An embodiment system includes a first processor configured to process a suite of instructions and a second processor configured to process a subset of the suite of instructions. The system further includes a power management circuit configured to select the first processor or the second processor as a selected processor, the power management circuit being further configured to activate the selected processor or place the selected processor on standby. The system also includes a first peripheral device configured to generate a first interrupt signal, a switch configured to direct the first interrupt signal to the selected processor, and a first memory configured to store a first interrupt routine associated with the first interrupt signal, the selected processor being configured to execute the first interrupt routine in response to the first interrupt signal.