Maintenance Microprocessor Power Consumption Measurement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for monitoring electrical energy consumption in computer components, such as microprocessors, interrupt and stress the components due to frequent interrogations, leading to inconsistent and inaccurate measurements, especially in high-performance computing environments.
Innovation Solution
A method utilizing a maintenance microprocessor connected via an I2C bus to measure component consumption, minimizing the impact on the components by associating a list of components with a reading process that waits, locks memory access, acquires and records consumption values, and ensures temporal consistency through precise timing and data caching.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If frequent interrogations are performed to obtain precise power consumption measurements, then measurement precision is improved, but stress on the microprocessor increases and measurements become inconsistent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the measurement function from the monitored components by introducing a dedicated maintenance microprocessor that handles all power consumption measurements. This separates the measurement task from the operational microprocessors, allowing frequent measurements without interfering with the components being monitored. The reading process is divided into distinct phases (waiting period, reading cycle, locking, acquisition, unlocking) that prevent conflicts and ensure consistent measurements across multiple components.
2Productivity
If multiple components are monitored simultaneously, then comprehensive power monitoring is improved, but temporal consistency of measurements deteriorates due to OS scheduling delays
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the monitoring of multiple components into a single unified reading process executed by one maintenance microprocessor. Instead of having separate OS-level interrogations for each component that suffer from scheduling delays, all components are monitored through one coordinated process that reads multiple measurement components sequentially within a single reading cycle, ensuring temporal consistency across all measurements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a waiting period before each reading cycle to ensure that previous measurements are complete and data is ready. This preliminary action prevents race conditions and ensures that each reading cycle starts with stable, ready-to-read data from all measurement components, maintaining temporal consistency across multiple components.
3Reliability
If a dedicated reading process with locking mechanism is implemented, then measurement consistency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a maintenance microprocessor as an intermediary between the monitoring system and the operational microprocessors. This intermediary handles all the complexity of coordinated reading, locking, and data acquisition, while the operational microprocessors remain simple subjects of monitoring. The I2C bus serves as an intermediary communication interface that simplifies the interaction between the maintenance microprocessor and the measurement components.
Data Source
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AI summary
The method involves associating a list of electronic components (1000) with reading process, and awaiting reading process (1010) for a preset period. Reading cycle is performed. Reading access to a memory of warehouse associated an electronic component is locked (1030). Values are acquired and provided for each component. Consumption associated with the component is read (1051) from a cache memory and reading date associated with the component is read (1052) from the cache memory. Value is produced and recorded in the warehouse memory. The locked memory is unlocked (1060). Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) a digital storage device comprising a file corresponding to instruction codes to implement a method for measuring power consumption of electronic components of an electronic board (2) a device for measuring power consumption of electronic components of an electronic board.