Extended thermal management

• US 20050288886A1
• Filed: 06/28/2004
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Therien, Guy M., Jackson, Robert T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,467,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/130
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A method for managing thermal condition of a thermal zone that includes multiple thermally controllable components include determining thermal relationship between the components and reducing temperature of a first component by reducing thermal dissipation of a second component.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

managing thermal condition of a thermal zone based upon thermal relationships of components in the thermal zone.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the thermal relationships of the components in the thermal zone include a thermal influence that a first component has on a second component, and a thermal influence that the second component has on the first component.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein managing the thermal condition of the thermal zone includes reading thermal properties of the components in the thermal zone.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the thermal properties of a component include its thermal constraints and its thermal condition.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the thermal constraints include one or more trip point values and the thermal condition includes current temperature and current thermal load (CTL).

6. The method of claim 3, wherein managing the thermal condition of the thermal zone includes determining user preference settings.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user preference settings are directed toward performance, energy conservation, or user experience.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein managing the thermal condition of the thermal zone includes performing active cooling operations when the user preference settings are directed toward performance and performing passive cooling operations when the user preference settings are directed toward energy conservation.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein managing the thermal condition of the thermal zone includes allocating resources to appropriate components to meet the user experience.

10. A method, comprising:

receiving a signal from a first component in a thermal zone during a first time period, the signal indicating that a thermal condition of the first component crossing its trip point; and

managing the thermal condition of the first component using thermal relationship information between the first component and a second component in the same thermal zone.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the thermal condition of the first component includes its current temperature as measured by a thermal sensor associated with the first component.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein managing the thermal condition of the first component is further performed using one or more of user preference settings, operating system requirements, and application requirements.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein managing the thermal condition of the first component is performed using a priority scheme.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein managing the thermal condition of the first component includes reducing thermal dissipation of the second component.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the second component is a thermally controllable component.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining the thermal condition of the first component during a second time period.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising restoring the second component to its original operating state when the thermal condition of the first component is determined during the second time period to be below its trip point.

18. A machine-readable medium providing instructions, which when executed by a set of one or more processors, causes said set of processors to perform a method, comprising:

managing thermal condition of two or more thermal zones in a system by using thermal condition of two or more components in each of the thermal zones.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein using the thermal conditions of two or more components includes determining thermal relationship between the two or more components.

20. The machine-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the thermal relationships between the two or more components include a thermal influence that a first component has on a second component, and a thermal influence that the second component has on the first component.

21. The machine readable of claim 20, wherein the thermal relationship among the two or more components is dynamic.

22. The machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein using the thermal condition of the two or more components includes:

receiving an over-temperature signal from the first component during a first time period; and

reducing thermal dissipation of one or more of the first component and the second component during a second time period.

23. The machine-readable medium of claim 22, wherein reducing the thermal dissipation of one or more of the first component and the second component is performed based on a priority scheme among user preference settings, operating system requirements, and thermal relationship with other components in the same thermal zone.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 23, wherein reducing the thermal dissipation of one or more of the first component or the second component comprises shutting down the system.

25. A system, comprising:

a policy manager to manage thermal conditions of thermally controllable components;

a first thermal zone including a first set of thermally controllable components, and

a second thermal zone including a second set of thermally controllable components, wherein each of the thermally controllable components in the first set and in the second set of components is to include a thermal sensor and a thermal interface to provide its thermal properties.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

a first set of data to include thermal relationship information among the thermally controllable components in the first thermal zone and a second set of data to include thermal relationship information among the thermally controllable components in the second thermal zone.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the thermal properties include thermal constraints, current temperature, and current thermal load.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the thermal constraints include a trip point, and wherein each of the thermally controllable components is to generate an over-temperature signal when its current temperature crosses its trip point.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the policy manager is to apply passive or active cooling operations to manage the thermal conditions of the thermally controllable components.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the policy manager is to manage the thermal condition of a first thermally controllable component in the first thermal zone by applying active or passive cooling operations on a second thermally controllable component in the first thermal zone.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the policy manager is to periodically poll the first component to determine if further cooling operations are to be applied to the second component or to a third component in the first thermal zone.

32. A method, comprising:

managing operation of a system using user preference settings and thermal relationship information of components in the system, wherein the system includes two or more thermal zones.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein managing the operation of the system is further performed using operating system (OS) goals and application goals.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the user preference settings relate to energy conservation, performance, or user specific experience.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein managing the operation of a system includes managing thermal condition each of the two or more thermal zones.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein managing the thermal condition of each of the two or more thermal zones comprises:

receiving an over-temperature signal from a first component in a thermal zone; and

applying cooling operations on a second component in the same thermal zone, wherein the first component and the second component are thermally controllable.

37. The machine-readable medium of claim 32, wherein applying the cooling operations on the second component comprises determining thermal influence that the second component has on the first component.

38. A system, comprising:

data describing thermal relationship between two or more components in a thermal zone; and

a policy manager to use the thermal relationship to manage thermal condition of the two or more components, wherein each of the two or more components includes a thermal interface to export its thermal condition and thermal constraint.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein each of the two or more components includes a thermal sensor.

40. The system of claim 39, further comprising:

a user interface to specify a user preference setting, wherein the policy manager is to further use the user preference setting to manage the thermal conditions of the two or more components.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein when the thermal condition of a first component in the thermal zone violates a trip point associated with the first component, the first component is export an over-temperature signal to the policy manager.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the policy manager is to apply cooling operations on a second component in the thermal zone in response to receiving the over-temperature signal from the first component.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the second component influences the thermal condition of the first component.