Power consumption in a circuit is minimized. The circuit includes a pipelined
circuit having a plurality of stages. A determination is made as to whether a predetermined
period of time has expired. The predetermined period of time being associated with
a predetermined period of time to detect a transition of an input or an output
of the pipelined circuit. If the predetermined period of time is exceeded, a sequential
shut-down procedure is performed on each stage in the plurality of stages of the
pipelined circuit so that each stage is shut-down.
