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Device and method to control di/dt for a microprocessor

A current change, processor technology, applied in the computer field, can solve problems such as affecting the power supply voltage and increasing power consumption

Inactive Publication Date: 2008-01-02
INTEL CORP
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

As processor frequency increases, the time intervals between these current changes decrease, but even small current changes can affect the supply voltage
On the other hand, application of power reduction strategies such as clock gating increases with processor frequency (and power consumption)
Enforcing a minimum activity artificially increases the amount of power consumed, which partially negates the benefits of clock gating

Method used

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  • Device and method to control di/dt for a microprocessor
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  • Device and method to control di/dt for a microprocessor

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Embodiment Construction

[0019] The following description sets forth numerous specific details in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. Also, various well-known methods, procedures, components and circuits have not been described in detail in order to focus on the characteristics of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 1 is a block diagram of one embodiment of a computer system 100 on which the present invention may be implemented. The computer system 100 includes a processor 110 , a main memory 140 , a non-volatile memory 150 , various peripheral devices 160 , system logic components 170 and a power supply 180 . The system logic unit 170 controls data transfer among the processor 110 , the main memory 140 , the non-volatile memory 150 and the peripheral devices 160 . The power supply 180 provides a refere...

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PUM

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Abstract

The present invention provides a mechanism for adjusting the activity of an integrated digital circuit such as a processor to reduce voltage changes attributable to current changes triggered by clock gating. The processor includes one or more functional units and a current control circuit that monitors activity states of the processor's functional units to estimate the current consumed over n clock cycles. The current control circuit estimates the current change for a given clock cycle from the n activity states and compares the estimated current change with first and second thresholds. The processors activity is decreased if the estimated current change is greater than the first threshold, and the processor activity is decreased if the estimated current change is less than the second threshold.

Description

technical field [0001] This invention relates to computers and, more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling the rate of change of power supply current in a microprocessor. Background technique [0002] New processors include a large number of execution resources to support parallel processing of multiple instructions. Processors typically include one or more integer, floating point, branch, and memory execution units to execute integer, floating point, branch, and load / store instructions, respectively. In addition, integer and floating point units typically include register files to maintain data relatively close to the processor core. One drawback of assigning processors with large execution resources is the large amount of power required to run them. Different execution units draw more or less power, and draw more or less current, depending on their size and the functions they perform, but the net effect of putting so many logic parts on a relatively sm...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Patents(China)
IPC IPC(8): G06F1/32G06F1/26G06F1/28
CPCG06F1/3237Y02B60/1221G06F1/3203G06F1/28Y02D10/00
Inventor E·格乔斯基D·塞杰V·蒂瓦里I·扬D·J·艾尔斯
Owner INTEL CORP