Patent ID: 7490017
Filing Date: 2009-02-10
Classification: G06F,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A computer implemented method for generating software thermal indexes for applications to be executed on a set of processors, the computer implemented method comprising: executing a maximum workload program using the set of processors, wherein the maximum workload program represents a maximum thermal operation of the set of processors; monitoring the execution of the maximum workload program by reading maximum temperature registers while the maximum workload program is being executed to form a hardware profile, wherein the maximum temperature registers store the temperatures of digital thermal sensors that are located in different areas of the set of processors and monitor the temperature of the different areas; after forming the hardware profile, analyzing an instruction stream for an application that is being executed by the set of processors to identify a number of cycles-per-instruction that are required to execute the application, wherein the number of cycles-per-instruction forms analyzed information; generating a thermal index for the application based on the analyzed information and the hardware profile; using the thermal index to optimize scheduling of the application to reach the minimum impact of the application on the set of processors; and wherein the thermal index is proportional to the inverse of the cycles-per-instruction of the application.