Methods and apparatuses for dynamic power estimation

• US 20070050647A1
• Filed: 08/25/2005
• Published: 03/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Culbert, Michael, Cox, Keith, Conroy, David
• Granted Patent: US 7,529,948 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for dynamically budgeting power usage in a data processing system. In one aspect, a data processing system, includes: one or more components including a first component; and a computing element, such as a microprocessor or a microcontroller, coupled to the first component to obtain one or more operating signals from the first component and to determine, based at least in part on the one or more operating signals, an estimate of a power consumption requirement of the one or more components for operating under the current condition. In one example, one or more sensors are used to determine information on actual power usage for a past period of time. A performance level setting of a second component, such as a CPU, a GPU, or a bus, is determined using the estimate and the information on the actual power usage, such as the operating voltage and frequency.

Claims

1. A data processing system, comprising:

one or more components including a first component; and

a computing element coupled to the first component to obtain one or more operating signals from the first component and to determine, based on at least in part on the one or more operating signals, an estimate of a power consumption requirement of the one or more components for operating under a current condition.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing element comprises one of:

a microcontroller; and

a microprocessor; and

wherein the estimate is used to determine a power operating level of at least one component of the one or more components in a period of time after obtaining the estimate.

3. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

one or more sensors coupled to the computing element, the one or more sensors to determine information on actual power usage for a past period of time;

wherein the computing element determines a performance level setting of a second component of the data processing system using the estimate of the power consumption requirement for one or more components and the information on the actual power usage for the past period of time.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the second component comprises one of:

a Central Processing Unit (CPU) microprocessor;

a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) microprocessor; and

a bus;

wherein the performance level setting is determined from selecting one from a plurality of voltages and one from a plurality of frequencies.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a sensor to determine a level of actual power usage of the first component;

wherein the level of the actual power usage corresponds to one of a plurality of global states of the first component.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more operating signals are designed for normal operations of the first component without consideration of power management;

and the first component comprises one of;

a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port;

an IEEE-1394 serial bus port;

a display backlight;

a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slot; and

a PCI Express (PCIe) slot.

7. A machine readable medium containing executable computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method of power management in the data processing system, the method comprising:

obtaining one or more operating signals from a first component of the data processing system; and

determining an estimate of a power consumption requirement for one or more components, including the first component, of the data processing system for operating under a current condition.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises:

determining a throttle setting of a throttled component of the data processing system using the estimate of the power consumption requirement for one or more components and actual power usage for a past period of time.

9. The medium of claim 7, wherein the current condition is indicated by the one or more operating signals;

and wherein the first component is a non-throttled component.

10. The medium of claim 7, wherein the one or more operating signals are designed for normal operations of the first component without consideration of power management.

11. The medium of claim 7, wherein the one or more operating signals include an actual power usage indicator.

12. The medium of claim 7, wherein the first component comprises a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port;

and the one or more operating signals comprise a power enable signal of the USB port.

13. The medium of claim 7, wherein the first component comprises an IEEE-1394 serial bus port;

and the one or more operating signals comprise a power enable signal of the IEEE-1394 serial bus port.

14. The medium of claim 7, wherein the first component comprises a disk drive;

and the one or more signals indicate whether or not a disk in the disk drive is spinning.

15. The medium of claim 7, wherein the first component comprises a display backlight;

and the one or more signals comprise a Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) control signal.

16. The medium of claim 7, wherein the first component comprises a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) or PCI Express (PCIe) slot;

and the one or more signals comprise one or more PCI or PCIe pin signals.

17. A method of power management in a data processing system, the method comprising:

obtaining one or more operating signals from a first component of the data processing system; and

determining an estimate of a power consumption requirement for one or more components, including the first component, of the data processing system for operating under a current condition.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining a throttle setting of a throttled component of the data processing system using the estimate of the power consumption requirement for one or more components and actual power usage for a past period of time;

wherein the first component is a non-throttled component.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the one or more operating signals are designed for normal operations of the first component without consideration of power management.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the first component comprises one of:

a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port;

an IEEE-1394 serial bus port;

a disk drive;

a display backlight;

a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slot; and

a PCI Express (PCIe) slot.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said obtaining comprises:

measuring an indicator of actual power usage for the first component.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

identifying one of a plurality of global states of the first component using the one or more operating signals.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said determining the estimate comprises:

looking up a power consumption requirement according to the one of the plurality of global states.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the one or more operating signals comprise one of:

a power enable signal;

a Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) control signal;

a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) pin signal; and

a PCI Express (PCIe) pin signal.

25. A data processing system, comprising:

means for obtaining one or more operating signals from a first component of the data processing system; and

means for determining an estimate of a power consumption requirement for one or more components, including the first component, of the data processing system for operating under a current condition.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising:

means for determining a throttle setting of a throttled component of the data processing system using the estimate of the power consumption requirement for one or more components and actual power usage for a past period of time;

wherein the first component is a non-throttled component.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the one or more operating signals are designed for normal operations of the first component without consideration of power management.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the first component comprises one of:

a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port;

an IEEE-1394 serial bus port;

a disk drive;

a display backlight;

a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) slot; and

a PCI Express (PCIe) slot.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein said means for obtaining comprises:

means for measuring an indicator of actual power usage for the first component.

30. The system of claim 28, further comprising:

means for identifying one of a plurality of global states of the first component using the one or more operating signals.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said means for determining the estimate comprises:

means for looking up a power consumption requirement according to the one of the plurality of global states.

32. The system of claim 28, wherein the one or more operating signals comprise one of:

a power enable signal;

a Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) control signal; and

a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) pin signal; and

a PCI Express (PCIe) pin signal.