Microprocessor with digital power throttle
First Claim
1. A processor comprising:
- a functional unit;
a gating circuit to control power delivery to the functional unit and to provide a signal that indicates a power level delivered to the functional unit;
a monitor circuit to compare the indicated power level with a threshhold power level; and
a throttle circuit to adjust instruction flow in the processor if the indicated power level exceeds the threshold power level.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a digital-based mechanism for adjusting the power consumption in an integrated digital circuit such as a processor. The processor includes one or more functional units and a digital throttle that monitors activity states of the processor'"'"'s functional units to estimate the processor'"'"'s power consumption. One embodiment of the digital throttle includes one or more gate units, a monitor circuit, and a throttle circuit. Each gate unit controls the delivery of power delivery to a functional unit of the processor and provides a signal that indicates the activity state of its associated functional unit. The monitor circuit determines an estimated power consumption level from the signals and compares the estimated power consumption with a threshold power level. The throttle circuit adjusts the instruction flow in the processor if the estimated power consumption level exceeds the threshold power level.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. A processor comprising:
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a functional unit;
a gating circuit to control power delivery to the functional unit and to provide a signal that indicates a power level delivered to the functional unit;
a monitor circuit to compare the indicated power level with a threshhold power level; and
a throttle circuit to adjust instruction flow in the processor if the indicated power level exceeds the threshold power level. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for controlling power consumption in a processor comprising:
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collecting power signals from gating circuits in the processor, the power signals indicating power levels currently delivered to functional units associated with the gating circuits;
adjusting an estimated power consumption according to the collected power signals;
comparing the estimated power consumption level with a threshold power consumption level; and
adjusting an instruction execution rate by the processor when the accumulated estimated power consumption level exceeds the threshold power consumption level. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A computer system comprising:
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a memory system to store instructions for execution;
an instruction execution pipeline including a plurality of functional units to execute the instructions;
an instruction delivery system to provide the instructions from the memory system to the instruction execution pipeline at a specified rate;
a plurality of control circuits, each control circuit to control power delivered to one of the plurality of functional units and to provide a signal indicating it is delivering power; and
a throttle circuit to estimate a power consumption level from the signals provided by the control circuits and to adjust the specified rate of the instruction delivery system according to the estimated power consumption level. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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19. A processor comprising:
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one or more functional units;
one or more gate units, each gate unit to control power delivery to an associated one of the functional units and to indicate an activity state for the associated functional unit; and
a monitor circuit to estimate the processor'"'"'s power consumption level from the indicated activity states of the one or more functional units. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification