System for reduced power consumption by monitoring instruction buffer and method thereof

• US 20030131269A1
• Filed: 02/27/2002
• Published: 07/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mizyuabu, Carl, Aleksic, Milivoje, Sternberg, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 7,114,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3218 of display devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3225 of memory devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3237 by disabling clock generation or distribution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3265 Power saving in display device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3802 Instruction prefetching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3814 Implementation provisions of instruction buffers, e.g. prefetch buffer; banks
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 2330/021 Power management, e.g. power saving
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/006 Details of the interface to the display terminal specific for a display terminal using a CRT G09G1/167; using a flat panel G09G3/2096; circuits for interfacing with colour displays G09G5/04
• CPC Class Codes: G09G 5/008 Clock recovery
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A system and method are provided for reducing power consumption within a video processing portion of a system. Activity associated with an instruction buffer is monitored to determine whether power consumption modes can be initiated within a system. If a number of pending instructions within an instruction buffer is greater than a particular threshold value, a normal mode of operation is initiated. If the number of pending instructions is less than the threshold value, the system is put in a reduced mode of operation. In the reduced mode of operation, processing is reduced to lower power consumption within the system. Accordingly, power consumption is altered to match a level of activity within the instruction buffer.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

identifying an operating characteristic based on a number of commands queued in an instruction buffer; and

adjusting a system characteristic based on the operating characteristic, wherein a power consumption is modified based on the system characteristic.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the steps are performed through set of discrete components.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein the commands queued in the command buffer, of the number of commands, include instructions to be processed by a processor associated with the system.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein the instructions include display instructions.

5. The method as in claim 1, wherein the operating characteristic includes a number of pending operations.

6. The method as in claim 1, wherein the operating characteristic includes fill rate associated with the instruction buffer.

7. The method as in claim 1, wherein the operating characteristic includes a type of instructions in the instruction buffer.

8. The method as in claim 1, wherein the step of adjusting the system characteristic includes altering the number of bits used to represent multimedia data.

9. The method as in claim 8, wherein the multimedia data includes video data.

10. The method as in claim 8, wherein the multimedia data includes audio data.

11. The method as in claim 1, wherein the step of adjusting the system characteristic includes reducing clock speed used to process commands.

12. The method as in claim 11, wherein a nominal power provided to the system is altered to match an amount of power needed for the speed used.

13. The method as in claim 11, wherein a number of bits used to represent multimedia data is reduced.

14. The method as in claim 13, wherein the multimedia data includes video data.

15. The method as in claim 13, wherein the multimedia data includes audio data.

16. The method as in claim 1, wherein the step of adjusting the system characteristic includes altering a nominal power provided to the system.

17. The method as in claim 16, wherein a clock speed changed to match a change in the nominal power.

18. The method as in claim 16, wherein a number of bits used to represent multimedia data is changed to match a change in the nominal power.

19. The method as in claim 18, wherein the multimedia data includes video data.

20. The method as in claim 18, wherein the multimedia data includes audio data.

21. The method as in claim 1, wherein the operating characteristic is based on buffer fullness.

22. The method as in claim 21, wherein the step of adjusting the system characteristic includes reducing a clock speed when the buffer fullness is less than a predetermined buffer fullness.

23. The method as in claim 21, wherein the step of adjusting the system characteristic includes reducing a maximum power provided to the system when the buffer fullness is less than a predetermined buffer fullness.

24. The method as in claim 21, wherein the step of adjusting the system characteristic includes reducing a number of bits to represent multimedia data when the buffer fullness is less than a predetermined buffer fullness.

25. The method as in claim 21, wherein the step of adjusting the system characteristic includes increasing a clock speed when the buffer fullness is greater than a predetermined buffer fullness.

26. The method as in claim 21, wherein the step of adjusting the system characteristic includes increasing a maximum power provided to the system when the buffer fullness is greater than a predetermined buffer fullness.

27. The method as in claim 21, wherein the step of adjusting the system characteristic includes increasing a number of bits to represent multimedia data when the buffer fullness is greater than a predetermined buffer fullness.

28. A system comprising:

an instruction buffer to store pending instructions;

an buffer monitor to;

track a buffer statistic;

provide a buffer status of said buffer statistic to a power threshold;

a power module to initiate a power conservation feature based on said buffer status.

29. The system as in claim 28, further including a threshold register to store a statistic threshold.

30. The system as in claim 29, wherein said buffer status includes a comparison between said buffer statistic and said statistic threshold.

31. The system as in claim 28, wherein said pending instructions include multimedia instructions.

32. The system as in claim 31, wherein said multimedia instructions include display instructions.

33. The system as in claim 31, wherein the multimedia instructions include audio processing instructions.

34. The system as in claim 28, wherein said buffer statistic includes a fullness of said instruction buffer.

35. The system as in claim 28, wherein said buffer statistic includes a number of pending instructions in said instruction buffer.

36. The system as in claim 28, wherein said buffer statistic includes a rate of change in a number of pending instructions in said instruction buffer.

37. The system as in claim 28, wherein said buffer statistic includes types of instructions in said instruction buffer.

38. A computer readable medium tangibly embodying a program of instructions to manipulate a data processor to:

identify an operating characteristic based on a number of instructions queued in an instruction buffer; and

adjust a system characteristic based on the operating characteristic, wherein a power consumption is modified based on the system characteristic.

39. The computer readable medium as in claim 38, wherein the operating characteristic includes a rate of change in the number of instructions queued in the instruction buffer.

40. The computer readable medium as in claim 38, wherein the operating characteristic includes a type of instructions of the instructions queued in the instruction buffer.

41. The computer readable medium as in claim 38, wherein the system characteristic includes a number of bits used to represent multimedia data.

42. The computer readable medium as in claim 41, wherein the system characteristic includes a clock speed used to process the instructions.

43. The computer readable medium as in claim 38, wherein the system characteristic includes a supported power.