ELECTRONIC DEVICE AND METHOD FOR OPERATING THE SAME

• US 20180011526A1
• Filed: 04/20/2017
• Published: 01/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/05/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: JANG, Kyoungdon, KIM, Dohyoung, PARK, Hyunjin
• Granted Patent: US 10,545,562 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/26 Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof for memories G11C
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3234 Power saving characterised by the action undertaken
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3243 Power saving in microcontroller unit
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An electronic device capable of placing restrictions on processor usage is disclosed. The electronic device may include: a memory; and a processor including a first core and a second core. The memory may store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the first core to transition from an active state to an idle state in response to a restriction signal for the first core, and cause the first core to transition to a power save state when the first core remains in the idle state for at least a preset time. For hot-unplugging, as the electronic device does not transition a core to an offline state, it does not have to perform cleanup operation on the memory and variables. Hence, it is possible to reduce the latency time due to hot-unplugging.

Claims

1. An electronic device capable of placing restrictions on processor usage, comprising:

a memory; and

a processor comprising a first core and a second core,

wherein the memory includes stored instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the first core to transition from an online state to an idle state in response to a restriction signal for the first core, and cause the first core to transition to a power save state when the first core remains in the idle state for at least a preset time.

2. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the restriction signal corresponds to a restriction request signal generated by an application running on the first core or sent by the second core.

3. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the first core to perform at least one operation enabling the first core to continuously remain in the idle state.

4. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the at least one operation includes blocking assignment of a process to the first core.

5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein blocking assignment of a process to the first core includes changing an affinity of the process so that the process is not assigned to the first core.

6. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the at least one operation includes blocking an interrupt request signal sent to the first core.

7. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the interrupt request signal comprises an interrupt request signal sent by the second core to the first core.

8. The electronic device of claim 6, wherein the interrupt request signal comprises an interrupt request signal sent by the second core to all cores including the first core.

9. The electronic device of claim 3, wherein the at least one operation includes stopping a timer associated with the first core.

10. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed by the processor change an affinity of a process in response to a restriction lift signal.

11. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions that when executed by the processor, apply clock gating to the first core and apply power gating to the first core upon expiration of a preset time after clock gating.

12. A method of operating an electronic device capable of placing restrictions on the usage of a processor including a first core and a second core, the method comprising:

causing the first core to transition from an online state to an idle state in response to a restriction signal for the first core; and

causing the first core to transition to a power save state when the first core remains in the idle state for at least a preset time.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the restriction signal corresponds to a restriction request signal generated by an application running on the first core or sent by the second core.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising performing at least one operation enabling the first core to continuously remain in the idle state.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein performing at least one operation comprises blocking assignment of a process to the first core.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein blocking assignment of a process to the first core comprises changing an affinity of the process so that the process is not assigned to the first core, and wherein performing at least one operation comprises blocking an interrupt request signal sent to the first core.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the interrupt request signal comprises an interrupt request signal sent by the second core to the first core.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the interrupt request signal comprises an interrupt request signal sent by the second core to all cores including the first core.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein performing at least one operation comprises stopping a timer associated with the first core.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving, by the processor, a restriction lift signal for lifting restrictions on processor usage; and

changing an affinity of a process.