Patent ID: 8209552

Claim:
A method for controlling a multicore processor to reduce power consumption when an entire calculation processing amount of the processor is less than maximum, the multicore processor having a plurality of cores each independently performing a calculation process on one processor, comprising the acts of: operating at least one core of the multicore processor to perform tasks or threads of a calculation process allocated to the core when the entire calculation processing amount of the processor is less than maximum; calculating an operating rate of each core within a predetermined time as an indication of how much the core is operating to perform the tasks or threads allocated to the core, and summing all of the operating rates to calculate an overall operating rate of cores; determining a number of operating cores corresponding to the overall operating rate; and selecting a number of cores to be operated based on the determined number of cores and on whether the overall operating rate is increasing or decreasing in accordance with a hysteresis characteristic, such that for at least one overall operating rate, the selected number of cores is different depending on whether the overall operating rate is increasing or decreasing.