Method for determining lowest safe working voltage, program product, electronic equipment and storage medium

Abstract

The invention provides a lowest safe working voltage determination method, a program product, electronic equipment and a storage medium, and is applied to the technical field of semiconductors, and the method comprises the following steps: obtaining chip characteristic parameters of a chip when a target application is operated; and inputting the chip characteristic parameters into the minimum safe working voltage determination model to obtain Vmin which is output by the minimum working voltage determination model and corresponds to the target application, so as to change the working frequency of the chip according to the minimum safe working voltage. In the scheme, the lowest safety working voltage determination model represents the relationship between the Vmin of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters, so that the chip characteristic parameters of the chip during operation of the target application are obtained, and the chip characteristic parameters are input into the lowest safety working voltage determination model; the Vmin corresponding to the target application can be quickly obtained, so that the working frequency of the chip can be changed according to the Vmin, and the working performance of the chip is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application relates to the field of semiconductor technology, and in particular to a method for determining a minimum safe operating voltage, a program product, an electronic device, and a storage medium. Background Art

[0002] The minimum operating voltage of a chip is the lowest safe operating voltage of the chip under specified operating conditions. Hardware designers often set a voltage margin based on the minimum operating voltage to deal with problems such as power supply noise and aging. In the worst case, this voltage margin is necessary to avoid silent data corruption or even system crashes, but in other cases, this voltage margin will limit the performance of the chip. For example, under the premise of the same power consumption wall, according to the formula P dynamic =C*V 2 *F, where C, V, and F represent capacitance, voltage, and frequency, respectively. When the core operating voltage of the chip increases, the dynamic power consumption of the chip, P dynamic Increased performance will lead to decreased performance. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The purpose of the embodiments of the present application is to provide a method for determining a minimum safe operating voltage, a program product, an electronic device, and a storage medium, so as to solve the technical problem in the prior art of low chip performance due to voltage margin.

[0004] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for determining a minimum safe operating voltage, comprising: obtaining chip characteristic parameters of a chip when running a target application, wherein the chip characteristic parameters are related to the power and / or voltage of the chip; inputting the chip characteristic parameters into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum operating voltage determination model, so as to change the operating frequency of the chip according to the minimum safe operating voltage, wherein the minimum safe operating voltage determination model characterizes the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters.

[0005] In the above scheme, since the minimum safe operating voltage determination model represents the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters, by obtaining the chip characteristic parameters of the chip when running the target application and inputting the above chip characteristic parameters into the above minimum safe operating voltage determination model, the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application can be quickly obtained, so that the operating frequency of the chip can be changed according to the above minimum safe operating voltage, thereby improving the performance of the chip when it is working.

[0006] In an optional embodiment, the chip characteristic parameter includes an instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application, and / or a changing trend of the instruction count value. In the above scheme, since the instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application is related to the power and / or voltage of the chip, the minimum safe operating voltage can be determined with high accuracy based on the instruction count value or parameters related to the instruction count value.

[0007] In an optional embodiment, if the chip characteristic parameters include the instruction count value and the change trend, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model includes: a first operating voltage determination module and a second operating voltage determination module; the step of inputting the chip characteristic parameters into the minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum operating voltage determination model includes: inputting the instruction count value into the first operating voltage determination module to obtain the first operating voltage output by the first operating voltage determination module, and inputting the change trend into the second operating voltage determination module to obtain the second operating voltage output by the second operating voltage determination module; and determining the larger of the first operating voltage and the second operating voltage as the minimum safe operating voltage. In the above scheme, the minimum safe operating voltage can be determined based on the instruction count value per unit time when the chip is running the target application and the change trend of the instruction count value, and the larger of the two is determined as the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application, thereby improving the accuracy of the determined minimum safe operating voltage.

[0008] In an optional embodiment, before inputting the chip characteristic parameters into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model and obtaining the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum operating voltage determination model, the method further includes: determining the minimum safe operating voltage determination model using the following steps: obtaining the minimum sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to multiple sample applications running on the chip; and determining the minimum safe operating voltage determination model based on the minimum sample voltages and chip sample parameters. In the above scheme, since the chip characteristic parameters are related to the chip sample parameters of the chip, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be determined based on the minimum sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to the multiple sample applications. Utilizing this minimum safe operating voltage determination model, a minimum safe operating voltage with high accuracy can be obtained.

[0009] In an optional embodiment, determining the minimum safe operating voltage determination model based on the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters includes: clustering the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters to classify chip sample parameters with similar minimum sample voltages into the same category; and fitting the relationship between the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters based on the clustering results to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage determination model. In the above scheme, since chip characteristic parameters are related to the chip sample parameters of the chip, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be obtained by fitting the relationship between the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters. Utilizing this minimum safe operating voltage determination model, a minimum safe operating voltage with high accuracy can be obtained.

[0010] In an optional embodiment, obtaining the lowest sample voltages corresponding to each of multiple sample applications running on the chip includes: when a sample application is running on the chip, gradually reducing the chip's power supply voltage until an exception log appears for the sample application, and determining the power supply voltage before the exception log appears as the lowest sample voltage corresponding to the sample application. In this solution, by gradually reducing the chip's power supply voltage to ultimately determine the chip's lowest sample voltage, system crashes caused by sudden voltage drops during measurement can be effectively avoided, thereby improving the efficiency and stability of measuring the lowest sample voltage.

[0011] In an optional embodiment, after inputting the chip characteristic parameters into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model and obtaining a minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application as output by the minimum safe operating voltage determination model, the method further includes: determining whether the minimum safe operating voltage is less than a low voltage threshold; and if the minimum safe operating voltage is less than the low voltage threshold, increasing the operating frequency of the chip. In the above scheme, when the minimum safe operating voltage is less than the low voltage threshold, increasing the chip's operating frequency can improve chip performance while ensuring normal chip operation, thereby reducing the chip's energy efficiency and hardware design costs.

[0012] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a device for determining a minimum safe operating voltage, comprising: an acquisition module for acquiring chip characteristic parameters of a chip when running a target application, wherein the chip characteristic parameters are related to the power and / or voltage of the chip; an input module for inputting the chip characteristic parameters into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum operating voltage determination model, so as to change the operating frequency of the chip according to the minimum safe operating voltage, wherein the minimum safe operating voltage determination model characterizes the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters.

[0013] In the above scheme, since the minimum safe operating voltage determination model represents the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters, by obtaining the chip characteristic parameters of the chip when running the target application and inputting the above chip characteristic parameters into the above minimum safe operating voltage determination model, the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application can be quickly obtained, so that the operating frequency of the chip can be changed according to the above minimum safe operating voltage, thereby improving the performance of the chip when it is working.

[0014] In an optional embodiment, the chip characteristic parameter includes an instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application, and / or a changing trend of the instruction count value. In the above scheme, since the instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application is related to the power and / or voltage of the chip, the minimum safe operating voltage can be determined with high accuracy based on the instruction count value or parameters related to the instruction count value.

[0015] In an optional embodiment, if the chip characteristic parameters include the instruction count value and the change trend, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model includes: a first operating voltage determination module and a second operating voltage determination module; the input module is specifically used to: input the instruction count value into the first operating voltage determination module to obtain the first operating voltage output by the first operating voltage determination module, and input the change trend into the second operating voltage determination module to obtain the second operating voltage output by the second operating voltage determination module; and determine the larger value of the first operating voltage and the second operating voltage as the minimum safe operating voltage. In the above scheme, the minimum safe operating voltage can be determined based on the instruction count value per unit time when the chip is running the target application and the change trend of the above instruction count value, and the larger value between the two is determined as the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application, thereby improving the accuracy of the determined minimum safe operating voltage.

[0016] In an optional embodiment, the apparatus for determining the minimum safe operating voltage further includes: a determination module configured to determine the minimum safe operating voltage determination model using the following steps: obtaining the minimum sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to a plurality of sample applications running on the chip; and determining the minimum safe operating voltage determination model based on the minimum sample voltages and chip sample parameters. In the above scheme, since chip characteristic parameters are related to the chip sample parameters of the chip, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be determined based on the minimum sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to the plurality of sample applications. Using this minimum safe operating voltage determination model, a more accurate minimum safe operating voltage can be obtained.

[0017] In an optional embodiment, the determination module is specifically configured to: cluster the minimum sample voltages and the chip sample parameters to classify chip sample parameters with similar minimum sample voltages into the same category; and, based on the clustering results, fit the relationship between the minimum sample voltages and the chip sample parameters to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage determination model. In the above scheme, since the chip characteristic parameters are related to the chip sample parameters of the chip, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be obtained by fitting the relationship between the minimum sample voltages and the chip sample parameters. Utilizing this minimum safe operating voltage determination model, a minimum safe operating voltage with high accuracy can be obtained.

[0018] In an optional embodiment, the acquisition module is specifically configured to: when running a sample application on the chip, gradually reduce the chip's power supply voltage until an exception log appears for the sample application, and determine the power supply voltage before the exception log appears as the minimum sample voltage corresponding to the sample application. In this solution, by gradually reducing the chip's power supply voltage to ultimately determine the chip's minimum sample voltage, system crashes caused by sudden voltage drops during measurement can be effectively avoided, thereby improving the efficiency and stability of measuring the minimum sample voltage.

[0019] In an optional embodiment, the apparatus for determining the minimum safe operating voltage further includes: a determination module for determining whether the minimum safe operating voltage is less than a low voltage threshold; and an increase module for increasing the operating frequency of the chip if the minimum safe operating voltage is less than the low voltage threshold. In this embodiment, when the minimum safe operating voltage is less than the low voltage threshold, increasing the chip's operating frequency can improve chip performance while ensuring normal chip operation, thereby reducing the chip's energy efficiency and hardware design costs.

[0020] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, comprising computer program instructions, which, when read and executed by a processor, execute the method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage as described in the first aspect.

[0021] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an electronic device comprising: a processor, a memory, and a bus; the processor and the memory communicate with each other through the bus; the memory stores computer program instructions that can be executed by the processor, and the processor calls the computer program instructions to execute the method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage as described in the first aspect.

[0022] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer program instructions. When the computer program instructions are executed by a computer, the computer executes the method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage as described in the first aspect.

[0023] In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present application more obvious and easy to understand, the following specifically cites the embodiments of the present application and provides a detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0024] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, the following is a brief introduction to the drawings required for use in the embodiments of the present application. It should be understood that the following drawings only show certain embodiments of the present application and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For ordinary technicians in this field, other relevant drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0025] Figure 1 A flowchart of a method for determining a minimum safe operating voltage provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0026] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a framework of a method for determining a minimum safe operating voltage provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0027] Figure 3 A structural block diagram of a device for determining a minimum safe operating voltage provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0028] Figure 4 This is a structural block diagram of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application will be described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

[0030] Please refer to Figure 1 , Figure 1 This is a flow chart of a method for determining a minimum safe operating voltage provided by an embodiment of the present application. This method can be, but is not limited to, executed by an electronic device. Figure 4 The possible structure of the electronic device is shown. For details, please refer to the following Figure 4 The method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage may specifically include the following steps:

[0031] Step S101: Obtain chip characteristic parameters of the chip when the chip runs a target application, wherein the chip characteristic parameters are related to the power and / or voltage of the chip.

[0032] Step S102: Input the chip characteristic parameters into the minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum safe operating voltage determination model, wherein the minimum safe operating voltage determination model characterizes the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters.

[0033] Specifically, in the above step S101, the chip refers to the chip currently to be analyzed, wherein the embodiment of the present application does not limit the type of the above chip, for example: it can be a graphics processing unit (GPU), a central processing unit (CPU), a micro control unit (MCU), a neural network processing unit (NPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), etc. In the following text, the case where the chip is a GPU is mainly taken as an example. The GPU here can refer to a hardware mainly used for graphics processing. However, in recent years, due to its advantages in parallel computing, some GPUs are designed to perform many general tasks other than graphics processing. This type of GPU is called GPGPU.

[0034] Target applications are applications that can be run on the chip, such as the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), the object detection algorithm Yolov5, the 50-layer Residual Network 50 (Resnet50), and the Transformer.

[0035] The chip characteristic parameters are related to the power of the chip, or the chip characteristic parameters are related to the voltage of the chip, or the chip characteristic parameters are related to the power and voltage of the chip. For example: the instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application, the change trend of the above instruction count value, the temperature of the chip, the aging degree of the chip, the real-time load of the chip, etc. It is understandable that different chips (the difference here can be understood as different models, rather than different individuals of the same model) may have the same or different corresponding chip characteristic parameters when running different target applications.

[0036] It should be noted that the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit the specific implementation method for obtaining chip characteristic parameters when the chip is running the target application. Those skilled in the art may make appropriate adjustments based on actual circumstances. For example, chip characteristic parameters may be received from an external device; or the target application may be run on the chip and the corresponding chip characteristic parameters may be collected; or chip characteristic parameters may be read from a local or cloud storage.

[0037] In step S102, the operating voltage may refer to the core power supply voltage of the chip, and the minimum safe operating voltage may refer to the minimum operating voltage that enables the chip to operate the target application normally without any anomalies. In other words, if the voltage is lower than this voltage (within a certain accuracy), the chip will not be able to operate the target application normally. Normal operation of the target application means that the target application will output the expected results, such as correct calculated values, while failure to operate the target application means that the target application will output unexpected results, such as incorrect calculated values or abnormal logs, or even fail to output effectively or directly cause the system to crash.

[0038] It is understood that the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to a chip at different operating frequencies is different. In the embodiments of the present application, the operating frequency of the chip is not limited to a specific frequency. The operating frequency of the chip can be a preset value or dynamically set based on the current state of the target chip. The current state here includes but is not limited to at least one of the following factors: the current hardware utilization of the chip, the current temperature of the chip, the current degree of chip aging, the current power consumption of the chip, the task currently being performed by the chip, and user needs.

[0039] The minimum safe operating voltage determination model characterizes the relationship between a chip's minimum safe operating voltage and its characteristic parameters. This model can be used to determine the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to a target application based on the chip's characteristic parameters when the chip is running the target application. Therefore, by inputting the chip characteristic parameters acquired in step S101 into the minimum safe operating voltage determination model, the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application, as output by the minimum safe operating voltage determination model, can be obtained.

[0040] It should be noted that the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit the specific implementation of the above-mentioned minimum safe operating voltage determination model. Those skilled in the art may make appropriate adjustments based on actual circumstances. For example, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model may be a deep learning model; or the minimum safe operating voltage determination model may be a quadratic equation, etc.

[0041] After determining the minimum safe operating voltage, the chip's operating frequency can be changed based on the minimum safe operating voltage. For example, when the chip's minimum safe operating voltage is low, the chip's operating frequency can be increased to improve chip performance, provided the power consumption wall allows.

[0042] In the above scheme, since the minimum safe operating voltage determination model represents the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters, by obtaining the chip characteristic parameters of the chip when running the target application and inputting the above chip characteristic parameters into the above minimum safe operating voltage determination model, the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application can be quickly obtained, so that the operating frequency of the chip can be changed according to the above minimum safe operating voltage, thereby improving the performance of the chip when it is working.

[0043] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, the above chip characteristic parameters may include an instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application, and / or a change trend of the instruction count value.

[0044] Specifically, different target applications will focus on different instructions when running on the chip. For example, the instruction sets used by target applications such as BERT and Transformer are biased towards computational instructions, such as matrix instructions and fused multiply-add instructions (FMA); the instruction sets used by target applications such as Yolov5 and Resnet50 are biased towards data transfer instructions, such as load / store instructions.

[0045] It is understandable that different instruction count values may be obtained for different target applications. These instructions may specifically include integer instructions, floating-point instructions (half-precision, single-precision, and double-precision), floating-point multiplication instructions (half-precision, single-precision, and double-precision), floating-point FMA instructions (half-precision, single-precision, and double-precision), floating-point addition instructions (half-precision, single-precision, and double-precision), Load / Store instructions, matrix instructions, special function instructions (transcendental functions and attribute interpolation functions), etc.

[0046] The unit time can refer to the process of a clock signal within the chip completing a high-level, low-level, and high-level transition. As an implementation, the chip contains an instruction counter for the relevant instructions. Before running the target application, the instruction counter of the relevant module can be enabled. This instruction counter can then be used to collect instruction counts per unit time during normal chip operation.

[0047] The variation trend of the instruction count value (DIDT) represents the variation of the instruction count value over a period of time, that is, the differential of the current I with respect to the time T. It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit the specific implementation of the above variation trend, and those skilled in the art may make appropriate adjustments based on actual conditions. For example, the variation trend can be obtained by subtracting the instruction count value in the previous unit time from the instruction count value in the current unit time; or the variation trend can be obtained by calculating the average value and standard deviation of the instruction count value; or the variation trend can be obtained by determining the peak value and valley value of the instruction count value, etc.

[0048] In the above scheme, since the instruction count value per unit time of the chip when running the target application is related to the power and / or voltage of the chip, the minimum safe operating voltage with higher accuracy can be determined based on the above instruction count value or parameters related to the instruction count value.

[0049] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, if the chip characteristic parameters include instruction count value and change trend, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model may include: a first operating voltage determination module and a second operating voltage determination module. In this case, the above step S102 may specifically include the following steps:

[0050] In step 1), the instruction count value is input into the first working voltage determination module to obtain the first working voltage output by the first working voltage determination module, and the change trend is input into the second working voltage determination module to obtain the second working voltage output by the second working voltage determination module.

[0051] Step 2) determining the larger value of the first operating voltage and the second operating voltage as the minimum safe operating voltage.

[0052] Specifically, the first operating voltage determination module can characterize the relationship between the chip's minimum safe operating voltage and the instruction count value. Therefore, the instruction set value obtained in step S101 can be input into the first operating voltage module. Similarly, the second operating voltage determination module can characterize the relationship between the chip's minimum safe operating voltage and its change trend. Therefore, the change trend obtained in step S101 can be input into the second operating voltage module.

[0053] It is understood that the first operating voltage determination module outputs the corresponding first operating voltage, and the second operating voltage module outputs the corresponding second operating voltage. When the first operating voltage is equal to the second operating voltage, either the first operating voltage or the second operating voltage can be directly determined as the minimum safe operating voltage for the target application. When the first operating voltage is not equal to the second operating voltage, to ensure normal operation of the chip as much as possible, the larger of the first and second operating voltages can be determined as the minimum safe operating voltage.

[0054] In the above scheme, the minimum safe operating voltage can be determined based on the instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application and the changing trend of the above instruction count value, and the larger value between the two is determined as the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application, thereby improving the accuracy of the determined minimum safe operating voltage.

[0055] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, before step S102, a minimum safe operating voltage determination model may be determined first. The minimum safe operating voltage determination model may be determined using the following steps:

[0056] Step 1) obtaining the lowest sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to a plurality of sample applications running on the chip.

[0057] Step 2): Determine a minimum safe operating voltage determination model based on the minimum sample voltage and chip sample parameters.

[0058] Specifically, in the above step 1), the sample application is an application program that can be run on the chip, such as: BERT), Yolov5, Resnet50, Transformer. The chip sample parameters are related to the power of the chip, or the chip sample parameters are related to the voltage of the chip, or the chip sample parameters are related to the power and voltage of the chip. For example: the instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application, the change trend of the above instruction count value, the temperature of the chip, the aging degree of the chip, the real-time load of the chip, etc. The minimum sample voltage can refer to the minimum operating voltage that enables the chip to run the target application normally without any abnormalities.

[0059] It should be noted that the embodiments of this application do not specifically limit the specific implementation methods for obtaining the minimum sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to multiple sample applications running on the chip. Those skilled in the art may make appropriate adjustments based on actual circumstances. For example, the minimum sample voltage and chip sample parameters may be received from an external device; alternatively, a sample application may be run on the chip and the corresponding minimum sample voltage and chip sample parameters may be collected; alternatively, the minimum sample voltage and chip sample parameters may be read from a local or cloud-stored location.

[0060] As an implementation, multiple sample applications can be run on the chip to obtain the minimum sample voltage and chip sample parameters corresponding to each sample application. The specific implementation method for obtaining the chip sample parameters corresponding to the sample application is the same as the specific implementation method for obtaining the chip characteristic parameters corresponding to the target application, and will not be repeated here.

[0061] It should be noted that the embodiments of this application do not impose specific limitations on the specific implementation method for obtaining the minimum sample voltage corresponding to the sample application, and those skilled in the art may make appropriate adjustments based on actual circumstances. For example, the minimum sample voltage corresponding to the sample application may be determined by searching for the critical point of the chip running the sample application; or the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip at the time of shipment may be determined as the minimum sample voltage.

[0062] In step 2), a minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be obtained based on the minimum sample voltage and chip sample parameters obtained in step 1. For example, if the minimum safe operating voltage determination model is a deep learning model, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be obtained by training the model; if the minimum safe operating voltage determination model is a quadratic equation, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be obtained by fitting the minimum sample voltage and chip sample parameters.

[0063] In the above scheme, since the chip characteristic parameters are related to the chip sample parameters of the chip, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be determined based on the minimum sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to multiple sample applications. The minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be used to obtain a minimum safe operating voltage with higher accuracy.

[0064] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, the following describes a specific implementation method for obtaining the minimum safe operating voltage determination model when the minimum safe operating voltage determination model is a quadratic equation. In this case, the above step of determining the minimum safe operating voltage determination model based on the minimum sample voltage and chip sample parameters may specifically include the following steps:

[0065] Step 1) Clustering the lowest sample voltages and chip sample parameters to classify chip sample parameters with similar lowest sample voltages into the same category.

[0066] Step 2) Based on the clustering results, the relationship between the lowest sample voltage and the chip sample parameters is fitted to obtain a minimum safe operating voltage determination model.

[0067] Specifically, a clustering algorithm can be used to cluster the minimum sample voltage and chip sample parameters, wherein the selected clustering algorithm may include the K-means algorithm, the DBSCAN algorithm, etc. After the above step 1), a plurality of two-dimensional points in the form of (chip sample parameters, minimum sample voltage) are formed. Based on these two-dimensional points, a model for determining the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip can be fitted. The fitting methods include the least squares method, the polynomial regression method, the matrix decomposition method, etc. For example, the least squares method can be used to fit a quadratic equation with the chip sample parameters as the independent variable and the minimum sample voltage as the dependent variable. The complexity of the quadratic equation is moderate, which can not only more accurately show the relationship between the chip sample parameters and the minimum sample voltage, but also avoid the problem of overfitting.

[0068] As an alternative method, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model in the above step 2) can also be replaced by a model that characterizes the relationship between the chip sample parameters and the chip's minimum sample voltage, such as a neural network model. The input of the model is the specified chip sample parameters, and the output is the minimum sample voltage of the chip predicted by the model under these chip sample parameters. The parameters of the model can be trained based on multiple target chip sample parameters and their corresponding minimum sample voltages.

[0069] In the above scheme, since the chip characteristic parameters are related to the chip sample parameters of the chip, the relationship between the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters can be fitted to obtain a minimum safe operating voltage determination model. Using this minimum safe operating voltage determination model, a minimum safe operating voltage with higher accuracy can be obtained.

[0070] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, the above step S101 may specifically include the following steps:

[0071] When a sample application is run on the chip, the supply voltage of the chip is gradually reduced until an abnormal log appears in the sample application, and the supply voltage before the abnormal log appears is determined as the lowest sample voltage corresponding to the sample application.

[0072] Specifically, based on the definition of the minimum safe operating voltage, the corresponding minimum safe operating voltage can be found by searching for the critical point at which the chip can run the target application normally while running the sample application without any abnormalities. The "search" here can be understood as using a specific search strategy to try within a certain voltage range.

[0073] Some chips have internal voltage sensors that can accurately measure the chip's operating voltage, including the minimum safe operating voltage. Of course, for chips without voltage sensors, voltage measurements can also be performed using external equipment (e.g., an oscilloscope).

[0074] For example, the control chip starts at 1V and gradually reduces the operating voltage in 20mV steps. A sample application is run at each operating voltage and its operation is confirmed until an abnormality such as an abnormal log data error or system crash occurs. For example, when the operating voltage is 1V, the sample application is run. If it runs normally, the operating voltage is reduced to 980mV. The sample application is run again. If it runs normally, the operating voltage is reduced to 960mV. The sample application is run again, and so on. If the operating voltage drops to 700mV and the sample application runs abnormally, the operating voltage reduction is stopped. Since the operating voltage can be reduced to 700mV, it indicates that the sample application runs normally at an operating voltage of 720mV. Therefore, the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the sample application is 720mV.

[0075] In the above example, strictly speaking, the true minimum safe operating voltage should be between 700mV and 720mV. 720mV is only the minimum safe operating voltage determined with an accuracy of 20mV. Optionally, to more accurately determine the minimum safe operating voltage, you can start at 720mV and gradually reduce the operating voltage in smaller steps (such as 5mV). Run the sample application at each operating voltage and confirm the operation until the sample application runs abnormally. For example, when the operating voltage is 715mV, run the sample application. If it runs normally, reduce the operating voltage to 710mV. Run the sample application again. If it runs normally, reduce the operating voltage to 705mV. Run the sample application again. If the sample application runs abnormally, stop reducing the operating voltage and determine that the minimum safe operating voltage at 1.2GHz is 710mV. The above process can be executed iteratively, and the adjustment step size of the operating voltage is reduced in each iteration, so as to obtain a minimum safe operating voltage with higher accuracy. In addition, the step size is gradually reduced in general, that is, a coarse-first-then-fine search strategy is adopted when determining the minimum safe operating voltage, which helps to improve efficiency.

[0076] There are other strategies for determining the adjustment step size of the operating voltage, such as reducing the step size each time a test case is executed, etc., which will not be elaborated in detail.

[0077] When determining the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to a sample application, the sample application is repeatedly run while starting from a starting operating voltage and decreasing the voltage. If the process of finding the minimum safe operating voltage is regarded as a search process, the starting operating voltage can be called the starting search voltage. For example, the starting search voltage in the above example is 1V. In one implementation, the starting search voltage can be the same preset value, such as 1V, for different sample applications. In another implementation, the starting search voltage can be different preset values for different sample applications, such as 900mV for one sample application and 1V for another sample application. This may narrow the search range and improve the efficiency of determining the minimum operating voltage.

[0078] In another implementation, for different sample applications, the starting search voltage can be determined based on the distribution data of the minimum safe operating voltage of existing chips when running the sample application. Among them, the existing chips can be some chips whose minimum safe operating voltage has been measured, and these chips can be different models from the chips in the embodiment of the present application. For example, a total of 10 types of existing chips have been measured for their minimum safe operating voltages when running the sample application, and these minimum safe operating voltages are distributed between 650mV and 750mV. It can be reasonably inferred that the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip in the embodiment of the present application when running the sample application will not exceed 800mV (based on 750mV plus a certain margin). Therefore, the starting search voltage can be set to 800mV. Compared with directly using the preset value 1V in other implementations, 800mV is obviously close to the actual minimum safe operating voltage of the chip, thereby narrowing the search range and reducing the number of runs of the sample application, thereby improving the efficiency of determining the minimum safe operating voltage. For different sample applications, the starting search voltage can be determined separately in the above manner.

[0079] In the above scheme, by gradually reducing the chip's power supply voltage to ultimately determine the chip's lowest sample voltage, the system crash caused by a sudden voltage drop during the measurement process can be effectively avoided, thereby improving the efficiency and stability of measuring the lowest sample voltage.

[0080] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, after step S102, the method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage provided in the embodiment of the present application may further include the following steps:

[0081] Step 1) determines whether the minimum safe operating voltage is less than a low voltage threshold.

[0082] Step 2): If the minimum safe operating voltage is less than the low voltage threshold, the operating frequency of the chip is increased.

[0083] Specifically, if the minimum safe operating voltage is less than the low voltage threshold, it can indicate that the chip's current performance is low. Therefore, the chip's operating frequency can be increased to improve chip performance. It is understood that if the minimum safe operating voltage is not less than the low voltage threshold, the chip's current operating frequency can be maintained.

[0084] The above-mentioned process of adjusting the operating frequency can be automatically performed during the operation of the chip, thereby realizing automatic optimization and control of the chip power consumption. A specific example is given below:

[0085] Step a: Monitor the chip's minimum safe operating voltage when running the target application.

[0086] Monitoring can be implemented through a monitoring program in the chip's firmware. Monitoring can be real-time and continuous. Monitoring can be enabled on demand by the user or automatically when the user runs an application.

[0087] Step b: If the minimum safe operating voltage is lower than the low voltage threshold, the operating frequency of the chip is increased to the first frequency if the power consumption wall of the chip allows.

[0088] The first frequency is determined based on the chip's power consumption wall, for example, using a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithm. For example, if the chip's current operating frequency is 1.2GHz, its current power consumption is 130W, and its power consumption wall is 150W, the PID algorithm can be used to calculate the required frequency increase to 50MHz. Then, adding 1.2GHz to the frequency increases the first frequency to 1.25GHz. (These values are for example purposes only and do not represent actual calculation results.)

[0089] Step c: If the minimum safe operating voltage is not less than the low voltage threshold, the operating frequency of the chip is maintained.

[0090] It should be noted that the above steps b and c correspond to two situations of the minimum safe operating voltage, and therefore belong to a parallel solution, not a sequential execution solution.

[0091] In the above scheme, when the minimum safe operating voltage is lower than the low voltage threshold, increasing the operating frequency of the chip can improve the performance of the chip while ensuring normal operation of the chip, thereby reducing the chip's energy consumption ratio and hardware design cost.

[0092] Please refer to Figure 2 , Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a framework of a method for determining a minimum safe operating voltage provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method for determining a minimum safe operating voltage can be divided into an offline phase and an online phase.

[0093] In the offline phase, the lowest sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to multiple sample applications running on the chip are obtained, and a minimum safe operating voltage determination model is determined based on the lowest sample voltages and chip sample parameters. In the online phase, the target application is run on the chip and the chip characteristic parameters of the chip are collected; the above chip characteristic parameters are input into the minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application; if the minimum safe operating voltage is less than the low voltage threshold, the target application can be considered to be low V min Application, therefore, the operating frequency of the chip can be increased to improve the performance of the chip under the premise that the power consumption wall allows, otherwise the operating frequency of the chip remains unchanged.

[0094] Please refer to Figure 3 , Figure 3 A structural block diagram of a device for determining a minimum safe operating voltage provided in an embodiment of the present application, the device 300 for determining a minimum safe operating voltage may include: an acquisition module 301, used to obtain chip characteristic parameters of a chip when running a target application, wherein the chip characteristic parameters are related to the power and / or voltage of the chip; an input module 302, used to input the chip characteristic parameters into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model, to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum operating voltage determination model, so as to change the operating frequency of the chip according to the minimum safe operating voltage, wherein the minimum safe operating voltage determination model characterizes the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters.

[0095] In the above scheme, since the minimum safe operating voltage determination model represents the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters, by obtaining the chip characteristic parameters of the chip when running the target application and inputting the above chip characteristic parameters into the above minimum safe operating voltage determination model, the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application can be quickly obtained, so that the operating frequency of the chip can be changed according to the above minimum safe operating voltage, thereby improving the performance of the chip when it is working.

[0096] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, the chip characteristic parameter includes an instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application, and / or a change trend of the instruction count value.

[0097] In the above scheme, since the instruction count value per unit time of the chip when running the target application is related to the power and / or voltage of the chip, the minimum safe operating voltage with higher accuracy can be determined based on the above instruction count value or parameters related to the instruction count value.

[0098] Further, based on the above embodiment, if the chip characteristic parameters include the instruction count value and the change trend, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model includes: a first operating voltage determination module and a second operating voltage determination module; the input module 302 is specifically used to: input the instruction count value into the first operating voltage determination module to obtain the first operating voltage output by the first operating voltage determination module, and input the change trend into the second operating voltage determination module to obtain the second operating voltage output by the second operating voltage determination module; and determine the larger value of the first operating voltage and the second operating voltage as the minimum safe operating voltage.

[0099] In the above scheme, the minimum safe operating voltage can be determined based on the instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application and the changing trend of the above instruction count value, and the larger value between the two is determined as the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application, thereby improving the accuracy of the determined minimum safe operating voltage.

[0100] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, the device 300 for determining the minimum safe operating voltage also includes: a determination module, which is used to determine the minimum safe operating voltage determination model using the following steps: obtaining the minimum sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to multiple sample applications running on the chip; and determining the minimum safe operating voltage determination model based on the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters.

[0101] In the above scheme, since the chip characteristic parameters are related to the chip sample parameters of the chip, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be determined based on the minimum sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to multiple sample applications. The minimum safe operating voltage determination model can be used to obtain a minimum safe operating voltage with higher accuracy.

[0102] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, the determination module is specifically used to: cluster the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters to classify the chip sample parameters with similar minimum sample voltages into the same category; fit the relationship between the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters based on the clustering results to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage determination model.

[0103] In the above scheme, since the chip characteristic parameters are related to the chip sample parameters of the chip, the relationship between the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters can be fitted to obtain a minimum safe operating voltage determination model. Using this minimum safe operating voltage determination model, a minimum safe operating voltage with higher accuracy can be obtained.

[0104] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, the acquisition module 301 is specifically used to: when running a sample application on the chip, gradually reduce the power supply voltage of the chip until an abnormal log appears in the sample application, and determine the previous power supply voltage when the abnormal log appears as the lowest sample voltage corresponding to the sample application.

[0105] In the above scheme, by gradually reducing the chip's power supply voltage to ultimately determine the chip's lowest sample voltage, the system crash caused by a sudden voltage drop during the measurement process can be effectively avoided, thereby improving the efficiency and stability of measuring the lowest sample voltage.

[0106] Furthermore, based on the above embodiment, the device 300 for determining the minimum safe operating voltage also includes: a judgment module, used to judge whether the minimum safe operating voltage is less than the low voltage threshold; and an increase module, used to increase the operating frequency of the chip if the minimum safe operating voltage is less than the low voltage threshold.

[0107] In the above scheme, when the minimum safe operating voltage is lower than the low voltage threshold, increasing the operating frequency of the chip can improve the performance of the chip while ensuring normal operation of the chip, thereby reducing the chip's energy consumption ratio and hardware design cost.

[0108] Please refer to Figure 4 , Figure 4 This is a block diagram of the structure of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present application. The electronic device 400 includes: at least one processor 401, at least one communication interface 402, at least one memory 403, and at least one communication bus 404. Among them, the communication bus 404 is used to realize direct connection and communication between these components, the communication interface 402 is used to communicate signaling or data with other node devices, and the memory 403 stores machine-readable instructions executable by the processor 401. When the electronic device 400 is running, the processor 401 communicates with the memory 403 through the communication bus 404, and when the machine-readable instructions are called by the processor 401, the above-mentioned method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage is executed.

[0109] For example, the processor 401 of an embodiment of the present application reads a computer program from the memory 403 through the communication bus 404 and executes the computer program to implement the following method: obtaining chip characteristic parameters of the chip when running a target application, wherein the chip characteristic parameters are related to the power and / or voltage of the chip; inputting the chip characteristic parameters into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum operating voltage determination model, so as to change the operating frequency of the chip according to the minimum safe operating voltage, wherein the minimum safe operating voltage determination model characterizes the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters.

[0110] Among them, the processor 401 includes one or more, which can be an integrated circuit chip with signal processing capabilities. The above-mentioned processor 401 can be a general-purpose processor, including a central processing unit (CPU), a micro control unit (MCU), a network processor (NP) or other conventional processors; it can also be a special-purpose processor, including a neural network processor (NPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components. Moreover, when there are multiple processors 401, some of them can be general-purpose processors and the other part can be special-purpose processors.

[0111] The memory 403 includes one or more, which may be, but is not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), etc.

[0112] I understand. Figure 4 The structure shown is for illustration only. The electronic device 400 may also include Figure 4 More or fewer components than shown, or with Figure 4 Different configurations shown. Figure 4 Each component shown in the figure can be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. In the embodiments of the present application, the electronic device 400 can be, but is not limited to, a physical device such as a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a smartphone, a smart wearable device, an in-vehicle device, or a virtual device such as a virtual machine. In addition, the electronic device 400 does not necessarily have to be a single device, but can also be a combination of multiple devices, such as a server cluster, etc.

[0113] An embodiment of the present application also provides a computer program product, including a computer program stored on a computer-readable storage medium, the computer program including computer program instructions. When the computer program instructions are executed by a computer, the computer can execute the steps of the method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage in the above embodiment, for example including: Step S101: Obtain chip characteristic parameters of the chip when running a target application, wherein the chip characteristic parameters are related to the power and / or voltage of the chip. Step S102: Input the chip characteristic parameters into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum safe operating voltage determination model, wherein the minimum safe operating voltage determination model characterizes the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters. Step S101: Obtain chip characteristic parameters of the chip when running a target application, wherein the chip characteristic parameters are related to the power and / or voltage of the chip.

[0114] Step S102: Input the chip characteristic parameters into the minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum safe operating voltage determination model, wherein the minimum safe operating voltage determination model characterizes the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters.

[0115] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium storing computer program instructions. When the computer program instructions are executed by a computer, the computer executes the method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage described in the aforementioned method embodiment.

[0116] In the embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. The device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some communication interface, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0117] In addition, the units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed across multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0118] Furthermore, the functional modules in each embodiment of the present application can be integrated together to form an independent part, or each module can exist independently, or two or more modules can be integrated to form an independent part.

[0119] It should be noted that if the function is implemented in the form of a software function module and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present application, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or the part of the technical solution, can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0120] In this document, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are used merely to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, but do not necessarily require or imply any actual relationship or order between these entities or operations.

[0121] The above description is merely an embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application. For those skilled in the art, various modifications and variations of the present application are possible. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present application shall be included in the scope of protection of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for determining a minimum safe operating voltage, characterized in that: include: Obtaining chip characteristic parameters of the chip when running a target application, wherein the chip characteristic parameters are related to power and / or voltage of the chip; The chip characteristic parameters are input into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain a minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum safe operating voltage determination model, so as to change the operating frequency of the chip according to the minimum safe operating voltage, wherein the minimum safe operating voltage determination model characterizes the relationship between the minimum safe operating voltage of the chip and the chip characteristic parameters.

2. The method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage according to claim 1, wherein: The chip characteristic parameters include an instruction count value per unit time when the chip runs the target application, and / or a change trend of the instruction count value.

3. The method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage according to claim 2, wherein: If the chip characteristic parameters include the instruction count value and the change trend, the minimum safe operating voltage determination model includes: a first operating voltage determination module and a second operating voltage determination module; Inputting the chip characteristic parameters into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain a minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum operating voltage determination model includes: Inputting the instruction count value into the first operating voltage determination module to obtain a first operating voltage output by the first operating voltage determination module, and inputting the change trend into the second operating voltage determination module to obtain a second operating voltage output by the second operating voltage determination module; A larger value between the first operating voltage and the second operating voltage is determined as the minimum safe operating voltage.

4. The method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage according to claim 1, wherein: Before inputting the chip characteristic parameters into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain a minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum operating voltage determination model, the method further includes: The minimum safe operating voltage determination model is determined using the following steps: Obtaining the lowest sample voltages and chip sample parameters corresponding to a plurality of sample applications running on the chip; The minimum safe operating voltage determination model is determined based on the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters.

5. The method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage according to claim 4, wherein: The determining of the minimum safe operating voltage determination model based on the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters includes: Clustering the lowest sample voltages and the chip sample parameters to classify chip sample parameters with similar lowest sample voltages into the same category; The relationship between the minimum sample voltage and the chip sample parameters is fitted based on the clustering result to obtain the minimum safe operating voltage determination model.

6. The method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage according to claim 4, wherein: Obtaining the lowest sample voltages corresponding to a plurality of sample applications running on the chip, including: When a sample application is run on the chip, the supply voltage of the chip is gradually reduced until an abnormal log appears in the sample application, and the last supply voltage before the abnormal log appears is determined as the lowest sample voltage corresponding to the sample application.

7. The method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: After inputting the chip characteristic parameters into a minimum safe operating voltage determination model to obtain a minimum safe operating voltage corresponding to the target application output by the minimum operating voltage determination model, the method further includes: Determining whether the minimum safe operating voltage is less than a low voltage threshold; If the minimum safe operating voltage is lower than the low voltage threshold, the operating frequency of the chip is increased.

8. A computer program product, characterized in that The method comprises computer program instructions, which, when read and executed by a processor, executes the method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that: include: processor, memory, and bus; The processor and the memory communicate with each other via the bus; The memory stores computer program instructions that can be executed by the processor, and the processor calls the computer program instructions to execute the method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores computer program instructions, and when the computer program instructions are executed by a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method for determining the minimum safe operating voltage according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

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