METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OPTIMIZING POWER CONSUMPTION IN A MULTIPROCESSOR ENVIRONMENT

• US 20100153758A1
• Filed: 02/24/2010
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Esliger, James, Kwan, Wilson
• Granted Patent: US 9,164,564 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 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A method and apparatus for reducing net power consumption in a computer system includes identifying a plurality of processing states operable to execute a task. A processing state and current drain pattern is selected that is most power efficient. A selected processing state may include one or more processing elements of the computer system such as one or more processors or accelerators and indicates the manner in which one or more portions of the received task may be distributed among the processing elements of the computer system. The current drain pattern selected may be a constant current drain pattern or a pulsed current drain pattern and may be selected to optimize power consumption when executing the task among the one or more processing elements.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a load balancer that is operative to select at least one of a plurality of processing elements to execute a task based on the task, wherein the task indicates how to distribute the task among the plurality of processing elements.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the load balancer selects the at least one of the plurality of processing elements based on power consumption characteristics of the at least one of the plurality of processing elements.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the load balancer selects the at least one of the plurality of processing elements based on functional capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of processing elements.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a current selector that is operative to determine a plurality of battery characteristics for each of the plurality of processing elements.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the current selector is operative to select one of the plurality of battery characteristics based on power consumption of the plurality of battery characteristics for each of the plurality of processing elements.

6. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the plurality of battery characteristics comprise at least one of:

a constant current drain parameter and a pulsed current drain parameter.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the task comprises information that when executed by the at least one of the plurality of processing elements causes the at least one of the plurality of processing elements to at least one of:

encode, decode, compress, and decompress media information.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein the media information comprises at least one of:

audio information and video information.

9. A method comprising:

selecting at least one of a plurality of processing elements to execute a task based on the task, wherein the task indicates how to distribute the task among the plurality of processing elements.

10. The method of claim 9 comprising selecting the at least one of the plurality of processing elements based on power consumption characteristics of the at least one of the plurality of processing elements.

11. The method of claim 9 comprising selecting the at least one of the plurality of processing elements based on functional capabilities of the at least one of the plurality of processing elements.

12. The method of claim 9 comprising determining a plurality of battery characteristics for each of the plurality of processing elements.

13. The method of claim 12 comprising selecting one of the plurality of battery characteristics based on power consumption of the plurality of battery characteristics for each of the plurality of processing elements.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the plurality of battery characteristics comprise at least one of:

a constant current drain parameter and a pulsed current drain parameter.

15. The method of claim 9 comprising, in response to the task, at least one of:

encoding, decoding, compressing, and decompressing media information.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the media information comprises at least one of:

audio information and video information.

17. A computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by at least one processor cause the at least one processor to select at least one of a plurality of processing elements to execute a task based on the task, wherein the task indicates how to distribute the task among the plurality of processing elements.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to at least one of:

select the at least one of the plurality of processing elements based on power consumption characteristics of the at least one of the plurality of processing elements; and

select the at least one of the plurality of processing elements based on functional capabilities of selects the at least one of the plurality of processing elements.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the instructions cause the at least one processor to:

determine a plurality of battery characteristics for each of the plurality of processing elements; and

select one of the plurality of battery characteristics based on power consumption of the plurality of battery characteristics for each of the plurality of processing elements.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 17 wherein the task comprises information that when executed by the at least one of the plurality of processing elements causes the at least one of the plurality of processing elements to at least one of:

encode, decode, compress, and decompress media information.