GPU Power Management Controller Duty Cycle Adjustment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Power management in integrated circuits, particularly in mobile devices, faces challenges in balancing power conservation and performance, as existing methods like clock gating and power gating either reduce performance or increase power consumption, making it difficult to manage the tradeoff effectively.
Innovation Solution
A power management controller that dynamically adjusts the duty cycle of a processor, allowing it to temporarily exceed power budgets during high workloads while maintaining average power within limits, and adjusts power/performance states based on utilization, enabling higher performance with minimal impact on battery life.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If power gating is used to reduce static power consumption, then power consumption is reduced, but performance is reduced because the power gated circuitry cannot be used until power is restored and the circuitry is initialized
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-initializing the power-gated circuitry before actually gating power to it. The circuitry is prepared and configured in advance so that when power is restored after gating, no initialization is needed, eliminating the performance penalty while maintaining power savings
2Use of energy by moving object
If clock gating is used to reduce dynamic power consumption, then power consumption is reduced, but performance is reduced due to disabled clock to idle circuitry
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the clock gating mechanism adaptive and dynamic rather than static. The system continuously monitors workload and dynamically adjusts clock gating decisions, enabling the circuit to switch between gated and ungated states based on real-time conditions, thus maintaining performance when needed while saving power when idle
3Productivity
If the processor runs at a higher power/performance state, then performance is improved with greater frames per second, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies parameter changes by dynamically adjusting the power/performance state parameters based on workload conditions. The system monitors utilization and frame timing, and changes operational parameters such as clock frequency and voltage levels to match actual demand, achieving high performance when necessary while conserving power during typical workloads
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a system includes a power management controller that controls a duty cycle of a processor to manage power. By frequently powering up and powering down the processor during a period of time, the power consumption of the processor may be controlled while providing the perception that the processor is continuously available. Additionally, in some cases, it may be a better power/performance tradeoff to run the processor at a higher power/performance state if the processor is executing for a significant portion of the execution interval (e.g. the frame time for a GPU). Executing at a higher power/performance state may permit a realization of a greater number of frames per second for a given workload, in an embodiment.