Patent ID: 8769332
Filing Date: 2014-07-01
Classification: G06F,H03K,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A system comprising: a first functional unit; a second functional unit; a clock tree coupled to distribute a clock signal to a plurality of leaf-level clock gating units in each of the first and second functional units via correspondingly coupled ones of a plurality of regional clock-gating units, wherein the clock tree further includes a root level clock-gating unit coupled to distribute the clock signal to each of the regional clock-gating units; and a control unit configured to cause the root level clock-gating unit provide the clock signal at a reduced duty cycle to responsive to determining that an activity level in each of the first and second functional units is below a threshold level, and wherein the control unit is configured to cause the root level clock-gating unit to restore a normal duty cycle of the clock signal responsive to receiving a wakeup signal, wherein the control unit is configured to cause a reduction of the duty cycle of the clock signal by enabling the root level clock-gating unit for one of every N cycles of the clock signal and inhibiting the root-level clock-gating unit of N−1 of every N cycles of the clock signal.