Power consumption management

• US 7,739,524 B2
• Filed: 03/28/2006
• Issued: 06/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Mangione-Smith, William Henry
• Primary Examiner(s): CHEN, TSE W
• Application Number:
  US11/392,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20070050672A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,540 Days
• Field of Search: 713/300, 713/320
• US Class Current: 713/300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0706 the processing taking place on a specific hardware platform or in a specific software environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0721 within a central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0724 in a multiprocessor or a multi-core unit multiprocessors per se G06F15/80
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0793 Remedial or corrective actions recovery from an exception in an instruction pipeline G06F9/3861; by retry G06F11/1402; for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity H04L69/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1407 Checkpointing the instruction stream
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3836 Instruction issuing, e.g. dynamic instruction scheduling or out of order instruction execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3863 using multiple copies of the architectural state, e.g. shadow registers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3869 Implementation aspects, e.g. pipeline latches; pipeline synchronisation and clocking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5094 where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Embodiments include a system, an apparatus, a device, and a method. A system includes a power module operable to determine respective indicia of power consumed in executing at least one instruction by a first subcircuit and by a second subcircuit of a synchronous circuit. The system also includes a scheduler module operable to direct an execution task to a subcircuit selected from the first subcircuit and the second subcircuit. The subcircuit selection is responsive to the determined respective indicia of power consumption by the first subcircuit and by the second subcircuit.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

periodically determining an indicia of energy expended by a first subcircuit and by a second subcircuit of a synchronous circuit during respective executions of at least one instruction; and

directing an execution task to a subcircuit selected from the first subcircuit and the second subcircuit and based upon an availability of the selected subcircuit and a determined lower indicia of energy expended by the selected subcircuit unless the non-selected subcircuit provides a higher execution performance that offsets an energy saving provided by the selected subcircuit having the determined lower indicia of energy expended.

2. A device comprising:

means for periodically determining an indicia of energy expended by a first subcircuit and by a second subcircuit of a circuit during respective executions of at least one instruction; and

means for directing an execution task to a subcircuit selected from the first subcircuit and the second subcircuit and based upon an availability of the selected subcircuit and a determined lower indicia of energy expended by the selected subcircuit unless the non-selected subcircuit provides a higher execution performance that offsets an energy saving provided by the selected subcircuit having the determined lower indicia of energy expended.

3. A system comprising:

a power module operable to periodically determine respective indicia of power consumed in executing a test operation by a first subcircuit and by a second subcircuit of a circuit; and

a scheduler module operable to direct an operation to a subcircuit selected from the first subcircuit and the second subcircuit, the subcircuit selection based upon an availability of the selected subcircuit and a determined lower indicia of power consumption by the selected subcircuit unless the non-selected subcircuit provides a higher execution performance that offsets a power consumption saving provided by the selected subcircuit having the determined lower indicia of power consumption.

4. A system comprising:

a circuit including a first subcircuit and a second subcircuit;

a monitor circuit for periodically determining respective indicia of power consumption to execute a test operation by the first subcircuit and by the second subcircuit; and

a manager circuit for scheduling an execution task to a subcircuit selected from the first subcircuit and the second subcircuit based upon an availability of the selected subcircuit and a determined lower indicia of power consumption by the selected subcircuit unless the non-selected subcircuit provides a higher execution performance that offsets a power consumption saving provided by the selected subcircuit having the determined lower indicia of power consumption.