Patent ID: 7676683

Claim:
A system for performing a multi-processing operation, comprising: a main processor operating to monitor a processing load of the system, and operating to selectively enable and disable one or more of a plurality of processors; a first processor of said plurality of processors operating to perform a first operation, said first processor including a first selector unit communicatively coupled thereto; a second processor of said plurality of processors, communicatively coupled to said first processor, operating to perform a second operation, said second processor including a second selector unit communicatively coupled thereto, said first and second processors receiving initialization data which carries out an initial power-up procedure; and a storage medium, communicatively coupled to said first and second processors, for storing status data from said main processor which has one of said first and second processors selectively switch from at least one of an active mode to an inactive mode after said initial power-up procedure and an inactive mode to an active mode after said initial power-up procedure, wherein: said initialization data is selected for one of said first and second processors being switched from at least one of said inactive mode to said active mode and said active mode to said inactive mode, such that the other of said first and second processors need not be re-initialized and remains operative uninterrupted; said first and second selector units receive said initialization data and decide whether to provide said initialization data to their respective processors for at least one of said initial power-up procedure and re-initialization; and at least one of said first processor and said second processor operates to process said received initialization data for at least one of said initial power-up procedure and said re-initialization when said system requires the use thereof to handle said processing load, and at least one of said first processor and said second processor operates to not process said received initialization data for at least one of said initial power-up procedure and said re-initialization when said system does not require the use thereof to handle said processing load.