Local Power Gate Interfaces for Dynamic Core Domain Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional power management techniques for integrated circuits, such as multicore processors, are inefficient in reducing power consumption due to high leakage current losses, especially when certain core domains are not in use, leading to suboptimal power savings.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of local power gate (LPG) interfaces that dynamically power on and off specific core domains based on usage, utilizing a close interaction between LPG hardware and firmware to optimize power states and execution code paths, allowing for efficient power management without performance loss in performance-critical operations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If conventional power gating is used to disable entire cores, then power consumption is reduced, but performance is lost due to conservative power saving measures
Solution Approach 1:
The core is divided into multiple independently power-gatable domains (e.g., execution units, cache units, interface units). Each domain can be selectively powered on or off based on actual usage requirements, allowing partial core operation rather than complete core disablement. This segmentation enables fine-grained power management that maintains performance-critical functions while disabling non-essential domains.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions or domains within the core are assigned different power states based on their specific functionality and usage patterns. Critical performance domains remain powered on while non-critical domains are powered off, creating local quality variations in power delivery across the core architecture.
2Loss of energy
If local power gating is implemented to dynamically manage power states, then power savings are improved, but device complexity increases due to additional hardware and firmware interaction
Solution Approach 1:
The LPG hardware automatically monitors domain usage and dynamically adjusts power states without requiring constant firmware intervention. The system self-manages power gating decisions based on detected activity patterns, reducing the complexity burden on firmware while maintaining effective power savings.
Solution Approach 2:
Power states are pre-configured for different operational modes, and the LPG hardware selects appropriate pre-defined power configurations based on current workload characteristics. This preliminary structuring of power management options simplifies runtime decision-making and reduces the complexity of dynamic power state transitions.
3Loss of energy
If entire cores are placed in sleep mode, then leakage current is reduced, but power consumption remains higher than optimal due to conservative measures
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of applying full power gating to entire cores (excessive action), the system applies partial power gating only to non-critical domains while maintaining power to essential functions. This partial action achieves better power savings by avoiding the conservative approach of complete core disablement, thereby reducing both leakage current and overall power consumption more effectively.
Data Source
AI summary
Technologies for local power gate (LPG) interfaces for power-aware operations are described. A processor includes locally-gated circuitry of a core, main core circuitry of the core, the main core, and local power gate (LPG) hardware. The LPG hardware is to power gate the locally-gated circuitry according to local power states of the LPG hardware. The main core decodes a first instruction of a set of instructions to perform a first power-aware operation of a specified length, including computing an execution code path for execution. The main core monitors a current local power state of the LPG hardware, selects one of the code paths based on the current local power state, the specified length, and a specified threshold, and issues a hint to the LPG hardware to power up the locally-gated circuitry and continues execution of the first power-aware operation without waiting for the locally-gated circuitry to be powered up.