OPTIMIZING THERMAL PERFORMANCE USING THERMAL FLOW ANALYSIS

• US 20070260415A1
• Filed: 05/03/2006
• Published: 11/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marvell Asia Pte Limited (Marvell Technology Group Limited)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Johns, Charles, Stafford, James, Nutter, Mark, AGUILAR, MAXIMINO
• Granted Patent: US 8,037,893 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/45 Exploiting coarse grain parallelism in compilation, i.e. parallelism between groups of instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4893 taking into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 137/0379 By fluid pressure

Abstract

A computer implemented method, data processing system, and computer usable code are provided for optimizing thermal performance of a computer system. An identification of a set of processor cores associated with the computer system is made and a thermal index is requested for each of the set of processor cores to form a set of thermal indexes. Proximity information and conductive property information associated with the set of processors is loaded and software is mapped to execute on an optimal processor core form the set of processor cores based the set of thermal indexes, proximity information, and conductive property information.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for optimizing thermal performance of a computer system, the computer implemented method comprising:

identifying a set of processor cores associated with the computer system;

requesting a thermal index for each of the set of processor cores to form a set of thermal indexes;

loading proximity information and conductive property information associated with the set of processors; and

mapping software to execute on an optimal processor core form the set of processor cores based the set of thermal indexes, proximity information, and conductive property information.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the proximity information and the conductive property information in a data structure.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the proximity information defines the proximity of one processor core to another processor core in the set of processor cores.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the thermal index is a thermal efficiency for each of the processor cores in the set of processor cores.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

modifying an instruction stream of the software.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

reducing bandwidth allocation.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the thermal index is generated by a compiler.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the thermal index is a single number.

9. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications system connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to identify a set of processor cores associated with the computer system;

request a thermal index for each of the set of processor cores to form a set of thermal indexes;

load proximity information and conductive property information associated with the set of processors; and

map software to execute on an optimal processor core form the set of processor cores based the set of thermal indexes, proximity information, and conductive property information.

10. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to store the proximity information and the conductive property information in a data structure.

11. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the proximity information defines the proximity of one processor core to another processor core in the set of processor cores.

12. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the thermal index is a thermal efficiency for each of the processor cores in the set of processor cores.

13. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to modify an instruction stream of the software.

14. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to reduce bandwidth allocation.

15. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium including computer usable program code for optimizing thermal performance of a computer system, the computer program product including;

computer usable program code for identifying a set of processor cores associated with the computer system;

computer usable program code for requesting a thermal index for each of the set of processor cores to form a set of thermal indexes;

computer usable program code for loading proximity information and conductive property information associated with the set of processors; and

computer usable program code for mapping software to execute on an optimal processor core form the set of processor cores based the set of thermal indexes, proximity information, and conductive property information.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, further including:

computer usable program code for storing the proximity information and the conductive property information in a data structure.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the proximity information defines the proximity of one processor core to another processor core in the set of processor cores.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the thermal index is a thermal efficiency for each of the processor cores in the set of processor cores.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, further including:

computer usable program code for modifying an instruction stream of the software.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further including:

computer usable program code for reducing bandwidth allocation.