Patent 7912989 was granted and assigned to RICOH COMPANY,LTD. on March, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A network interface is provided, in which it has an active mode and at least one of a disconnect mode and a suspend mode, and performs a predetermined process when a release condition of the disconnect mode or the suspend mode is satisfied. The network interface includes a driving control circuit for stopping at least a part of driving clock generation circuits included in the network interface until the release condition of the disconnect mode or the suspend mode is satisfied from the time when the disconnect mode or the suspend mode is established, wherein the driving control circuit operates irrespective of a clock signal.