peripheral bus.

10. The electronic apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising logic instructions encoded in the computer readable medium which, when executed, configure the processor to read at least one of a number of cache accesses and a number of cache misses.

11. The electronic apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising logic instructions encoded in the computer readable medium which, when executed, configure the processor to:

determine a portion of a memory consumption load generated by non-core operations of the electronic system; and

compare the portion to a threshold value.

12. The electronic apparatus of claim 11 , further comprising logic instructions encoded in the computer readable medium which, when executed, configure the processor to characterize the system as being in an active DMA state when the portion exceeds the threshold.

13. The electronic apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising logic instructions encoded in the computer readable medium which, when executed, configure the processor to alter a power state of the electronic device to accommodate an active DMA state.

14. The electronic apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising logic instructions encoded in the computer readable medium which, when executed, configure the processor to instantiate the direct memory access profiler in a kernel space of an operating system of the electronic system.

15. A computer readable medium comprising logic instructions which, when executed in a processing system coupled to the computer readable medium, cause the processing system to perform operations comprising:

initializing, a direct memory access profiler in an electronic system;

measuring at least one memory consumption characteristic of the electronic system;

communicating the at least one memory consumption characteristic to a policy manager of the electronic system; and

using the at least one memory consumption characteristic to adjust a power state of the electronic system.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising logic instructions which, when executed, configure the processor to read at least one memory consumption parameter from at least one of a data bus, a dynamic memory controller, and a peripheral bus.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising logic instructions which, when executed, configure the processor to configure the processor to read at least one of a number of cache accesses and a number of cache misses.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising logic instructions which, when executed, configure the processor to:

determine a portion of a memory consumption load generated by non-core operations of the electronic system; and

compare the portion to a threshold value.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18 , further comprising logic instructions which, when executed, configure the processor to characterize the system as being in an active DMA state when the portion exceeds the threshold.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 15 , further comprising logic instructions which, when executed, configure the processor to alter a power state of the electronic system to accommodate an active DMA state.