Patent ID: 7400945

Claim:
A method comprising: sensing the temperature of a input/output device, the input/output device carrying traffic between a microprocessor and a memory; storing the sensed temperature in a temperature register; comparing the stored temperature to a high threshold; storing the temperature in a first history register for access by other processes of a thermal management system if the stored temperature is above the high threshold; generating a high interrupt if the stored temperature is above the high threshold and if the last interrupt was not a high interrupt; placing the high interrupt in a register accessible to the thermal management system if the high interrupt is generated; comparing the temperature to a low threshold; storing the temperature in a second history register for access by other processes of the thermal management system if the stored temperature is less than the low threshold; generating a low interrupt if the stored temperature is less than the low threshold and if the last interrupt was not a low interrupt; placing the low interrupt in a register accessible to the thermal management system if the low interrupt is generated; servicing the interrupt registers by the thermal management system; applying the interrupts as commands to the thermal management system; and applying a measure to adjust the temperature of the input/output device based on the interrupt registers.