Patent ID: 11899518
Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G  Y | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A neural processing unit (NPU) configured to implement an artificial intelligence (AI) neural network (NN) model, the NPU comprising:
a multiply and accumulate (MAC) circuit comprising:
a plurality of MAC processing elements (PEs) comprising:
a multiplier configured to perform multiplication operations on inputs and weights to generate mid-term values; and
an accumulator configured to accumulate the mid-term values as an analog output;

an analog to digital converter (ADC) configured to convert the analog output to a digital output;
a memory storing bit precision information determined during at least one of training or quantization of the AI NN model;
a precision determiner configured to dynamically determine a precision indication based on the bit precision information; and
a power conservation controller configured to selectively vary a precision of the digital output, thereby reducing power consumption of the MAC circuit, the power conservation controller configured to receive the precision indication and selectively vary the precision of the digital output based on the precision indication.