Systems and methods for thermal sensing
First Claim
1. A system comprising:
- an integrated circuit having a plurality of duplicate processor cores;
a first set of thermal sensors, wherein each of the first set of thermal sensors is coupled to a corresponding one of the duplicate processor cores and positioned at the same location on the corresponding one of the duplicate processor cores;
control circuitry coupled to each of the thermal sensors in the first set, wherein the control circuitry is configured to independently adjust operation of each of the processor cores based on a corresponding temperature signal received from the thermal sensor coupled to the processor core; and
an additional thermal sensor that is positioned at a cool spot of the integrated circuit.
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Abstract
Systems and methods for positioning thermal sensors within an integrated circuit in a manner that provides useful thermal measurements corresponding to different parts of the integrated circuit. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit includes multiple, duplicate functional blocks. A separate thermal sensor is coupled to each of the duplicate functional blocks, preferably in the same relative location on each of the duplicate functional blocks, and preferably at a hotspot. One embodiment also includes thermal sensors on one or more functional blocks of other types in the integrated circuit. One embodiment includes a thermal sensor positioned at a cool spot, such as at the edge of the integrated circuit chip. Each of the thermal sensors may have ports to enable power and ground connections or data connections between the sensors and external components or devices.
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Citations
11 Claims
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1. A system comprising:
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an integrated circuit having a plurality of duplicate processor cores; a first set of thermal sensors, wherein each of the first set of thermal sensors is coupled to a corresponding one of the duplicate processor cores and positioned at the same location on the corresponding one of the duplicate processor cores; control circuitry coupled to each of the thermal sensors in the first set, wherein the control circuitry is configured to independently adjust operation of each of the processor cores based on a corresponding temperature signal received from the thermal sensor coupled to the processor core; and an additional thermal sensor that is positioned at a cool spot of the integrated circuit. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system comprising:
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an integrated circuit having a plurality of duplicate processor cores, wherein each of the duplicate processor cores is functionally identical to the other duplicate processor cores; a first set of thermal sensors, wherein each of the first set of thermal sensors is coupled to a corresponding one of the duplicate processor cores and positioned at the same location on the corresponding one of the duplicate processor cores; control circuitry coupled to each of the thermal sensors in the first set, wherein the control circuitry is configured to independently adjust operation of each of the processor cores based on a corresponding temperature signal received from the thermal sensor coupled to the processor core; and an additional thermal sensor that is positioned at a cool spot of the integrated circuit. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11)
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Specification