Patent ID: 7421598

Claim:
In a memory subsystem having a memory controller connected via a memory channel to multiple memory modules, a method comprising: receiving information from the memory subsystem indicating a current power consumption of each of the multiple memory modules; wherein calculating a current power consumption of the memory subsystem and individual memory components utilizing said information received along with one or more of a plurality of preset power consumption parameters stored within the memory controller, said parameters including one or more of: (1) power ratings of memory subsystem and each individual memory component, including the power rating of each memory module when a module-level tracking is implemented and the power rating of each memory device when a device-level tracking is implemented; (2) a number and type of memory modules and the power consumption associated with each operational state of each memory module: (3) the number and types of memory storage devices within each memory module and the power consumption associated with each operational state of each memory storage device; wherein said calculating yields one or more of: (1) a calculated current power consumption for the memory channel and memory controller; (2) a calculated current power consumption at each memory module based on the number and frequency of issued operations to the specific memory module; (3) a calculated current power consumption at each memory storage device within the memory module based on the number and frequency of issued operations addressed to the specific memory storage device; and controlling a level of power consumption within the memory subsystem and an individual memory components by intelligently scheduling, at the memory controller, a rate at which new operations are issued to the memory components over the memory channel.