Input voltage reduction for processing devices

• US 10,338,670 B2
• Filed: 06/10/2016
• Issued: 07/02/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hovis, William Paul, Blankenburg, Garrett Douglas, Atkinson, Peter Anthony, Ray, Robert James, Hernandez Mojica, Andres Felipe, Boshra-Riad, Samy, Wee, Erng-Sing, Langendorf, Brian Keith
• Primary Examiner(s): Abbaszadeh, Jaweed A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sampath, Gayathri
• Application Number:
  US15/178,873
• Publication Number:
  US 20170357310A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,117 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/28 Supervision thereof, e.g. detecting power-supply failure by out of limits supervision
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/24 Marginal checking or other specified testing methods not covered by G06F11/26, e.g. race tests
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/27 Built-in tests
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/3062 where the monitored property is the power consumption power management in a computing system G06F1/3203
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Voltage adjustment techniques for computing systems and processing devices are presented herein. In one example, a method of determining operating voltages for a processing device includes executing a voltage adjustment process to determine at least one input voltage for the processing device lower than a manufacturer specified operating voltage. During the voltage adjustment process, the method includes applying incrementally adjusted input voltages to the processing device, operating the processing device according to a functional test that exercises the processing device in context with associated system elements of a computing assembly, and monitoring for operational failures of at least the processing device during application of each of the incrementally adjusted input voltages. Responsive to the operational failures, the method includes determining corresponding values of the incrementally adjusted input voltages and establishing an input voltage based at least in part on the corresponding values of the incrementally adjusted input voltages.

Claims

1. A method of determining operating voltages for a processing device, the method comprising:

in a computing assembly comprising the processing device, executing a voltage adjustment process to determine at least one supply voltage for the processing device lower than a manufacturer specified operating voltage;

for each incremental application of supply voltages in the voltage adjustment process;

applying an incrementally adjusted voltage level to a selected voltage domain of the processing device while maintaining voltage levels for other voltage domains of the processing device;

booting the computing assembly into an operating system using at least the processing device;

operating the processing device according to a functional test comprising an application or script executed in at least the operating system on the processing device, wherein the functional test exercises power consumption above a threshold level for the processing device for at least the selected voltage domain along with associated system elements of the computing assembly external to the processing device that share at least the selected voltage domain; and

monitoring for operational failures of at least the processing device during application of the incrementally adjusted voltage level; and

responsive to the operational failures during the functional test, determining a value of a corresponding incrementally adjusted voltage level, and establishing the at least one supply voltage for a corresponding selected voltage domain based at least in part on the value of the corresponding incrementally adjusted voltage level.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing the voltage adjustment process for a processing device while the processing device is installed in the computing assembly, wherein the computing assembly includes one or more of an enclosure, thermal management elements, memory elements, data storage elements, and power electronics elements exercised during the functional test of the processing device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

incrementally adjusting the selected voltage domain by initially operating the processing device at a first supply voltage level and progressively lowering a voltage level of the selected voltage domain in predetermined increments while performing the functional test and monitoring for occurrence of the operational failures.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

incrementally adjusting the selected voltage domain by initially operating the processing device at a first supply voltage level and progressively raising a voltage level of the selected voltage domain in predetermined increments while performing the functional test and determining a present supply voltage level at which the operational failures cease.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the functional test comprises one or more application level processes executed in at least the operating system by the processing device under test and configured to exercise processor core elements, graphics core elements, and input/output elements of the processing device, as well as exercise one or more peripheral devices which share the selected voltage domain of the processing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the voltage adjustment process for the processing device comprises, for each of the incrementally adjusted voltage levels, booting the processing device into the operating system and running one or more applications comprising the functional test.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

operating the processing device according to the functional test by at least running the functional test for a predetermined time period at each of the incrementally adjusted voltage level and monitoring for the operational failures during the predetermined time period; and

when none of the operational failures are detected during the predetermined time period for an associated supply voltage, incrementally adjusting the voltage level for the selected voltage domain for further operational testing.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in a deployment platform, deploying the functional test to the computing assembly over a communication interface of the computing assembly; and

in the deployment platform, initiating the functional test and monitoring for the operational failures.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the voltage adjustment process comprises determining reduced operating voltages for a plurality of voltage domains of the processing device, with two or more of the voltage domains active during the functional test, and wherein ones of the voltage domains correspond to processor core elements, graphics core elements, and input/output elements of the processing device, as well as one or more peripheral devices which share with the processing device at least one of the voltage domains active during the functional test.

10. An apparatus comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media;

program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media that, based at least in part on execution by a computing system, direct the computing system to at least;

execute a voltage adjustment process for a processing device included in the computing system to determine at least one supply voltage for the processing device lower than a manufacturer specified operating voltage;

for each incremental application of supply voltages in the voltage adjustment process, apply an incrementally adjusted voltage level to a selected voltage domain of the processing device while maintaining voltage levels for other voltage domains of the processing device, boot the computing system into an operating system using at least the processing device, operate the processing device according to a functional test comprising an application or script executed in at least the operating system on the processing device, wherein the functional test exercises power consumption above a threshold level for the processing device in context with associated system elements of the computing system external to the processing device that share at least the selected voltage domain, and monitor for operational failures of at least the processing device during application of the incrementally adjusted voltage level;

responsive to the operational failures during the functional test, determine a value of a corresponding incrementally adjusted voltage level, and establish the at least one supply voltage for a corresponding selected voltage domain based at least in part on the value of the corresponding incrementally adjusted voltage level.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising further program instructions, based at least in part on execution by the computing system, direct the computing system to at least:

execute the voltage adjustment process for the processing device while the processing device is installed in the computing assembly, wherein the computing system includes one or more of an enclosure, thermal management elements, memory elements, data storage elements, and power electronics elements exercised during the functional test of the processing device.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising further program instructions, based at least in part on execution by the computing system, direct the computing system to at least:

incrementally adjust the selected voltage domain by initially operating the processing device at a first supply voltage level and progressively lowering a voltage level of the selected voltage domain in predetermined increments while performing the functional test and monitoring for occurrence of the operational failures.

13. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising further program instructions, based at least in part on execution by the computing system, direct the computing system to at least:

incrementally adjust the selected voltage domain by initially operating the processing device at a first supply voltage level and progressively raising a voltage level of the selected voltage domain in predetermined increments while performing the functional test and determining a present supply voltage level at which the operational failures cease.

14. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the functional test comprises one or more application level processes executed in at least the operating system by the processing device under test and configured to exercise processor core elements, graphics core elements, and input/output elements of the processing device, as well as exercise one or more peripheral devices which share the selected voltage domain of the processing device.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising further program instructions, based at least in part on execution by the computing system, direct the computing system to at least:

for each of the incrementally adjusted voltage levels, boot the processing device into the operating system and run one or more applications comprising the functional test.

16. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising further program instructions, based at least in part on execution by the computing system, direct the computing system to at least:

operate the processing device according to the functional test by at least running the functional test for a predetermined time period at each of the incrementally adjusted voltage levels and monitoring for the operational failures during the predetermined time period; and

when none of the operational failures are detected during the predetermined time period for an associated supply voltage, incrementally adjust the voltage level for the selected voltage domain for further operational testing.

17. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising further program instructions, based at least in part on execution by the computing system, direct the computing system to at least:

receive the functional test from a deployment platform into the computing system over a communication interface of the computing system; and

initiate the functional test and monitoring for the operational failures responsive to instructions received from the deployment platform.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, comprising further program instructions, based at least in part on execution by the computing system, direct the computing system to at least:

determine reduced operating voltages for a plurality of voltage domains of the processing device, with two or more of the voltage domains active during the functional test, and wherein ones of the voltage domains correspond to processor core elements, graphics core elements, and input/output elements of the processing device, as well as one or more peripheral devices which share with the processing device at least one of the voltage domains active during the functional test.

19. A manufacturing test system for a computing apparatus, comprising:

a deployment platform configured to deploy and initiate a voltage test process to a computing apparatus over a communication link, the voltage test process configured to determine at least one operating voltage for a processing device of the computing apparatus lower than a manufacturer specified operating voltage;

for each incremental application of supply voltages in the voltage test process, the computing apparatus is configured to apply an incrementally adjusted voltage level to the processing device, boot the computing apparatus into an operating system using at least the processing device, operate the processing device according to a functional test comprising an application or script executed in at least the operating system on the processing device that exercises the processing device in context with associated system elements of the computing apparatus external to the processing device that share at least the selected voltage domain, and monitor for operational failures of at least the processing device during application of the incrementally adjusted voltage level;

responsive to the operational failures during the functional test, the computing apparatus configured to provide an indication of the operational failures to the deployment platform and responsively receive, over the communication link, an indication of at least one supply voltage determined based at least in part on a corresponding value of the incrementally adjusted voltage level applied during the operational failures.

20. The manufacturing test system of claim 19, comprising:

the computing apparatus configured to operate the processing device according to the functional test while the processing device is installed in the computing apparatus, wherein the computing apparatus includes one or more of an enclosure, thermal management elements, memory elements, data storage elements, and power electronics elements exercised during the functional test of the processing device, as well as one or more peripheral devices which share the selected voltage domain of the processing device exercised during the functional test of the processing device.