System and method for causing reduced power consumption associated with thermal remediation

• US 9,354,679 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2012
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Gough, Robert, Cooper, Barnes, Astekar, Basavaraj, Gedeon, Mazen, Soe, Soethiha
• Primary Examiner(s): Elamin, M
• Assistant Examiner(s): ELAMIN, ABDELMONIEM I
• Application Number:
  US13/730,386
• Publication Number:
  US 20140189390A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,250 Days
• 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 1/3243 Power saving in microcontroller unit
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Particular embodiments described herein can offer a method that includes receiving a signal indicating whether at least one device is in a low power mode, determining that the at least one device is in a first thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal, and performing a first operation associated with a reduced thermal remediation power consumption.

Claims

1. A method to reduce power consumption of a device, the method comprising:

receiving, at a processor of the device, a signal indicative of whether a power state of the device is a power state having lower power consumption than a level 0 power state;

determining, by the processor, that the device is in a first thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal;

causing, by the processor at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the first thermally benign state, the performance of a first operation of a thermal remediation system, wherein the first operation is to result in a reduction in power consumption of the thermal remediation system;

determining that the device is in a second thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal, wherein the second thermally benign state is associated with less heat generation than the first thermally benign state;

causing, by the processor at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the second thermally benign state, the performance of a second operation of the thermal remediation system, wherein the second operation is associated with causing greater reduction of power consumption associated with thermal remediation than the reduction of power consumption associated with the first operation;

determining that the device is in a third thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal, wherein the third thermally benign state is associated with less heat generation than the second thermally benign state; and

causing, at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the third thermally benign state, reduction of power consumption associated with a cooling device;

wherein the first operation relates to reducing a sampling frequency associated with a thermal sensor, and wherein the second operation relates to disabling a thermal sensor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the device comprises a controller hub.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the device is in a first thermally benign state comprises determining that a low power duty cycle of the signal exceeds a threshold duty cycle.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first operation relates to reducing power consumption associated with a software module associated with monitoring thermal sensor information, a thermal sensor, or a cooling device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving thermal sensor information; and

determining that the thermal sensor information indicates a temperature within a predetermined temperature threshold.

6. An apparatus to reduce power consumption comprising:

logic, the logic at least partially including hardware logic, to;

receive a signal indicative of whether a power state of a device is a power state having lower power consumption than a level 0 power state;

determine that the device is in a first thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal;

cause, at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the first thermally benign state, performance of a first operation of a thermal remediation system, wherein the first operation is associated with a reduction of power consumption of the thermal remediation system;

determine that the device is in a second thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal, wherein the second thermally benign state is associated with less heat generation than the first thermally benign state;

cause, at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the second thermally benign state, performance of a second operation of the thermal remediation system, wherein the second operation is associated with causing greater reduction of power consumption associated with thermal remediation than the reduction of power consumption associated with the first operation;

determine that the device is in a third thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal, wherein the third thermally benign state is associated with less heat generation than the second thermally benign state; and

cause, at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the third thermally benign state, reduction of power consumption associated with a cooling device;

wherein the first operation relates to reduction of a sampling frequency associated with a thermal sensor, and wherein the second operation relates to disablement of a thermal sensor.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the device comprises a processor or a controller hub.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein determination that the device is in a first thermally benign state comprises determination that a low power duty cycle of the signal exceeds a threshold duty cycle.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the first operation relates to reduced power consumption associated with a software module associated with monitoring of thermal sensor information, a thermal sensor, or a cooling device.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, further comprising logic, the logic at least partially including hardware logic, to:

receive thermal sensor information; and

determine that the thermal sensor information indicates a temperature within a predetermined temperature threshold.

21. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the device includes a system on a chip (SOC).

22. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the apparatus is a touch-enabled computing device.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium to reduce power consumption, the non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer instructions, that, when executed by at least one processor, cause an apparatus comprising the at least one processor to:

receive a signal indicative of whether a power state of a device is a power state having lower power consumption than a level 0 power state;

determine that the device is in a first thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal;

cause, at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the first thermally benign state, performance of a first operation of a thermal remediation system, wherein the first operation is to result in a reduction in power consumption of the thermal remediation system;

determine that the device is in a second thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal, wherein the second thermally benign state is associated with less heat generation than the first thermally benign state;

cause, at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the second thermally benign state, performance of a second operation of the thermal remediation system, wherein the second operation is associated with causing greater reduction of power consumption associated with thermal remediation than the reduction of power consumption associated with the first operation

determine that the device is in a third thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal, wherein the third thermally benign state is associated with less heat generation than the second thermally benign state; and

cause, at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the third thermally benign state, reduction of power consumption associated with a cooling device;

wherein the first operation relates to reduction of a sampling frequency associated with a thermal sensor, and wherein the second operation relates to disablement of a thermal sensor.

12. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the device comprises a processor or a controller hub.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein determination that the device is in a first thermally benign state comprises determination that a low power duty cycle of the signal exceeds a threshold duty cycle.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the first operation relates to reduction of power consumption associated with a software module associated with monitoring of thermal sensor information, a thermal sensor, or a cooling device.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the computer readable medium further comprises computer instructions, that, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus comprising the processor to:

receive thermal sensor information; and

determine that the thermal sensor information indicates a temperature within a predetermined temperature threshold.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the device includes a system on a chip (SOC).

16. A system to reduce power consumption comprising:

at least one controller and a device, the controller comprising logic, the logic at least partially including hardware logic, to;

receive, at the controller, a signal indicative of whether a power state of a device is a power state having lower power consumption than a level 0 power state;

determine, at the controller, that the device is in a first thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal; and

cause, at the controller at least in part on response to the determination that the devices in the first thermally benign state, performance of a first operation of a thermal remediation system, wherein the first operation is to result in a reduction in power consumption of the thermal remediation system;

determine, at the controller, that the device is in a second thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal, wherein the second thermally benign state is associated with less heat generation than the first thermally benign state;

cause, at the controller at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the second thermally benign state, performance of a second operation of the thermal remediation system, wherein the second operation is associated with causing greater reduction of power consumption associated with thermal remediation than the reduction of power consumption associated with the first operation;

determine, at the controller, that the device is in a third thermally benign state based, at least in part, on the signal, wherein the third thermally benign state is associated with less heat generation than the second thermally benign state; and

cause, at the controller at least in part in response to the determination that the device is in the third thermally benign state, reduction of power consumption associated with a cooling device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the device comprises at least one of a processor or a controller hub.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein determination that the device is in a first thermally benign state comprises determination that a low power duty cycle of the signal exceeds a threshold duty cycle.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the first operation relates to reduced power consumption associated with a software module associated with monitoring of thermal sensor information, a thermal sensor, or a cooling device.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the first operation relates to reduction of a sampling frequency associated with a thermal sensor.

24. The system of claim 16, wherein the second operation relates to disablement of a thermal sensor.

25. The system of claim 16, wherein the first operation relates to reduction of power to a thermal sensor.

26. The system of claim 16, wherein the first operation relates to reduction of power provided to a cooling device.

27. The system of claim 16, wherein the signal indicative of whether a power state of a device is a power state having lower power consumption than a level 0 power state is a logic signal.

28. The system of claim 16, wherein the device includes a system on a chip (SOC).

29. The system of claim 16, wherein the device includes a core processor implementing an out-of-order superscalar pipeline.

30. The system of claim 16, wherein the controller and the device are included in a touch-enabled computing device.