DVFS Controller Memory Arbitration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Integrated circuits face challenges in balancing increasing memory access request throughput with low power consumption, particularly in battery-powered devices, where existing power reduction techniques like DVFS do not effectively manage memory access request priorities.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a hardware access request determination module to adjust memory access request priorities based on the DVFS state of memory access requestors, employing a dynamic voltage and frequency scaling controller to optimize memory access by arbitrating between requests using a weighted round robin algorithm, ensuring fair service and efficient memory unit utilization.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the number of memory access requestors and their throughput are increased, then the performance and information processing capability are improved, but the power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) to adjust the operating parameters of memory access requestors based on their current activity state. When a requestor is inactive or low-activity, its voltage and clock frequency are reduced, lowering power consumption. This dynamic adjustment allows the system to maintain high throughput when needed while consuming less power during lower-demand periods, directly resolving the contradiction between productivity and energy use.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes physical parameters (voltage level and clock frequency) of memory access requestors based on their activity state. By transitioning requestors between different DVFS states with distinct voltage-frequency combinations, the system can scale power consumption to match actual throughput requirements, enabling high performance when necessary and energy efficiency when demand is lower.
2Loss of energy
If DVFS is applied to reduce power consumption, then energy efficiency is improved, but memory access request priorities are not effectively managed leading to potential performance degradation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent incorporates a feedback mechanism where the DVFS controller monitors the activity state of each memory access requestor and adjusts voltage and frequency accordingly. This closed-loop control ensures that power consumption is reduced only when appropriate, while maintaining sufficient throughput by detecting when requestors become active and restoring their full operating parameters, thus preventing performance degradation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system proactively manages DVFS states by predicting when memory access requestors will need to become active. By maintaining requestors in appropriate DVFS states based on their current activity and expected future needs, the system avoids both unnecessary power consumption and performance degradation, preparing the system in advance for upcoming memory access demands.
Data Source
AI summary
A system having memory access capabilities, the system includes: (i) a dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) controller, adapted to determine a level of a voltage supply supplied to a first memory access requester and a frequency of a clock signal provided to the first memory access requester and to generate a DVFS indication that is indicative of the determination; (ii) a hardware access request determination module, adapted to determine a priority of memory access request issued by the first memory access requester in response to the DVFS indication; and (iii) a direct memory access arbitrator, adapted to arbitrate between memory access requests issued by the first memory access requester and another memory access requester in response to priorities associated with the memory access requests.