Method for measuring integrated circuit processor power demand and associated system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method for measuring integrated circuit processor power demand comprising:
- calibrating one or more voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) for use as ammeters;
calibrating a calibration current source, wherein the calibration current source draws current through an inherent resistance;
calculating the inherent resistance; and
calculating the processor power demand using a voltage that is measured across the inherent resistance.
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Abstract
A system and method for measuring integrated circuit processor power demand comprises calibrating one or more voltage controlled oscillators for use as ammeters, calibrating a calibration current source, wherein the calibration current source draws current through a inherent resistance, calibrating the inherent resistance, and interleaving said calibrations in time with calculating the processor power demand using a voltage that is measured across the inherent resistance.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A method for measuring integrated circuit processor power demand comprising:
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calibrating one or more voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) for use as ammeters;
calibrating a calibration current source, wherein the calibration current source draws current through an inherent resistance;
calculating the inherent resistance; and
calculating the processor power demand using a voltage that is measured across the inherent resistance. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 31)
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17. A system for calibrating measurements in a processor integrated circuit die, comprising:
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at least one voltage controlled oscillator (VCO);
a resistive ladder having a plurality of voltage taps, wherein the voltage taps are connectable to the VCO; and
a controller coupled to the output of the VCO, wherein the controller maintains a calibration table of VCO output counts for selected voltage inputs;
wherein the at least one VCO, the resistive ladder and the controller are constructed on the same die as the processor integrated circuit. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embedded therein, the computer readable program code comprising:
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code for calibrating one or more voltage controlled oscillators for use as ammeters;
code for calibrating a calibration current source, wherein the calibration current source draws current through a inherent resistance;
code for calibrating the inherent resistance; and
code for calculating the processor integrated circuit power demand using a voltage that is measured across the inherent resistance. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A system for measuring integrated circuit processor power demand comprising:
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means for calibrating one or more voltage controlled oscillators (VCOs) for use as ammeters;
means for calibrating a calibration current source, wherein the calibration current source draws current through an inherent resistance;
means for calculating the inherent resistance; and
means for calculating the processor power demand using a voltage that is measured across the inherent resistance. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34)
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Specification