Processor Streamlining Circuitry for Power State Transitions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current computing systems face inefficiencies in saving and restoring state information during power state transitions, particularly due to the time and energy required to transition between different power states, where deeper sleep states necessitate longer recovery times and potential data loss if voltage levels are not managed effectively.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of streamlining circuitry within processors that utilizes tabular information stored in a ROM to identify which power domains need to save or restore their internal state information based on the specific power states being entered or exited, allowing for efficient management of state transitions by determining which domains require voltage adjustments and data storage or retrieval.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by stationary object
If the processor enters deeper sleep states (C2, C3, etc.) to reduce power consumption, then energy savings increase, but the time required to transition back to the operational state increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by saving critical state information to non-volatile memory before entering deep sleep states. This pre-savestoring ensures that when the processor wakes up, it can quickly restore essential state without requiring lengthy recovery procedures, thus reducing the transition time back to operational state while maintaining deep sleep power savings.
2Use of energy by stationary object
If voltage levels are reduced in deeper sleep states to save power, then energy consumption decreases, but data integrity is compromised and state information is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary saving of state information to non-volatile memory before voltage reduction in deep sleep states. This ensures data integrity is maintained despite voltage changes, as the critical information is preserved externally before the voltage drop that would cause data loss in conventional approaches.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces non-volatile memory as an intermediary storage medium between the processor state and the deep sleep voltage reduction. This intermediary allows state information to be preserved independently of the voltage changes, enabling power savings without information loss.
3Reliability
If all state information is saved during power state transitions to ensure data integrity, then reliability improves, but the time and energy required for transitions increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively saving only critical state information that must be preserved across deep sleep transitions, rather than saving all state information. This selective approach maintains data integrity for essential operations while minimizing the time and energy overhead of the save/restore process.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs partial action by saving only the necessary critical state information rather than all possible state data. This partial saving approach provides sufficient reliability for resuming operations while reducing the transition overhead compared to saving complete system state.
Data Source
AI summary
A processor is described having streamlining circuitry that has a first interface to receive information from a memory describing: i) respective addresses for internal state information of a power domain; ii) respective addresses of a memory where the internal state information is stored when the power domain is powered down; and, iii) meta data for transferring the state information between the power domain and where the internal state information is stored when the power domain is powered down.