Patent ID: 7141953

Claim:
A method comprising: determining operating parameters in a system having a thermal constraint that is dependent upon a controllable performance rate of the system, optimizing the performance rate while not exceeding the thermal constraint, wherein the system comprises a microelectronic device, the thermal constraint comprises a maximum junction temperature (T MAX ), the controllable performance rate comprises an operating frequency (f), and controlling the performance of the system comprises calculating f as a function of operating parameters including time (t), temperature (T), maximum temperature (T m ), system power (P), voltage (V), thermal resistance (R) and thermal capacitance (C), and recalculating the frequency (f) at predetermined time intervals or if power (P) changes by a predetermined amount, wherein further the system comprises a controller of the operating frequency f using the voltage V, and wherein further the system comprises a relationship between the voltage and the operating frequency including a proportionality constant k and an exponent β, where V=kf β , and where β≧0.