Patent ID: 8027358

Claim:
A method comprising: monitoring bandwidth utilization of a point-to-point link comprising a pair of unidirectional links between a first electronic component and a second electronic component for a period of time, wherein a first link width is utilized for data communication during the period of time; comparing the bandwidth utilization to one or more threshold values; and selectively modifying the monitored link width operation to a second link width based, at least in part, on results of the comparison, wherein link width operation is selected from one of five supported operating states comprising a first state corresponding to a full active link width where all data lines are utilized, a second state in which link drivers are disabled and no data is transmitted over data lines, but a clock signal to the link drivers is not disabled, a third state in which half of the data lines are utilized and the other half is disabled, a fourth state in which link drivers for both directions of the point-to-point link as well as the link clock signal are disabled, and a fifth state in which the point-to-point link is completely powered off.