Intel® Smart Connect Technology
1.0.2.698 PV Hotfix 2
Release Notes


September 6, 2011


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Copyright © Intel Corporation 2011


Notice: The Intel® Smart Connect Technology Software may contain design defects or errors described as "known issues" which may cause the product to deviate from expected performance. Current characterized known issues are documented in this update.

Notes

Always Updated Always Connected (AOAC) is now named Intel® Smart Connect Technology (ISCT)

Features

1.    A periodic timer to suspend and resume the platform. The time the machine is in S3 is configurable through the GUI.  This sleep time is based on battery level and thermal condition as well as how long the platform is in the S0-ISCT mode.

2.    Enabling/disabling periodic updated through the GUI

3.    When in S0, if there is any HID activity, the service stops suspending the platform. But once the user suspends the platform, it again begins to suspend/resume the platform until the next user input.

4.    The ISCT Service works for both lid closed/open cases unless the user has configured the lid-close result in the Control Panel for “No Action”.

5.    If there is no IP connectivity after resume for a configurable interval, the platform is suspended early to save power.

6.    If there is no traffic on the connected NICs, the platform is suspended early to save power.

7.    PNP Driver to allow communication between BIOS and ISCT Agent. NOTE: this requires the BIOS to enable and support the ISCT ACPI Virtual Device (INT33A0) or the ISCT Service will not run (cannot be started).

8.    A more gradual battery level based back off mechanism to enable longer battery life.

9.  Integration with Intel® Rapid Start Technology (if enabled on the platform) to transition to S4 (Rapid Start S4) after 1 minute during specified hours and remain in Rapid Start S4 for 2 hours before waking for network application update.

Revision History


Date

Revision

Draft/Changes

May 13, 2011

Alpha 1.0 (1.0.0.281)

Initial Release

June 3, 2011

Alpha 2.0 (1.0.0.307)

Alpha 2 Release

June 28, 2011

Alpha 3.0 (1.0.2.0)

Alpha 3 Release

July 11, 2011

Beta (1.0.2.0)

Beta Release

Aug 3, 2011

PC (1.0.2.553)

PC Release

Aug 31, 2011

PV (1.0.680.0)

PV

Sept 2, 2011

PV Hotfix 1 (1.0.697.0)

PV Hotfix 1

Sept 6, 2011

PV Hotfix 2 (1.0.698.0)

PV Hotfix 2

Supported Operating Systems

The Intel Always Updated Software is validated on the following Microsoft operating systems.  

 

New Features

ID

Description

 

Bugs Fixed

ID

Information

4015676

ISCT service stops working after resuming from critical battery action S4

N/A

“Restore All to Default” GUI button has been fixed

N/A

OEM Defaults now supported – See Platform Design Specification for details on how to use this feature

N/A

Restoration of audio settings fixed

N/A

Installation on Korean platform fixed – non-localized UI

N/A

New SASD BCD format supported (SetSleepTime appears in log instead of SetSleepDurationSeconds) to allow BIOS to notify ISCT Agent if RTC wake is for S0-ISCT mode or normal S0 (user or application scheduled RTC wake)

4015846

   CPUID check fixed in Agent that was preventing installation on various platforms

4015845

   Agent does not exit S0-ISCT mode when require password on resume is set in OSPM

N/A

   ISCT S0 S0WakeDurationLimitSeconds exceed spec(165s) for 15mins

N/A

  Test unit unable to enter S3 again with no fan, skin temperature exceed 50 degrees

N/A

  Removal of application WhiteList support

N/A

Re-scan all audio devices after wake-up in case new audio device was inserted during S3 to make sure all device get muted and respectfully un-muted if   previously muted.

4015867

ISCT S0 S0WakeDurationLimitSeconds exceed spec(165s) for 15mins

4015856

German Translation Issues

4015865

EMEA localization changes

N/A

Traditional Chinese on Hong Kong OS image fixes

N/A

Updated GPWR method to accept both Bit 2 and Bit 4 to transition to S0-ISCT

N/A

WhiteList support added back

 

Software Sightings and/or Known Issues

ID

Information

 

 Usage Notes

Information

 

To prevent un-intentional connections using prepaid or metered connections (e.g., iPass), users need to shut down such applications before putting the machine into sleep(S3) mode if they do not want Intel Smart Connect Technology to use metered connections in unattended mode.

All applications including instant messaging or location-based software can potentially be active in unattended S0 mode. Users should shut down any applications they don’t want running in unattended mode before putting the machine into sleep (S3) mode.

Users should disable Intel Smart Connect Technology periodic wake before boarding planes to prevent systems powering on in unattended mode.

When the sleep duration is set below 10 minutes, the actual sleep duration may not be the requested.  This is caused by the 10% duty cycle calculation of S0-ISCT + 20/(S3 + S0-ISCT + 20) cannot be > 10%.  The default wake period is approximately 45 seconds with a fudge factor of 20 seconds.  The wake period may be less if the applications running during S0-ISCT perform their network update quickly since our network heuristics will detect zero network traffic and transition the system back to s3 without waiting the entire 45 seconds.

The current setting of the “Enable Updating” and “Disable Updating” button will not change if the “Reset All to Defaults” button is pressed.  This is to maintain the current setting of the periodic wake enablement.