Patent ID: 7685447

Claim:
A circuit interrupter comprising: separable contacts; an operating mechanism structured to open and close said separable contacts; a sensor structured to sense current flowing through said separable contacts; a processor cooperating with said sensor and said operating mechanism to trip open said separable contacts; a power supply structured to at least power said processor, wherein said processor includes a configurable clock, wherein said processor further includes a routine structured to reduce current consumption from said power supply through modulation of said configurable clock, wherein said routine includes a background loop and a foreground loop, wherein said background loop is structured to periodically collect data from said sensor, wherein said foreground loop is structured to process said data from the background loop, wherein said configurable clock has a frequency, wherein said background loop is further structured to raise the frequency of said configurable clock and collect a sample of current from said sensor, wherein said processor is a microcomputer including a timer; and wherein said background loop is further structured to periodically execute responsive to an interrupt from said timer, to determine if said foreground loop was processing said data, and to responsively either: return execution to said foreground loop without lowering the frequency of said configurable clock responsive to said foreground loop processing said data, or lower the frequency of said configurable clock responsive to said foreground loop not processing said data.