(19) United States
(12) Patent Application Publication (io) Pub. No.: US 2005/0144490 Al
Igari (43) Pub. Date: Jun. 30,2005
(54) ELECTRONIC DEVICE WITH SERIAL ATA INTERFACE AND POWER SAVING METHOD FOR SERIAL ATA BUSES
(75) Inventor: Fubito Igari, Hamura-shi (JP)
Correspondence Address:
PILLSBURY WINTHROP SHAW PITTMAN,
LLP
P.O. BOX 10500
MCLEAN, VA 22102 (US)
(73) Assignee: KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOSHIBA,
Tokyo (JP)
(21) Appl. No.: 11/018,931
(22) Filed: Dec. 22, 2004
(30) Foreign Application Priority Data
Dec. 25, 2003 (JP) 2003-431182
An electronic device has a serial ATA interface and is connected to another electronic device through that serial ATA bus. A determination device determines whether immediate transmission of data is possible when the data should be transmitted to the another electronic device. A first mode switching device switches the serial ATA bus from a non power saving mode to a specific power saving mode when the immediate transmission of the data from the electronic device is determined to be impossible and the data is predicted as not being prepared within a preset time. A second mode switching device switches the serial ATA bus from the specific power saving mode to the non power saving mode after preparations are made for transmission of the data where the serial ATA bus is switched to the specific power saving mode.
