Wake-on-Ring (WOR) or Wake-on-Modem (WOM) is a specification that allows supported computers and devices to "wake up" or turn on from a sleeping,
hibernating or "soft off" state (e.g.
ACPI state G1 or G2), and begin operation.
The basic premise is that a special
signal
A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology.
In ...
is sent over phone lines to the computer through its
dial-up modem
The Democratic Movement (, ; MoDem ) is a centre to centre-right political party in France, whose main ideological trends are liberalism and Christian democracy, and that is characterised by a strong pro-Europeanist stance. MoDem was establis ...
, telling it to fully power-on and begin operation. Common uses were
archive
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data or a type of data store based on the use of a database management system (DBMS), the software that interacts with end users, applications, and the database itself to capture and a ...
s and
BBSes
A bulletin board system (BBS), also called a computer bulletin board service (CBBS), is a computer server running software that allows users to connect to the system using a terminal program. Once logged in, the user performs functions such as u ...
, although hobbyist use was significant.
Fax
Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer or other out ...
machines use a similar system, in which they are mostly idle until receiving an incoming fax signal, which spurs operation.
This style of
remote operation
Teleoperation (or remote operation) indicates operation of a system or machine at a distance. It is similar in meaning to the phrase "remote control" but is usually encountered in research, academia and technology. It is most commonly associat ...
has mostly been supplanted by
Wake-on-LAN
Wake-on-LAN (WoL) is an Ethernet or Token Ring computer networking standard that allows a computer to be turned on or awakened from sleep mode by a network message.
The message is usually sent to the target computer by a program executed on a d ...
, which is newer but works in much the same way.
See also
*
Additional resources
"Wake on Modem" entry from Smart Computing Encyclopedia
Networking standards
BIOS
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface
Remote control
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