Display Control Unit Power Management for Latency and Energy Trade-offs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current power management techniques in electronic devices often result in suboptimal wake-up strategies for power-gated components, leading to unnecessary power wastage and performance trade-offs, as they either wake up components sequentially or unnecessarily.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a display control unit that processes source pixel data to generate output pixels, utilizing cache hints and buffer occupancy thresholds to wake up components in an overlapping manner, minimizing latency and maximizing power savings by determining which components to wake up first based on latency and operational state.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If components are woken up in a sequential manner, then power management is simplified, but processing latency increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by sending wake-up signals to multiple components before the actual pixel fetch request is processed. The display control unit determines which components need to be woken up and sends wake-up signals in advance, allowing components to prepare for upcoming operations without waiting for sequential activation. This reduces processing latency while maintaining manageable power management complexity.
2Speed
If components are woken up early to ensure readiness, then processing speed improves, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by selectively waking up only the specific components that are actually needed for the upcoming pixel fetch operation, rather than waking up all components uniformly. The display control unit analyzes the request and determines which components require activation, sending wake-up signals only to those components. This ensures processing speed is maintained for necessary operations while minimizing unnecessary power consumption from components that remain in low-power state.
3Productivity
If all components are kept in operational state, then processing performance is maximized, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements dynamics by transitioning components between operational and low-power states based on real-time processing needs. Instead of keeping all components in a fixed operational state, the display control unit dynamically determines when components should be activated or deactivated based on incoming pixel fetch requests and buffer occupancy thresholds. This allows the system to maximize processing performance when needed while minimizing power consumption during low-activity periods.
4Loss of energy
If components are woken up based on buffer occupancy thresholds, then power savings are maximized, but processing latency may increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses preliminary action by monitoring buffer occupancy thresholds and proactively sending wake-up signals before the buffer becomes completely empty. When the buffer occupancy reaches a predefined threshold, the display control unit anticipates upcoming pixel fetch requests and wakes up necessary components in advance. This allows the system to maximize power savings by keeping components in low-power state longer, while still maintaining acceptable processing latency through timely wake-up activation.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, apparatuses, and methods for improved power management techniques. An apparatus may include a display control unit, a communication fabric, a memory controller, a memory cache, and a memory. When the memory is power-gated, and the display control unit needs to fetch pixel data, the display control unit may send a wake-up signal to the memory before sending a wake-up signal to the communication fabric. The display control unit may then issue the pixel fetch request later. Additionally, if the display control unit determines that the pixel data has a high probability of being cached, then the display control unit may not send a wake-up signal to the memory, and the display control unit may issue the request earlier. More generally, the display control unit may send wake-up signals to multiple components in a manner which accounts for the wake-up latency of each component.