Controlling operation of temperature sensors

• US 9,317,082 B2
• Filed: 10/13/2010
• Issued: 04/19/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., ATI Technologies ULC (Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bates, Benjamin D., Williams, Brian E., Ennis, Stephen C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vo, Tim T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Huynh, Kim T.
• Application Number:
  US12/903,888
• Publication Number:
  US 20120096288A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,015 Days
• Field of Search: 713300-440, 718/100, 712/214
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3206 Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/325 Power saving in peripheral device
• 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

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed relating to controlling power consumption of temperature sensors in integrated circuits. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit is disclosed that includes a temperature sensor that is configured to determine a temperature of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit also includes a sensor controller that is configured to vary power consumption of the temperature sensor based, at least in part, on the determined temperature. In some embodiments, the integrated circuit may determine a sampling rate of the temperature sensor based, at least in part, on the determined temperature and a temperature threshold of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit may then vary the power consumption of the temperature sensor by periodically disabling the temperature sensor based on the determined sampling rate. In some embodiments, the integrated circuit may also vary the power consumption of the temperature sensor based on the operating state of one or more processing cores in the integrated circuit.

Claims

1. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a first temperature sensor configured to determine a first temperature of the integrated circuit and a subsequent, second temperature of the integrated circuit; and

wherein the integrated circuit is configured to reduce power consumption of the first temperature sensor based, at least in part, on a decrease in temperature indicated by the second temperature being less than the first temperature, and wherein the integrated circuit is configured to reduce the power consumption of the first temperature sensor without varying power consumption of at least a portion of the integrated circuit, wherein the integrated circuit is configured to reduce the power consumption of the first temperature sensor by disabling the first temperature sensor for an interval selected based on the second temperature.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1, further comprising:

a first group of temperature sensors including the first temperature sensor, wherein the first group of temperature sensors is configured to determine a first set of temperatures of the integrated circuit;

wherein the integrated circuit is configured to;

determine a first temperature representative of the first set of temperatures; and

vary power consumption of the first group of temperature sensors based, at least in part, on the first representative temperature.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 2, further comprising:

a second group of temperature sensors configured to determine a second set of temperatures of the integrated circuit; and

wherein the integrated circuit is configured to;

determine a second temperature representative of the second set of temperatures; and

vary power consumption of the second group of temperature sensors based, at least in part, on the second representative temperature, and wherein the integrated circuit is configured to vary power consumption of the first group of temperature sensors independent of varying power consumption of the second group of temperature sensors.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the portion of the integrated circuit is a second temperature sensor configured to determine a second temperature of the integrated circuit.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the integrated circuit is configured to:

determine whether the interval is between a range; and

disable the first temperature sensor in response to the interval being within the range.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 5, wherein the integrated circuit further comprises a plurality of fuses that are blown to store maximum and minimum values for the range.

7. The integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein the integrated circuit is a processor that comprises:

a plurality of processing cores; and

wherein the integrated circuit is configured to determine an operating state for each processing core, and wherein the integrated circuit is further configured to vary the power consumption of the first temperature sensor based, at least in part, on the operating state of one of the plurality of processing cores.

8. An integrated circuit, comprising:

a first temperature sensor configured to determine a first temperature of the integrated circuit;

a second temperature sensor configured to determine a second temperature of the integrated circuit; and

wherein the integrated circuit is configured to, based on the first and second temperatures, temporarily disable the first temperature sensor without disabling the second temperature sensor, and wherein the integrated circuit is configured to temporarily disable the first sensor for an interval determined based on the first temperature.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 8, further comprising:

a group of temperature sensors including the first temperature sensor, wherein each temperature sensor in the group is configured to determine a respective temperature of the integrated circuit; and

wherein the integrated circuit is configured to disable the group of temperature sensors based on an average of the respective temperatures.

10. The integrated circuit of claim 8, further comprising:

a power regulator configured to supply power to the first temperature sensor; and

wherein the integrated circuit is configured to instruct the power regulator to restrict the power supplied to the first temperature sensor for the interval.

11. The integrated circuit of claim 8, further comprising:

a first sensor controller configured to vary power consumption of a first group of temperature sensors including the first temperature sensor; and

a second sensor controller configured to vary power consumption of a second group of temperature sensors including the second temperature sensor.

12. The integrated circuit of claim 11, further comprising:

a master control unit configured to instruct the first sensor controller and the second sensor controller to disable the first group of temperature sensors and the second group of temperature sensors.

13. A method, comprising:

a first temperature sensor measuring a first temperature and a second, subsequent temperature of an integrated circuit;

the integrated circuit selecting a delay interval, wherein the delay interval is selected based, at least in part, on the measured first and second temperatures; and

the integrated circuit reducing power consumption of the first temperature sensor by disabling the first temperature sensor for at least a portion of the selected delay interval.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

a second temperature sensor measuring another temperature of the integrated circuit while the first temperature sensor is disabled; and

the integrated circuit determining a separate delay interval for the second temperature sensor based on the other measured temperature.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

the integrated circuit changing an operating state of a processing core associated with the first temperature sensor from a first operating state to a second operating state; and

the integrated circuit disabling the first temperature sensor while the processing core is operating in the second operating state.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the integrated circuit is a processor, and wherein the first and second operating states are different Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) states.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

the integrated circuit changing a sampling rate of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) of the first temperature sensor based on the measured temperature.

18. A computer readable storage medium comprising a data structure which is operated upon by a program executable on a computer system, the program operating on the data structure to perform a portion of a process to fabricate an integrated circuit including circuitry described by the data structure, the circuitry described in the data structure including:

a sensor controller configured to receive, from a temperature sensor, a first temperature of the integrated circuit and a subsequent, second temperature of the integrated circuit; and

wherein the sensor controller is configured to reduce power consumption of the temperature sensor based, at least in part, on a decrease in temperature indicated by the second temperature being less than the first temperature, and wherein the sensor controller is configured to reduce the power consumption of the temperature sensor without varying power consumption of at least a portion of the integrated circuit, wherein the integrated circuit is configured to reduce the power consumption of the temperature sensor by disabling the temperature sensor for an interval selected based on the second temperature.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the storage medium stores hardware description language (HDL) data, Verilog data, or graphic database system II (GDSII) data.