System and method for monitoring and controlling a power-manageable resource based upon activities of a plurality of devices

• US 6,760,852 B1
• Filed: 08/31/2000
• Issued: 07/06/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Globalfoundries US Incorporated (GlobalFoundries, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
• Inventors: Gulick, Dale E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gaffin, Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cao, Chun
• Application Number:
  US09/652,647
• Time in Patent Office: 1,405 Days
• Field of Search: 713/300, 713/322, 713/324, 713/340, 710/306
• US Class Current: 713/324
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3215 Monitoring of peripheral devices

Abstract

A system and method for monitoring and controlling a power-manageable resource. In one embodiment, a power manageable resource, such as a bus in a computer system, may be shareable among a number of power-manageable devices. A resource monitor may also be coupled to the power-manageable resource. The resource monitor may be configured to monitor the devices coupled to the power manageable resource. More specifically, the functions of the resource monitor may include monitoring the active/inactive state of each of the attached devices. The resource monitor may be configured to cause the sharable resource to be powered down if it is determined that all the attached devices are in an inactive state.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring one or more power-manageable devices coupled to a power-manageable resource, wherein said monitoring includes determining whether all of said one or more power-manageable devices are inactive; and

powering down said power-manageable resource if all of said power-manageable devices are inactive;

wherein said power-manageable resource comprises a timeslot bus, and wherein each frame transmitted over said timeslot bus includes a plurality of status bits, wherein each of said status bits corresponds to one of said one or more devices and indicates whether a corresponding device is inactive.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 further comprising, if all of said power-manageable devices are inactive, monitoring each of said one or more power-manageable devices to determine whether any of said power-manageable devices becomes active, wherein said power-manageable resource is powered up responsive to any of said power-manageable devices becoming active.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said power-manageable resource comprises a packet bus configured to periodically transmit one or more idle frames, wherein each of said one or more idle frames includes a status word, and wherein each status word includes a plurality of status bits, wherein each of said status bits corresponds to one of said one or more devices to determine whether a corresponding device is inactive.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 wherein said resource comprises a packet bus, wherein each of said power-manageable devices is configured to transmit an activate packet responsive to becoming active and a deactivate packet responsive to becoming deactivated, and wherein said monitoring each of said one or more power-manageable devices comprises monitoring said active packet and said deactivate packet for each of said power-manageable devices.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 further comprising identifying said power-manageable device corresponding to each of said activate packets and each of said deactivate packets.

6. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein monitoring said activate and deactivate packets of each of said power-manageable devices comprised incrementing a counter responsive to a detection of an activate packet and decrementing a counter responsive to a detection of a deactivate packet.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said power-manageable resource includes one or more registers configured to store active/inactive data corresponding to each of said power-manageable devices, wherein said data in one of said registers is updated responsive to a corresponding power-manageable device becoming active or inactive, and wherein said monitoring each of said one or more power-manageable devices comprises monitoring said one or more registers.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein each of said power-manageable devices includes one or more registers configured to store active/inactive data, wherein each of said one or more registers corresponds to one of said power-manageable devices, and wherein said data in one of said registers is updated responsive to a corresponding power-manageable device becoming active or inactive, and wherein said monitoring of said one or more power-manageable devices comprises monitoring said one or more registers.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 further comprising each of said power-manageable devices driving a signal to said power-manageable resource, wherein said signal is indicative of an active/inactive status of a corresponding power-manageable device.

10. A system comprising:

a sharable resource, wherein control of said shareable resource includes power-management operations, and wherein said sharable resource is a bus, wherein said bus comprises a timeslot bus configured for transmitting frames, and wherein each of said frames includes a plurality of status bits, wherein each of said status bits corresponds to one of said one or more devices, and wherein each of said status bits indicates whether a corresponding device is inactive;

one or more devices coupled to said shareable resource, wherein each of said devices is configured to use said sharable resource, and wherein control of said one or more devices includes power management operations; and

a resource monitor, wherein said resource monitor is configured to monitor said one or more devices to determine whether all of said devices are inactive, and wherein said resource monitor is configured to cause the powering down of said sharable resource if each of said one or more devices is inactive, wherein said resource monitor includes a logic circuit coupled to said bus, and wherein said logic circuit is configured to examine data transmitted across said bus to determine whether each of said devices is inactive.

11. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein said logic circuit is configured to examine said status bits to determine whether all of said devices are inactive.

12. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein said bus comprises a packet bus configured to periodically transmit one or more idle frames, wherein each of said idle frames includes a status word including a plurality of status bits, wherein each of said status bits corresponds to one of said devices to indicate whether said device is active or inactive.

13. The system as recited in claim 12, wherein said logic circuit is configured to examine said status bits to determine whether all of said devices are inactive.

14. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein said bus comprises a packet bus, wherein each of said devices is configured to transmit an activate packet across said bus responsive to becoming active, and wherein each of said devices is configured to transmit a deactivate packet across said bus responsive to becoming inactive.

15. The system as recited in claim 14, wherein said logic circuit is configured to examine said activate packet and said deactivate packet for each of said devices to determine whether all of said devices are inactive.

16. The system as recited in claim 15, wherein said resource monitor is configured to maintain a log indicative of the active/inactive status for each of said devices.

17. The system as recited in claim 15 further comprising a counter, wherein said resource monitor is configured to increment said counter when an activate packet is detected and wherein said monitor is configured to decrement said counter when a deactivate packet is detected.

18. The system as recited in claim 10 further comprising a status register coupled to said bus, wherein each of said devices is configured to set a corresponding bit in said status register to indicate the active/inactive status of that device.

19. The system as recited in claim 18, wherein said resource monitor includes a logic circuit coupled to said status register, wherein said logic circuit is configured to examine said status register to determine whether all of said devices are inactive.

20. The system as recited in claim 10, wherein each of said one or more devices includes a status register, wherein each of said one or more devices is configured to store a value in said status register to indicate the active/inactive status of that device.

21. The system as recited in claim 20, wherein said resource monitor includes a logic circuit coupled to said bus, wherein said logic circuit is configured to examine said status register for each of said one or more devices in order to determine whether all of said devices are inactive.

22. A method comprising:

monitoring one or more power-manageable devices coupled to a power-manageable resource, wherein said monitoring includes determining whether all of said one or more power-manageable devices are inactive; and

powering down said power-manageable resource if all of said power-manageable devices are inactive, wherein said power-manageable resource comprises a packet bus configured to periodically transmit one or more idle frames, wherein each of said one or more idle frames includes a status word, and wherein each status word includes a plurality of status bits, wherein each of said status bits corresponds to one of said one or more devices to determine whether a corresponding device is inactive.

23. A method comprising:

monitoring one or more power-manageable devices coupled to a power-manageable resource, wherein said monitoring includes determining whether all of said one or more power-manageable devices are inactive; and

powering down said power-manageable resource if all of said power-manageable devices are inactive, wherein said resource comprises a packet bus, wherein each of said power-manageable devices is configured to transmit an activate packet responsive to becoming active and a deactivate packet responsive to becoming deactivated, and wherein said monitoring each of said one or more power-manageable devices comprises monitoring said active packet and said deactivate packet for each of said power-manageable devices.

24. A method comprising:

monitoring one or more power-manageable devices coupled to a power-manageable resource, wherein said monitoring includes determining whether all of said one or more power-manageable devices are inactive; and

powering down said power-manageable resource if all of said power-manageable devices are inactive, wherein each of said power-manageable devices includes one or more registers configured to store active/inactive data, wherein each of said one or more registers corresponds to one of said power-manageable devices, and wherein said data in one of said registers is updated responsive to a corresponding power-manageable device becoming active or inactive, and wherein said monitoring of said one or more power-manageable devices comprises monitoring said one or more registers.