Apple has been investigating ways of saving power, and adding convenience, by having devices able to respond to network request and perform tasks, all while in sleep mode.
You’ve long been able to make home servers out of spare Macs. Those Macs have also long had a setting called “wake for network access,” which means they could stay in low-power or sleep mode until needed.
However, when you connect back to your Mac over a virtual network service, and it has a screen, that display wakes up too. Apart from making colleagues or family members jump, or presenting potential privacy issues, that’s a waste of energy.
“Control of a computer system in a power-down state,” a newly-granted US Patent, proposes being able to make a remote Mac — or any device — perform tasks, but without wasting energy. In some cases, that could be energy that the device simply does not have.
Read more at AppleInsider.com