Processor Thermal Control via Dynamic Block Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing processor technologies face challenges in maintaining optimal temperature ranges for operation while minimizing performance drops, as conventional heat management methods may not adequately address sharp temperature rises, often requiring wasteful reductions in performance.
Innovation Solution
A processor control method that dynamically switches the availability of multiple processing blocks and operating frequencies based on temperature, using a sensor and control unit to allocate tasks and adjust heat generation, with a performance table to select combinations that minimize heat and maximize performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If the operating frequency of the chip is decreased to address sharp temperature rises, then the temperature control is improved, but the performance drops excessively
Solution Approach 1:
The processor is divided into multiple processing blocks (first processing block, second processing block, etc.) that can be independently controlled. The control unit selectively activates only the necessary number of blocks based on temperature conditions, allowing fine-grained performance adjustment without uniformly reducing the entire processor's frequency
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts the number of active processing blocks based on real-time temperature monitoring. The control unit switches between different numbers of parallel blocks (e.g., 1 block, 2 blocks, 4 blocks) to adapt performance to thermal conditions, rather than using a fixed or uniform frequency reduction
2Temperature
If radiating fins are formed on the chip to release heat, then the heat dissipation is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of adding physical heat dissipation structures (radiating fins) to the chip, the patent extracts the thermal management function to the software/control domain. The control unit manages temperature by dynamically adjusting the number of active processing blocks, moving the cooling strategy from hardware-level physical dissipation to system-level operational control
3Temperature
If tasks are allocated to processing blocks with lowest temperature, then the temperature distribution is improved, but the task allocation complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Different processing blocks are assigned different operational states based on their thermal conditions. The control unit identifies which blocks are coolest and assigns tasks accordingly, creating a non-uniform distribution of computational load matched to thermal zones. This allows targeted cooling through workload distribution rather than uniform treatment of all blocks
Data Source
AI summary
A heat generation amount estimation unit acquires the number of sub processors currently in operation, acquires the current operating frequency, and estimates the amount of heat generation after a period Δt. A temperature control unit estimates the temperature after the period Δt based on the current temperature input from a temperature sensor and the amount of heat generation estimated, and compares it with a predetermined threshold temperature. If the predetermined threshold temperature is reached, the temperature control unit acquires the number of sub processors available in parallel after the period Δt from a task management unit, and consults a performance table to determine which operation point to shift to. A sub processor control unit and a frequency control unit switch to the number of sub processors in operation and the operating frequency accordingly. The performance table lists possible operation points in order of performance.