Failsafe mechanism for preventing an integrated circuit from overheating

• US 6,974,252 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2003
• Issued: 12/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Bowden, Scott J., Douglas, Jonathan P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Verbitsky, Gail
• Application Number:
  US10/387,152
• Publication Number:
  US 20040179576A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,008 Days
• Field of Search: 374/163, 374/169, 374/141, 702/99, 702/130, 702/132, 702/133, 702 33- 35, 702/40, 702/117, 327/512, 327/513, 716/4
• US Class Current: 374/163
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 3/005 Circuits arrangements for indicating a predetermined temperature fire detection G08B17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Techniques for preventing an integrated circuit (IC) from overheating are described herein. According to one embodiment, an exemplary process includes detecting whether a temperature of an integrated circuit (IC) exceeds a threshold independent of an operating state of the IC, and removing at least a portion of a power from the IC if the temperature of the IC exceeds the threshold. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a thermal sensor to detect whether a temperature of an integrated circuit (IC) exceeds a predetermined threshold independent of an operating state of the IC;

an input or output (IO) control logic coupled to the thermal sensor to transmit a signal to remove at least a portion of a power from the IC if the temperature of the IC exceeds the predetermined threshold;

a delay logic coupled to the IO control logic to stall for a predetermined period of time to allow a result of detection to be substantially stable prior to enabling the IO control logic to transmit the signal; and

a configuration logic coupled to the thermal sensor and coupled to the delay logic to configure the thermal sensor based on a thermal configuration associated with the IC,

wherein the configuration logic is to notify the delay logic when the configuration of the thermal sensor is completed.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the thermal sensor is to detect whether the temperature of the IC exceeds the threshold while the IC is in a reset state.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the thermal sensor is to perform the detection when the IC is powered up to a predetermined level or when the IC comes out of a reset state.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the delay logic comprises a counter to determine how long the delay logic has to wait before enabling the IO control logic to transmit the signal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the configuration logic is to read the thermal configuration information from a memory and to shift the thermal configuration information to the thermal sensor.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the thermal sensor is to start to detect the temperature of the IC after the configuration of the thermal sensor is completed.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a power detection logic coupled to the configuration logic to detect that the IC is powered with a predetermined power level before enabling the configuration logic to configure the thermal sensor.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a clock signal generator coupled to the configuration logic, the delay logic, and the thermal sensor, the clock signal generator to provide clock signals to drive the configuration logic, the delay logic, and the thermal sensor.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the clock signal generator comprises:

an internal clock; and

a clock selection logic coupled to select the internal clock to generate the clock signals when an external clock is unavailable or a power supplied to the IC has not reached a predetermined level.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a clock signal generator coupled to the configuration logic, the delay logic, and the thermal sensor, the clock signal generator to provide clock signals to drive the configuration logic, the delay logic, and the thermal sensor,

wherein the clock signal generator comprises a clock logic to signal the configuration logic that the clock signals are substantially stable before the configuration logic is enabled to configure the thermal sensor.

11. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more thermal sensors coupled to detect whether a temperature of an integrated circuit (IC) exceeds a predetermined threshold when the IC is powered up to a predetermined level or when the IC comes out of a reset state;

an input/output (IO) control logic coupled to the one or more thermal sensors to generate a first signal to remove at least a portion of a power from the IC if the temperature of the IC exceeds the predetermined threshold;

a delay logic coupled to the one or more thermal sensors and coupled to the IO control logic to stall a period of time prior to enable the IO control logic to generate the first signal; and

a configuration logic coupled to configure the one or more thermal sensors, to the delay logic to assert a second signal to the delay logic to indicate a completion of the configuration, and to the second signal to enable the delay logic to stall for the period of time.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising a clock generator coupled to generate one or more clock signals to drive operations of the configuration logic, the delay logic, and the one or more thermal sensors, the clock generator to assert a third signal when the one or more clock signals are substantially stable.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a power detection logic coupled to detect whether a power supplied to the IC reaches a level prior to enabling the configuration logic and the clock generator.