Patent ID: 8245055

Claim:
A method comprising: setting a signal to indicate that control of a computer system is to be usurped on a next occasion of preparations being made for the computer system to enter a lower power state; initiating preparations for the computer system to enter a lower power state; transferring control of the computer system from an operating system being executed on the computer system to enable power management code residing in a firmware storage to be executed; examining the signal to determine whether or not it was set to indicate that control is to be usurped; usurping control of the computer system to begin executing code in the firmware storage that is unrelated to both the operating system and to power management; completing execution of the code in the firmware storage that is unrelated to both the operating system and to power management; returning control of the computer system to enable resumption of execution of code of the operating system; and aborting entry by the computer system to a lower power state.