Power management system

• US 7,254,724 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2002
• Issued: 08/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Lexar Media Incorporated (Micron Technology, Inc.)
• Inventors: Payne, Robert Edwin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Vincent
• Application Number:
  US10/256,804
• Publication Number:
  US 20030126481A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,775 Days
• Field of Search: 713/320, 713/321, 713/322
• US Class Current: 713/320
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/50 in wire-line communication networks, e.g. low power modes or reduced link rate

Abstract

According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a power management system for use in a computer system having a memory system incorporating a non-volatile memory and a controller which presents the logical characteristics of a disc storage device to a host, the power management system comprising means for monitoring the operational activity levels within at least some of the components of the controller and arranged, in response to the monitored levels, to vary the power consumed by selected components of the controller.

Claims

1. A power management system for use in a computer system comprising:

a computer system including,

a non-volatile memory; and

a controller coupled to the non-volatile memory representing the logical characteristics of a disc storage device to a host including a system manager for generating a plurality of clock signals to components of the controller and for further generating control signals to control activity within the controller by monitoring the operational activity levels within at least some of the components of the controller and arranged, in response to the monitored levels, to vary the power consumed by selected components of the controller and including an event monitor receptive to event sources indicative of the occurrence of significant system events and in response thereto varying power consumption,

wherein the power management system is capable of entering various power modes one of which is a low-power mode, the event monitor being the only active part of the system manager, the event monitor outputing a WAKEUP signal to the rest of the system manager components, which causes the rest of the system manager to exit from a low-power mode,

the system manager further including a system clock control module that generates an OSC_CLK clock for the controller having a frequency determined by external components to the controller, the system manager further including a phase locked loop (PLL) block responsive to the OSC_CLK clock for generating a PLL_CLK that is a factor of magnitude, in frequency, of that of the frequency of the OSC_CLK clock.

2. A power management system as recited in claim 1 wherein the power management system is embodied in a discrete system manager.

3. A power management system as recited in claim 1 wherein the system manager further includes an bus interface block coupled to the event monitor for controlling which events cause the system manager to wake-up.

4. A power management system as recited in claim 1 wherein the system manager further includes a system clock control block receptive to the PLL_CLK clock for controlling the distribution of the clock to the rest of the controller.

5. A power management system as recited in claim 4 wherein the system manager further includes a plurality of power down blocks responsive to the WAKEUP signal and for causing the power consumption of various components of the controller to vary based upon the monitored levels.

6. A power management system as recited in claim 5 wherein the controller further includes a microprocessor, the plurality of power down blocks including a first power down block for disabling the microprocessor, in a controlled fashion, so that other components within the controller can continue to access the memory and to perform their functions.

7. A power management system as recited in claim 6 wherein the plurality of power down blocks includes a second power down block for generating a CLK_ENABLE signal to disable the system clock control block.

8. A power management system as recited in claim 7 wherein the plurality of power down blocks includes a third power down block for generating a PLL_ENABLE signal to disable the PLL block.

9. A power management system as recited in claim 8 wherein the plurality of power down blocks includes a fourth power down block for generating an OSC_ENABLE signal for disabling the system clock control module.

10. A power management system as recited in claim 9 wherein a power down mode is entered wherein each of the plurality of the power down blocks will enter a power down mode to disable the components for which each is responsible and sequentially alert another power down block of the plurality of power down blocks until a target power down level is reached.

11. A power management system as recited in claim 9 wherein the event monitor asserts the WAKEUP signal causing each of the plurality of the power down blocks to sequentially enable the the components of the controller for which each is responsible.

12. A power management system as recited in claim 11 wherein each of the plurality of the power down blocks enters a power down mode, indicated by a PMODE signal, indicative of a target power-down level.

13. A power management system as recited in claim 12 wherein the system manager further includes a throttle block coupled to the bus interface block for controlling how often the microprocessor is enabled thereby reducing power consumption of the microprocessor.

14. A power management system as recited in claim 13 wherein the throttle block receives, as input, values M (Mark) and S (Space) and B for determining the proportion of time that the microprocessor is enabled, the values M and S determine the ratio of clock cycles for which the microprocessor is enabled and disabled, the B value determines the minimum number of clock cycles in a row that the microprocessor is enabled or disabled thereby limiting the microprocessor to gain access to the memory for a minimum number of clock cycles.

15. A power management system as recited in claim 14 wherein the values M, S and B indicate that the microprocessor is enabled for M*B clock cycles from every (M+S)*B clock cycles thereby optimally interleaving M blocks of cycles with S blocks of cycles to minimize long sequences of cycles with the microprocessor disabled.

16. A method for performing power management of a computer system comprising:

generating a plurality of clock signals to components of a controller coupled to non-volatile memory to control activity within the controller;

monitoring the operational activity levels within at least some of the components of the controller and arranged, in response to the monitored levels;

varying the power consumed by selected components of the controller;

generating event sources indicative of the occurrence of significant system events;

in response to the generated event sources, varying power consumption;

entering a low-power mode wherein the event monitor is the only active part of the system manager;

outputing a WAKEUP signal to the rest of the system manager components, which

causes the rest of the system manager to exit from a low-power mode;

generating an OSC_CLK clock for the controller having a frecquency determined by external components to the controller; and

generating a PLL_CLK that is a factor of magnitude, in frequency, of that of the frequency of the OSC_CLK clock.