Methods and apparatus to manage system power and performance

• US 20050138438A1
• Filed: 12/19/2003
• Published: 06/23/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Bodas, Devadatta V.
• Granted Patent: US 7,363,517 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

A current level of power consumption of a system is monitored by a power consumption controller. When the current level of power consumption exceeds power guidelines, the power consumption controller adjusts the power consumption of one or more components in the system at a time by at least one power consumption level. Adjusting such power consumption level may have an impact on the performance of the system. Various techniques may be used to reduce (ramp down) power consumption or allow increase (ramp up) in power consumption. A power management policy may use one or combination of such techniques in order to enable the system to deliver the high performance while still maintaining the power consumption of the system within the power guidelines.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining a current operating characteristics of a system; and

when the current operating characteristics of the system does not comply with a guideline, adjusting operating characteristics of one or more of components in the system by at least one operating level at a time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the current operating characteristics of the system includes a current level of power consumption of the system, wherein adjusting the operating characteristics of the one or more components in the system by at least one operating level at a time includes adjusting power consumption levels of the one or more components by at least one power consumption level at a time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the guideline includes a high threshold, and wherein the current level of power consumption of the system does not comply with the guideline when the current level of power consumption exceeds the high threshold.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the guideline further includes a low threshold, and wherein the current level of power consumption of the system does not comply with the guideline when the current level of power consumption is outside a range between the low threshold and the high threshold.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein adjusting the power consumption of the one or more components in the system comprises:

when the current level of power consumption of the system is below the low threshold, allowing an increase in the power consumption of the one or more components by at least one power consumption level.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein allowing the increase in the power consumption of the one or more components by at least one power consumption level includes allowing increase in the power consumption of at least one component to its highest power consumption level.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the power consumption of the one or more components is allowed to increase while the current level of power consumption of the system is below the high threshold.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein adjusting the power consumption of the one or more components in the system further comprises:

when the current level of power consumption of the system is above the high threshold, decreasing the power consumption of the one or more components by at least one power consumption level.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the power consumption of the one or more components is decreased while the current level of power consumption of the system is above the high threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more components include a redundant component.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more components include related components.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said adjusting operating characteristics is performed one component at a time or multiple components at a time.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the current operating characteristics of the system includes a current thermal characteristics of the system, wherein adjusting the operating characteristics of the one or more components in the system by at least one operating level at a time includes adjusting thermal characteristic of the one or more components by at least one thermal level at a time.

14. A computer readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions which are executable by a system, and which, when executed by the system, cause the system to perform a method, comprising:

determining a current level of power consumption of a system; and

when the current level of power consumption of the system does not comply with a guideline, adjusting power consumption of one or more of components in the system by at least one power consumption level one component at a time or multiple components at a time.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the guideline includes a high threshold and a low threshold, and wherein the current level of power consumption of the system does not comply with the guideline when the current level of power consumption of the system is outside a range between the low threshold and the high threshold.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein adjusting the power consumption of the one or more components in the system comprises:

when the current level of power consumption of the system is below the low threshold, allowing the power consumption of the one or more components in the system to increase by at least one power consumption level while the current level of power consumption of the system is below the high threshold; and

when the current level of power consumption of the system is above the high threshold, decreasing the power consumption of the one or more components in the system by at least one power consumption level while the current level of power consumption of the system is above the high threshold.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the one or more components include a redundant component.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the one or more components include related components.

19. A method, comprising:

adjusting power consumption of a first group of related components in a computer system during a first time period when a current level of power consumption of the computer system exceeds a power hysteresis; and

adjusting power consumption of a second group of related components in the computer system during a second time period when a current level of power consumption of the computer system still exceed the power hysteresis

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining if the current level of power consumption of the computer system exceeds the power hysteresis in between the first time period and the second time period.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein said adjusting power consumption of the first group or of the second group includes adjusting one or more levels of power consumptions.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein the power hysteresis includes a high threshold and a low threshold, and wherein said adjusting power consumption of the first group or of the second group includes allowing increase in the power consumption when the current level of power consumption of the computer system is below the low threshold and decreasing the power consumption when the current level of power consumption of the computer system is above the high threshold.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the power hysteresis is dynamic.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the power consumption of the first group or of the second group is allowed to increase while the current level of power consumption of the computer system is below the high threshold.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein decreasing the power consumption of the first group or of the second group includes off-lining or powering off.

26. The method of claim 19, wherein the first group of components include redundant components.

27. A system, comprising:

one or more components capable of operating at different power consumption levels;

a power supply to provide power to the one or more components;

logic to provide a current level of power consumption of the system; and

a power consumption controller coupled to the power supply and coupled to the one or more components, the power consumption controller is to adjust the power consumption of the one or more components by one or more power consumption levels during a first time period when the current level of power consumption of the system exceeds a power hysteresis.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the one or more components include redundant components.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the one or more components include related components.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the power hysteresis includes a high threshold and a low threshold, and wherein the power consumption controller is to adjust the power consumption of the one or more components by decreasing their power consumption when the current level of power consumption of the system is above the high threshold and by allowing their power consumption to increase when the current level of power consumption of the system is below the low threshold.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the power consumption controller is to decrease the power consumption of the one or more components until the current level of power consumption of the system is below the high threshold.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein decreasing the power consumption includes powering off the one or more components.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the power consumption controller is to allow increase in the power consumption of the one or more components while the current level of power consumption of the system is below the high threshold.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein allowing increase in the power consumption includes allowing the power consumption of at least one component to increase to its highest level.

35. A system, comprising:

logic to monitor a current level of power consumption of a system; and

logic to adjust power consumption of a group of one or more components in the system at one or more power consumption levels at a time when the current level of power consumption exceeds a power hysteresis range.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the group of one or more components includes at least one component that is capable of operating at different power consumption levels.

37. The system of claim 35, wherein the power hysteresis includes a high threshold and a low threshold, and wherein the logic to adjust the power consumption of the group of one or more components includes logic to allow increase in the power consumption of a component when the current level of power consumption of the system is below the low threshold and logic to decrease the power consumption of the component when the current level of power consumption of the system is above the high threshold.

38. The system of claim 35, wherein the group of one or more components include at least one redundant component.