Patent ID: 7953990

Claim:
A method of operating a specific individual instance of a microprocessor, the method comprising: determining, independent of operating voltage, a desirable operating frequency for the specific individual instance of a microprocessor; accessing information specific to the specific individual instance of a microprocessor, wherein the information is used to determine an optimal voltage for operating the specific individual instance of a microprocessor at the desirable operating frequency, wherein the optimal voltage is based upon characteristics of the specific individual instance of a microprocessor; and wherein the information comprises a plurality of pairs of voltage-frequency operating points for setting said specific individual instance of a microprocessor to a plurality of operating points each having a determined voltage for a desired frequency and is encoded external to the specific individual instance of a microprocessor; and operating the specific individual instance of a microprocessor at one of the plurality of pairs of voltage-frequency operating points corresponding to the desirable operating frequency.