Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9348387B2/en
Timestamp: 2019-05-25 08:34:37
Document Index: 780297232

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 201180055923', 'Application No. 201180055923', 'Application No. 112011103193', 'Application No. 2013', 'Application No. 100134148', 'Application No. 1306874', 'Application No. 1602734']

US9348387B2 - Providing per core voltage and frequency control - Google Patents
US9348387B2
US9348387B2 US14/570,100 US201414570100A US9348387B2 US 9348387 B2 US9348387 B2 US 9348387B2 US 201414570100 A US201414570100 A US 201414570100A US 9348387 B2 US9348387 B2 US 9348387B2
US14/570,100
US20150143139A1 (en
2015-05-21 Publication of US20150143139A1 publication Critical patent/US20150143139A1/en
2016-05-24 Publication of US9348387B2 publication Critical patent/US9348387B2/en
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/785,108, filed Mar. 5, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,032,226, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/889,121, filed Sep. 23, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,943,334, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
At diamond 220 it may be determined whether an increase in performance is requested. That is, the request may be an identification of a higher performance level (e.g., corresponding to a lower than current P-state such as a request to enter the PO state from the P1 state). Note also that this determination may also confirm that it is possible to change P-state from the current state. If so, control passes to block 230. At block 230, a determination may be made as to a selection of one or more cores to increase its voltage independently of at least another core (block 230). As examples of this decision, the PCU may determine to increase voltage and associated frequency based on TDP margin that depends upon various factors such as overall die current, power, temperature, and micro-architectural activities (such as load/store buffers, a thread scheduler or so forth). For example, where a portion of a multi-core processor is determined to be cooler (and operating at lower voltage/frequency), a core within this portion may be selected for increased voltage and frequency
a plurality of voltage regulators formed on the single semiconductor die, at least one of the plurality of voltage regulators to provide a voltage to one or more of the plurality of cores; and
a power control unit (PCU) to control provision of a voltage/frequency to a first core of the plurality of cores independently of provision of a voltage/frequency to at least a second core of the plurality of cores, determine whether to update the voltage/frequency of the first core based at least in part on a workload, a thermal design power (TDP) margin and a temperature associated with the first core, and responsive to the determination update the voltage/frequency provided to the first core.
2. The processor of claim 1, wherein the PCU is to receive a performance state change request from an operating system (OS) during OS operation for dynamic update of a voltage/frequency of the first core.
3. The processor claim 1, wherein the PCU is to provide a control signal to a first one of the plurality of voltage regulators to enable the first voltage regulator to provide an independent voltage to the first core.
4. The processor of claim 1, wherein an external voltage regulator is coupled to the processor to provide a first regulated voltage to the plurality of voltage regulators, and wherein the plurality of voltage regulators are to each provide an independent voltage to at least one of the plurality of cores.
5. The processor of claim 1, wherein one of the plurality of voltage regulators is associated with at least some of the plurality of cores.
6. The processor of claim 5, wherein one of the plurality of voltage regulators is dedicated to an uncore circuit of the processor.
7. The processor of claim 1, wherein the first core is to receive control information and a first voltage, and adjust the first voltage to a second voltage responsive to the control information.
8. The processor of claim 1, further comprising an uncore circuit comprising the PCU.
9. The processor of claim 8, wherein the uncore circuit is to operate at a first voltage and a first frequency for a first workload and operate at a second voltage and a second frequency for a second workload.
10. The processor of claim 9, wherein the PCU is to apply a power savings from the uncore circuit operation at the first frequency and the first voltage to one or more of the plurality of cores.
11. The processor of claim 1, wherein the PCU includes an activity monitor to monitor operation of the plurality of cores and dynamically select at least one of the plurality of cores for provision of an updated voltage/frequency thereto.
12. The processor of claim 11, wherein the activity monitor is to monitor micro-architectural activity of the plurality of cores, including instruction execution information.
receiving a performance state change request for a first core of a multicore processor;
adjusting a voltage/frequency provided to the first core independently of at least one other core of the multicore processor;
sending a control signal for the adjusted voltage to the first core to enable the first core to adjust a received voltage to the adjusted voltage; and
dynamically controlling an independent voltage/frequency for a first set of cores of the multicore processor based at least in part on a workload, a thermal design power (TDP) and a temperature of the multicore processor, controlling a second set of cores of the multicore processor to receive a first fixed voltage/frequency, wherein the first set of cores are associated with a first domain having a first operating system and the second set of cores are associated with a second domain having a second operating system, and controlling an uncore circuit of the multicore processor to receive a second fixed voltage/frequency.
14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises calculating the adjusted voltage for the first core based at least in part on a thermal design power (TDP) specification for the multicore processor.
15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first operating system is to execute non-deterministic operations comprising user-level applications and the second operating system is to execute deterministic operations comprising management operations.
a processor including a plurality of cores, a plurality of integrated voltage regulators each to independently provide a voltage to at least one of the plurality of cores, and a power control unit to control the plurality of integrated voltage regulators to dynamically adjust during system operation one or more independent voltages to be provided to at least some of the plurality of cores, based at least in part on a workload, a thermal design power (TDP) of the processor, and a temperature of a portion of a die of the processor associated with the at least some cores;
an external voltage regulator coupled to the processor to provide a first voltage to the plurality of integrated voltage regulators; and
17. The system of claim 16, wherein the power control unit includes an activity monitor to monitor micro-architectural operation of the plurality of cores and to dynamically select at least one of the plurality of cores for provision of an updated voltage/frequency thereto, wherein the power control unit is to predict a usage of the at least one core in a future time period based on information from the activity monitor.
18. The system of claim 16, wherein the power control unit is to cause dynamic adjustment to a voltage/frequency provided to an uncore logic of the processor.
US14/570,100 2010-09-23 2014-12-15 Providing per core voltage and frequency control Active US9348387B2 (en)
US14/966,286 Continuation US9939884B2 (en) 2010-09-23 2015-12-11 Providing per core voltage and frequency control
US14/966,273 Continuation US9983659B2 (en) 2010-09-23 2015-12-11 Providing per core voltage and frequency control
US14/974,064 Continuation US9983660B2 (en) 2010-09-23 2015-12-18 Providing per core voltage and frequency control
US15/135,670 Continuation US9983661B2 (en) 2010-09-23 2016-04-22 Providing per core voltage and frequency control
US20150143139A1 US20150143139A1 (en) 2015-05-21
US9348387B2 true US9348387B2 (en) 2016-05-24
China Patent Office, Office Action Mailed Nov. 23, 2015 in Taiwanese Patent Application No. 201180055923.1
Chinese Patent Office, Office Action mailed Apr. 3, 2015, in Chinese Patent Application No. 201180055923.1.
German Patent Office, Office Action mailed Dec. 10, 2014, in German Patent Application No. 112011103193.9.
Japan Patent Office, Office Action mailed Dec. 1, 2014, in Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-530201.
Taiwan Patent Office, Office Action mailed Sep. 24, 2015 in Taiwanese Patent Application No. 100134148.
U.S. Appl. No. 14/966,273, filed Dec. 11, 2015, entitled "Providing Per Core Voltage and Frequency Control," by Pankaj Kumar, et al.
United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office, Examination Report mailed Mar. 4, 2016 in United Kingdom Patent Application No. 1306874.7.
United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office, Examination Report mailed Mar. 4, 2016 in United Kingdom Patent Application No. 1602734.4.