Method and system for fast frequency switch for a power throttle in an integrated device

• US 7,725,757 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2007
• Issued: 05/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/03/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Mandhani, Arvind, Padweka, Kiran, Srivastava, Durgesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Du; Thuan N
• Application Number:
  US11/894,415
• Publication Number:
  US 20080034237A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,008 Days
• Field of Search: 713/322, 713/323, 713/400, 713/501, 713/502, 713/600, 326/93, 327/141, 327/145, 327/142
• US Class Current: 713/501
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3253 Power saving in bus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3869 Implementation aspects, e.g. pipeline latches; pipeline synchronisation and clocking
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

In one embodiment, the present invention includes a counter to count core clocks, where the counter has a value to be incremented from zero to one less than a first bus ratio. Coupled to the counter may be a control logic to generate a control signal to change from the first bus ratio to a second bus ratio, where the control logic is coupled to receive the counter value and control the counter based on this value. In this way, the bus ratio can change without draining the transaction queues of a processor. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a counter to count core clocks, the counter having a value to be incremented from zero to one less than a first bus ratio;

control logic to generate a control signal to change from the first bus ratio to a second bus ratio to change a frequency of the core clock, the control logic to receive the counter value and to control the counter based on the counter value.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the counter value is to be compared to a value computed from the first bus ratio.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the value is computed from the first bus ratio based at least in part on when a strobe is to occur with respect to a percentage of a bus clock for the first bus ratio.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of transaction queues.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the apparatus is to change from the first bus ratio to the second bus ratio without draining the plurality of transaction queues.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the counter value is to be incremented from zero to one less than the second bus ratio when a switch signal to change from the first bus ratio to the second bus ratio is generated and a next bus clock occurs.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a pipeline having a plurality of pipe stages, wherein a first pipe stage coupled to the counter is to generate the switch signal at a first predetermined counter value or a second predetermined counter value based on whether clock tooth stealing is enabled.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control logic is to generate the control signal a first plurality of core clocks before a bus clock edge for the first bus ratio, wherein a first pipe stage of a plurality of pipe stages is a plurality of core clocks before the bus clock edge for the first bus ratio, the plurality of core clocks equal to the plurality of pipe stages, and a last pipe stage is zero core clocks before the bus clock edge.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control logic comprises phase locked loop control logic.

10. A system comprising:

a first processor including a pipeline having a plurality of pipe stages to generate a control signal to change from a first bus ratio to a second bus ratio, a core clock counter coupled to a first pipe stage of the plurality of pipe stages to count core clocks, the core clock counter having a value to be incremented from zero to one less than the first bus ratio, and control logic to receive a value of the core clock counter and to control the core clock counter based on the counter value;

a system bus coupled to the first processor;

a memory coupled to the system bus.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first processor is to assign the counter value to an initial value if a reset is enabled, assign the counter value to a current reload value if the second counter value is zero, and assign the counter value to an updated reload value if the counter value is zero and a switch signal is active, the switch signal indicative of a change in a core clock that is expected in a next bus clock cycle.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising a second processor to operate at the first bus ratio and the second bus ratio, wherein the system bus comprises a front side bus to enable communication between the first processor and the second processor.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the first processor further includes a plurality of transaction queues and wherein the first processor is to change from the first bus ratio to the second bus ratio without draining the plurality of transaction queues.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the counter value is to be incremented from zero to one less than the second bus ratio when a switch signal to change from the first bus ratio to the second bus ratio is generated and a next bus clock occurs.

15. A method comprising:

assigning a value of a core clock counter to an initial value if a reset is enabled;

assigning the counter value to a current reload value if the counter value is zero, and assigning the counter value to an updated reload value if the counter value is zero and a switch signal is active, the switch signal indicative of a change in a core clock that is expected in a next bus clock cycle;

generating a synchronization signal for a bus coupled to a processor when the counter value is zero.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising decrementing the counter value by one if the reset is not enabled and the counter value is not zero.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising assigning the updated reload value based on an operation of the counter value and a value of the switch signal, wherein the initial value corresponds to an initial shift for a clock multiplier that generates the core clock, the current reload value corresponds to a current value of the clock multiplier, and the updated reload value corresponds to an updated clock multiplier value, and adjusting the clock multiplier to enable the core clock change.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the synchronization signal comprises a drive signal to drive information onto the bus from the processor or a sample signal to sample information from the bus in the processor, wherein the sample signal is derived from and is symmetrical to the drive signal.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising reducing a frequency of the core clock while precluding draining of one or more queues of the processor, and changing the core clock frequency while maintaining a fixed positioning of the synchronization signal for a range of clock multiplier values used to generate the core clock.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the change to the core clock occurs within a plurality of core clocks, the plurality of core clocks less than a bus clock cycle, and wherein the change in the core clock is transparent to a user.