Patent Document

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 2013-032663, filed on Feb. 21, 2013, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     FIELD 
     The embodiments discussed herein are related to a method for controlling an information processing apparatus provided with a multi-core CPU and an information processing apparatus. 
     BACKGROUND 
     With the improvement of performance of mobile information terminals and the increase in the number of functions of each mobile information terminal, power to be consumed by the mobile information terminals tends to be increased. There are, however, limits to power to be supplied by batteries installed in the mobile information terminals. In recent years, mobile information terminals have a multi-core CPU including multiple cores, dynamically increase and reduce (optimize) the number of operating cores while monitoring a CPU load, and thereby reduce power to be consumed by the overall CPU, while their user operability is ensured. 
     International Publication Pamphlet No. WO2007-141849 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Nos. 2006-146605 and 2009-093383 are examples of related art. 
     SUMMARY 
     According to an aspect of the invention, a method of controlling an apparatus including a processor including a plurality of cores, the method includes, when a number of the cores to be activated is M, determining whether or not a first power consumed by the M activated core is within a range of a second power to be consumed when the number of the cores to be activated is M+N, and when the first power is out of the range of the second power, prohibiting to increase the number of the cores to be activated from M to M+N. 
     The object and advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims. 
     It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a graph illustrating relationships between processing amounts (workloads) of a CPU according to the first embodiment and power to be consumed by the CPU; 
         FIGS. 2A and 2B  are schematic diagrams illustrating changes in power to be consumed when the number of operating cores of the CPU according to the first embodiment is increased; 
         FIG. 3  is an outline diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a mobile information terminal according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 4  is an outline diagram illustrating functional blocks of the mobile information terminal according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 5  is an outline diagram illustrating application and service execution information according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 6  is an outline diagram illustrating CPU core control parameter information according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 7  is an outline diagram illustrating CPU control information according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 8  is an outline diagram illustrating process execution information according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 9  is an outline diagram illustrating system state information according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 10  is a flowchart of a process of determining control of a CPU core according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 11  is a flowchart of a process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 12  is a flowchart of a process of measuring a thread load according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 13  is a flowchart of a process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is reduced according to the first embodiment; 
         FIG. 14  is an outline diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of a mobile information terminal according to the second embodiment; 
         FIG. 15  is an outline diagram illustrating functional blocks of the mobile information terminal according to the second embodiment; 
         FIG. 16  is an outline diagram illustrating CPU core control parameter information according to the second embodiment; and 
         FIG. 17  is an outline diagram illustrating system state information according to the second embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS 
     A conventional mobile information terminal controls the number of operating cores of a multi-core CPU on the basis of a CPU load caused by an overall system and suppresses power to be consumed by the mobile information terminal. 
     It is, however, expected that performance of information processing devices will be improved and the number of functions will be increased, and there is a demand to further reduce power to be consumed in the future. 
     Relationships between the numbers of operating cores of a multi-core CPU (hereinafter referred to as CPU, and sometimes as a processor) and power to be consumed by the CPU are described with reference to  FIGS. 1 to 2B . A so-called dual-core CPU that has two cores is used as the multi-core CPU. 
       FIG. 1  is a graph illustrating relationships between processing amounts (workloads) of the CPU and power to be consumed by the CPU. In the graph, the abscissa indicates a processing amount, and the ordinate indicates power to be consumed. The processing amount is a value (GHz) obtained by multiplying an operational frequency of the CPU by the number of operating cores of the CPU. 
     A curved line 1 indicates the relationship when the number of operating cores of the CPU is 1, while a curved line 2 indicates the relationship when the number of operating cores of the CPU is 2. Each of plots of the curved lines 1 and 2 is an intersection of a processing amount (=(an operational frequency of the CPU)×(the number of operating cores of the CPU)) and power to be consumed when the operational frequency of the CPU is provided. 
     An operational frequency of an n-th plot of the curved line 1 from the left side corresponds to an operational frequency of an n-th plot of the curved line 2 from the left side. For example, when an operational frequency of the first plot of the curved line 1 from the left side is 0.3 GHz, an operational frequency of the first plot of the curved line 2 from the left side is also 0.3 GHz. Since the abscissa indicates the processing amount (=(the operational frequency)×(the number of operating cores)), however, a processing amount of the first plot of the curved line 2 from the left side is 2 times as large as the operational frequency of the first plot of the curved line 2 from the left side or is 0.6 GHz (=0.3 GHz×2 (cores)). 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , it is apparent that when the operational frequency of the CPU is high (or in a range indicated by a circle A), power to be consumed by the CPU may be reduced by increasing the number of operating cores to 2 while an equivalent processing amount is ensured. It is also apparent that when the operational frequency of the CPU is low (or in a range indicated by a circle B), power to be consumed by the CPU is not reduced and is increased by increasing the number of operating cores to 2. 
       FIGS. 2A and 2B  are schematic diagrams illustrating changes in power to be consumed when the number of operating cores of the CPU according to the first embodiment is increased.  FIG. 2A  illustrates a state in which the operational frequency of the CPU is high (or corresponds to the range indicated by the circle A illustrated in  FIG. 1 ), while  FIG. 2B  illustrates a state in which the operational frequency of the CPU is low (or corresponds to the range indicated by the circle B illustrated in  FIG. 1 ). 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 2A , when the operational frequency of the CPU is high and the number of operating cores of the CPU is increased to 2, the processing power of the CPU is increased by 2 and the operational frequency of the CPU is reduced to a level corresponding to a load of the CPU with the increased processing power after the increase in the number of operating cores. Thus, when the operational frequency of the CPU is high, the operational frequency of the CPU may be reduced by increasing the number of operating cores, and as a result, power to be consumed by the CPU may be reduced. 
     Specifically, when the operational frequency of the CPU is high and the number of operating cores of the CPU is increased, an operational point a1 of the curved line 1 transitions to an operational point c1 of the curved line 2. The operational frequency of the CPU is reduced after the transition to the operational point c1, and the operational point c1 transitions to an operational point b1 of the curved line 2 (power to be consumed at the operational point b1 is lower than power to be consumed at the operational point a1). 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 2B , however, when the operational frequency of the CPU is high and the number of operating cores of the CPU is increased, the processing power of the CPU is increased by 2, but the operational frequency of the CPU is not sufficiently reduced due to the lowest value of the operational frequency of the CPU. Thus, when the operational frequency of the CPU is low and the number of operating cores is increased, the operational frequency of the CPU may not be reduced, and as a result, power to be consumed by the CPU may not be sufficiently reduced. 
     Specifically, when the operational frequency of the CPU is low and the number of operating cores of the CPU is increased, an operational point a2 of the curved line 1 transitions to an operational point b2 of the curved line 2. The operational frequency of the CPU, however, may not be reduced after the transition to the operational point b2, and no further transition is made. Thus, even when the number of operating cores is increased, power to be consumed by the CPU may not be reduced. Actually, power to be consumed by the CPU is increased by increasing the number of operating cores. 
     Based on the aforementioned facts, when the operational frequency of the CPU is low, an increase in power to be consumed by the CPU is suppressed by prohibiting an increase in the number of operating cores in the following embodiments. The time “when the operational frequency of the CPU is low” corresponds the time when an operational point, which is among multiple operational points (plots of the curved line 2) after an increase in the number of operating cores of the CPU and at which power to be consumed is lower than that at an operational point (plot of the curved line 1) before the increase in the number of operating cores of the CPU, does not exist. 
     For example, as illustrated in  FIG. 1 , it is apparent that if the operational point before the increase in the number of operating cores of the CPU is “p1”, an operational point, which is among the multiple operational points of the curved line 2 and at which power to be consumed is lower than that at the operational point “p1”, exists. In addition, it is apparent that if the operational point before the increase in the number of operating cores of the CPU is “p2”, an operational point “p4”, which is among the multiple operational points of the curved line 2 and at which power to be consumed is lower than that at the operational point “p2”, exists. Thus, if the operational point before the increase in the number of operating cores of the CPU is “p1” or “p2”, power to be consumed by the CPU is reduced by increasing the number of operating cores. 
     It is apparent that if the operational point before the increase in the number of operating cores of the CPU is “p3”, an operational point, which is among the multiple plots of the curved line 2 and at which power to be consumed is lower than that at the operational point “p3”, does not exist. Thus, if the operational point before the increase in the number of operating cores of the CPU is “p3” and the number of operating cores is increased, power to be consumed by the CPU is not reduced. Thus, when the operational frequency of the CPU is lower than an operational frequency of the operational point “p3”, the number of operating cores of the CPU is not increased. 
     First Embodiment 
     A mobile information terminal  100  according to the first embodiment is described with reference to  FIGS. 3 to 13 . In the first embodiment, a smart phone, a tablet personal computer (PC), or the like may be used as the mobile information terminal  100 . ANDROID (registered trademark) may be used as an operating system (OS) installed in the mobile information terminal  100 . ANDROID includes an OS kernel, an application framework, and a library. A control program according to the first embodiment is included in the application framework or the library. The embodiments, however, are not limited to this. Another OS may be used instead of ANDROID. The control program according to the first embodiment may be included in a structure other than the application framework and the library. 
       FIG. 3  is an outline diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the mobile information terminal  100  according to the first embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 3 , the mobile information terminal  100  according to the first embodiment includes a central processing unit (CPU)  101 , a main memory  102 , an auxiliary memory  103 , a clock supplying circuit  104 , a voltage supplying circuit  105 , a display  106 , and a touch screen  107  as hardware modules. The hardware modules are connected to each other by a bus  108 . 
     The CPU  101  is a type of multi-core processor and is operated by a clock signal supplied by the clock supplying circuit  104  and a voltage supplied by the voltage supplying circuit  105  and controls the other hardware modules of the mobile information terminal  100 . The CPU  101  is a so-called dual-core CPU and includes a core (core 0)  1011  and a core (core 1)  1012 . The CPU  101  reads various programs stored in the auxiliary memory  103  and loads the programs into the main memory  102 . The CPU  101  executes the various programs loaded into the main memory  102  and thereby achieves various functions. Details of the various functions are described later. In the first embodiment, the dual-core CPU is used as the CPU  101 . The CPU  101 , however, may be another multi-core CPU such as a quad-core CPU and may include an arbitrary number of cores. 
     The main memory  102  stores the various programs to be executed by the CPU  101 . The main memory  102  is used as a work area of the CPU  101  and stores various types of data to be used for processing to be executed by the CPU  101 . As the main memory  102 , a random access memory (RAM) or the like may be used. 
     The auxiliary memory  103  stores the various programs to be used to operate the mobile information terminal  100 . Examples of the various programs are the operating system (OS) and application programs to be executed by the mobile information terminal  100 . The auxiliary memory  103  stores, as the application programs, an “application” that causes a content (execution result) to be displayed on the display  106  and enables a user to operate a screen, a “service” that does not cause a content to be displayed on the display  106  and is executed in the background for the execution of the application, and the like. When a plurality of applications are activated, however, the auxiliary memory  103  stores either an application (foreground application) that causes a content to be displayed in the foreground on the display  106  and enables the user to operate the screen in practice or an application (background application) that does not cause a content to be displayed in the foreground on the display  106  and does not enable the user to operate the screen in practice. The control program according to the first embodiment is stored in the auxiliary memory  103 . As the auxiliary memory  103 , a hard disk or a nonvolatile memory such as a flash memory may be used. 
     The display  106  is controlled by the CPU  101  and displays image information to the user. The touch screen  107  is attached to the display  106  and used to enter information of a position touched by a finger of the user or an edge of a pen. 
       FIG. 4  is an outline diagram illustrating functional blocks of the mobile information terminal  100  according to the first embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the mobile information terminal  100  according to the first embodiment includes circuitry (programmed or dedicated hardware) that implement an application execution manager  201 , a CPU core control determining section  202 , a system load measurer  203 , a thread load measurer  204 , a CPU frequency controller  205 , a CPU frequency and state setting section  206 , a process and system manager  207 , a CPU state controller  208 , a timer  209 , application and service execution information  301 , CPU core control parameter information  302 , CPU control information  303 , process execution information  304 , and system state information  305 . 
     The application execution manager  201 , the CPU core control determining section  202 , the system load measurer  203 , the thread load measurer  204 , the CPU frequency controller  205 , the CPU frequency and state setting section  206 , the process and system manager  207 , the CPU state controller  208 , the timer  209 , the application and service execution information  301 , the CPU core control parameter information  302 , the CPU control information  303 , the process execution information  304 , and the system state information  305  are each achieved by causing the CPU  101  to execute the OS kernel of ANDROID or the application framework and the library. 
     The application and service execution information  301 , the CPU core control parameter information  302 , the CPU control information  303 , the process execution information  304 , and the system state information  305  are built in the auxiliary memory  103 . 
     The application execution manager  201  manages the execution and termination of the programs such as the application and the service. Specifically, when a usage environment for an application program such as the application or the service or the state of a process of the application or service is changed, the application execution manager  201  updates the “type” or “state” of the application and service execution information  301  (described later). As usage environments, the foreground and the background are defined. For example, when the application program starts to be executed in the foreground or is activated or restarted in the foreground, the application execution manager  201  accesses the application and service execution information  301  and updates the “type” to the “foreground” and the “state” to “currently executed”. 
     The CPU core control determining section  202  periodically monitors an operational state of a system and determines whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is increased or reduced. Specifically, the CPU core control determining section  202  references the system state information  305 , the CPU core control parameter information  302 , and the like and changes a detail set in “cpu1/online” of the CPU control information  303  on the basis of “run-queue-avg” (the average of the lengths of run queues for threads), the number (parallelism level) of threads executed by the CPU  101 , the number of operating cores of the CPU  101 , the operational frequency of the CPU  101 , and various control parameters. 
     The thread load measurer  204  references the process execution information  304  and calculates, on the basis of accumulated execution times, a parallelism level of threads executed by the CPU  101 . 
     The system load measurer  203  monitors the operational state of the overall system, references details stored in the “run-queue-avg” and “CPU utilization” of the system state information  305 , and uses the referenced details to determine control of the cores. 
     The CPU frequency controller  205  periodically references the system state information  305  and instructs, on the basis of the “CPU utilization” of the system state information  305 , the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  to change the operational frequency of an operating core of the CPU  101 . 
     The CPU frequency and state setting section  206  turns on or off the core (core 1)  1012  of the CPU  101  on the basis of an ON or OFF instruction provided by the CPU state controller  208 . In addition, the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  controls the operational frequency of an operating core of the CPU  101  on the basis of the instruction provided by the CPU frequency controller  205  and indicating the change in the operational frequency. 
     The process and system manager  207  monitors an execution state of a process executed by the CPU  101  and updates an “execution state” and “accumulated execution time” of the process execution information  304 . In addition, the process and system manager  207  monitors the operational state of the overall system and updates “Online”, “Offline” “run-queue-avg”, “CPU utilization”, and “operational frequency” of the system state information  305 . 
     The CPU state controller  208  periodically monitors the CPU control information  303  and notifies the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  of an ON or OFF instruction on the basis of the “cpu1/online” of the CPU control information  303 . For example, when the core (core 1)  1012  is in an ON state and the “cpu1/online” is changed from “1” to “0”, the CPU state controller  208  notifies the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  of the OFF instruction so as to instruct the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  to turn off the core (core 1)  1012 . On the other hand, when the core (core 1)  1012  is in an OFF state and the “cpu1/online” is changed from “0” to “1”, the CPU state controller  208  notifies the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  of the ON instruction so as to instruct the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  to turn on the core (core 1)  1012 . 
     The timer  209  notifies the application execution manager  201 , the CPU core control determining section  202 , the system load measurer  203 , the thread load measurer  204 , the CPU frequency controller  205 , the CPU frequency and state setting section  206 , the process and system manager  207 , and the CPU state controller  208  of the current time acquired from a real time clock circuit (not illustrated), for example. 
       FIG. 5  is an outline diagram illustrating the application and service execution information  301  according to the first embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the application and service execution information  301  stores a “process ID”, a “program name”, a “type”, and a “state” for each of the application programs. The application and service execution information  301  stores information of processes of all the application programs to be executed by the CPU  101 . Thus, the application and service execution information  301  stores information of processes of applications (foreground applications and background applications) and services, for example. The “foreground” and the “background” are defined as “types”. As “states”, “currently executed”, “standby”, “executable”, “currently stopped”, and “zombie” are defined. The “types” and “states” of the application and service execution information  301  are updated by the application execution manager  201 . 
       FIG. 6  is an outline diagram illustrating the CPU core control parameter information  302  according to the first embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 6 , the CPU core control parameter information  302  stores, as control parameters, a “first frequency threshold”, a “second frequency threshold”, a “first run queue length threshold”, a “second run queue length threshold”, a “duration threshold”, a “lower limit for thread load measurement”, a “third run queue length threshold”, and a “parallelism level threshold”. 
     The “first frequency threshold”, the “second frequency threshold”, the “first run queue length threshold”, the “second run queue length threshold”, the “duration threshold”, the “lower limit for thread load measurement”, and the “parallelism level threshold” are each used in order to determine whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is increased or whether or not the core (core 1)  1012  of the CPU  101  is turned on. The “duration threshold” and the “third run queue length threshold” are each used in order to determine whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is reduced or whether or not the core (core 1)  1012  of the CPU  101  is turned off. 
     The control parameters according to the first embodiment are not limited to the parameters stored in the CPU core control parameter information  302  and are set for each of configurations such as the minimum operational frequency of the CPU  101 . The minimum operational frequency is the minimum value among multiple operational frequencies set to the CPU  101 . The minimum value is set for each of the configurations of the CPU  101  or set by the OS. 
       FIG. 7  is an outline diagram illustrating the CPU control information  303  according to the first embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 7 , the CPU control information  303  stores “0” or “1” as the “cpu1/online” that determines whether the core (core 1)  1012  of the CPU  101  is turned on or off. In the first embodiment, “0” is assigned to an instruction to turn off the core (core 1)  1012 , and “1” is assigned to an instruction to turn on the core (core 1)  1012 . Thus, if “0” is registered in the “cpu1/online” of the CPU control information  303 , the CPU state controller  208  instructs the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  to turn off the core (core 1)  1012 . If “1” is registered in the “cpu1/online” of the CPU control information  303 , the CPU state controller  208  instructs the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  to turn on the core (core 1)  1012 . 
       FIG. 8  is an outline diagram illustrating the process execution information  304  according to the first embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 8 , the process execution information  304  is created for each of threads generated by the CPU  101  and stores a “thread ID (Sid)”, an “execution state (State)”, a “parent process ID (Ppid)”, and an “accumulated execution time” for each of the threads. The “parent process ID (Ppid)” is the ID of a parent process of the interested thread. For example, when multiple threads are generated from the same application program, the same “parent process ID (Ppid)” is stored for each of the multiple threads. 
     The “accumulated execution time” is stored as an accumulated execution time of an application program such as an application or a service. The “accumulated execution time” starts to be counted when the application program is activated. The “thread IDs”, “execution states”, “parent process IDs”, and “accumulated execution times” of the process execution information  304  are updated by the process and system manager  207  for each of monitoring operations. 
       FIG. 9  is an outline diagram illustrating the system state information  305  according to the first embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 9 , the system state information  305  stores the “Online (the number of an online CPU core)”, the “Offline (the number of an offline CPU core)”, the “run-queue-avg”, the “CPU utilization (%)”, and the “operational frequency (MHz)”. A number of an operating core of the CPU  101  is stored in the “Online”. A number of a core that is not operating and is included in the CPU  101  is stored in the “Offline”. When the core (core 0)  1011  and the core (core 1)  1012  are operating, “0” and “1” are stored in the “Online” and no value is stored in the “Offline”. When only the core (core 0)  1011  is operating, “0” is stored in the “Online” and “1” is stored in the “Offline”. The “run-queue-avg” indicates the latest average of the numbers of threads waiting to be executed by the CPU  101 . The “CPU utilization” indicates the CPU utilization of the overall system or the total of execution times of all threads per unit time. The “operational frequency” indicates the operational frequency of the CPU  101 . The “Online”, “Offline”, “run-queue-avg”, “CPU utilization”, and “operational frequency” of the system state information  305  are updated by the process and system manager  207  for each of the monitoring operations. 
       FIG. 10  is a flowchart of a process of determining control of the CPU core according to the first embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 10 , the CPU core control determining section  202  executes a process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is increased (in step S 001 ). The process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is described later in detail. 
     Next, the CPU core control determining section  202  executes a process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is reduced (in step S 002 ). The process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is reduced is described later in detail. 
     Then, the CPU core control determining section  202  sets the timer  209  for the periodical monitoring and changes to a sleep state (in step S 003 ). A time to be set in the timer  209  is not limited. The first embodiment assumes that the time to be set in the timer  209  is 10 milliseconds. After the set time elapses and the timer  209  expires, the CPU core control determining section  202  executes the process of determining control of the CPU core again from the process of step S 001 . 
       FIG. 11  is a flowchart of the process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased according to the first embodiment. 
     The process of determining whether or not the operation of the core (core 1)  1012  is started is described on the premise that only the core (core 0)  1011  of the CPU  101  is operating. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 11 , the CPU core control determining section  202  references the system state information  305  and determines whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is 1 (in step S 011 ). Specifically, the CPU core control determining section  202  determines whether or not only “0” that is the number of the core “core 0” 1011 is registered in the “Online”. When the CPU core control determining section  202  determines whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is 1, the CPU core control determining section  202  starts measuring the duration of a condition on the basis of time information provided by the timer  209 . 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the number of operating cores is not 1 (No in step S 011 ), the CPU core control determining section  202  terminates the process (according to the first embodiment) of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is 1 (Yes in step S 011 ), the CPU core control determining section  202  references the CPU core control parameter information  302  and acquires control parameters corresponding to the case where the number of operating cores is 1 (in step S 012 ). Specifically, the CPU core control determining section  202  acquires, as the control parameters, the “first frequency threshold”, “second frequency threshold”, “first run queue length threshold”, “second run queue length threshold”, “duration threshold”, “lower limit for thread load measurement”, and “parallelism level threshold” of the CPU core control parameter information  302 . 
     Next, the CPU core control determining section  202  references the system state information  305  and sets a thread load measurement flag (in step S 013 ). Specifically, if the operational frequency, stored in the system state information  305 , of the CPU  101  is higher than the “lower limit for thread load measurement”, the CPU core control determining section  202  stores “1” in the thread load measurement flag. If the operational frequency, stored in the system state information  305 , of the CPU  101  is not higher than the “lower limit for thread load measurement”, the CPU core control determining section  202  stores “0” in the thread load measurement flag. The thread load measurement flag is used in order to determine whether or not a parallelism level is calculated for each of threads. If “1” is stored in the thread load measurement flag, the thread load measurer  204  calculates CPU utilization for each of the threads. If “0” is stored in the thread load measurement flag, the thread load measurer  204  does not calculate CPU utilization for each of the threads. 
     Next, the CPU core control determining section  202  determines whether or not the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is higher than the “first frequency threshold” (in step S 014 ). The first embodiment assumes that the “first frequency threshold” is “700 MHz”. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is not higher than the “first frequency threshold” (No in step S 014 ) or is equal to or lower than 700 MHz, the CPU core control determining section  202  initializes the duration of the condition on the basis of time information provided by the timer  209  (in step S 023 ) or sets the duration of the condition to 0 (seconds) and terminates the process (according to the first embodiment) of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased. 
     In the first embodiment, if the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is not higher than the “first frequency threshold” (700 MHz), the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that power to be consumed by the CPU  101  is not reduced by increasing the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  and the CPU core control determining section  202  does not increase the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  and terminates the process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is higher than the “first frequency threshold” (Yes in step S 014 ) or 700 MHz, the CPU core control determining section  202  determines whether or not the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is higher than the “second frequency threshold” (in step S 015 ). The first embodiment assumes that the “second frequency threshold” is “1000 MHz”. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is higher than the “second frequency threshold” (Yes in step S 015 ) or 1000 MHz, the CPU core control determining section  202  references the system state information  305  and determines whether or not the length of a run queue for threads is larger than the “second run queue length threshold” and whether or not the parallelism level of the threads is larger than the “parallelism level threshold” (in step S 016 ). The first embodiment assumes that the “second run queue length threshold” is “1.5” and the “parallelism level threshold” is “2”. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the length of the run queue for the threads is not larger than the “second run queue length threshold” and that the parallelism level of the threads is not larger than the “parallelism level threshold” (No in step S 016 ), or the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the length of the run queue for the threads is not larger than 1.5 and that the parallelism level of the threads is not larger than 2, the CPU core control determining section  202  initializes the duration of the condition on the basis of time information provided by the timer  209  (in step S 023 ) or sets the duration of the condition to 0 (seconds) and terminates the process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the length of the run queue for the threads is larger than the “second run queue length threshold” and that the parallelism level of the threads is larger than the “parallelism level threshold” (Yes in step S 016 ), or the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the length of the run queue for the threads is larger than 1.5 and that the parallelism level of the threads is larger than 2, the CPU core control determining section  202  updates the duration of the condition on the basis of time information provided by the timer  209  (in step S 017 ). 
     Next, the CPU core control determining section  202  determines whether or not the duration of the condition is larger than the “duration threshold” (in step S 018 ). The first embodiment assumes that the “duration threshold” is “300 milliseconds”. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the duration of the condition is not larger than the “duration threshold” (No in step S 018 ) or is equal to or smaller than 300 milliseconds, the CPU core control determining section  202  terminates the process (according to the first embodiment) of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the duration of the condition is larger than the “duration threshold” (Yes in step S 018 ) or 300 milliseconds, the CPU core control determining section  202  operates the core (core 1)  1012  of the CPU  101  or increases the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  (in step S 019 ) and terminates the process (according to the first embodiment) of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased. Specifically, the CPU core control determining section  202  updates the “cpu1/online” of the CPU control information  303  to “1”. When the “cpu1/online” is updated to “1”, the CPU state controller  208  instructs the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  to turn on the core (core 1)  1012 , and as a result, both core (core 0)  1011  and core (core 1)  1012  operate. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is not higher than the “second frequency threshold” (No in step S 015 ) or is higher than 700 MHz and not higher than 1000 MHz, the CPU core control determining section  202  determines whether or not the length of the run queue for the threads is larger than the “first run queue length threshold” (in step S 020 ). The first embodiment assumes that the “first run queue length threshold” is “2.0”. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the length of the run queue for the threads is not larger than the “first run queue length threshold” (No in step S 020 ) or is equal to or smaller than “2.0”, the CPU core control determining section  202  initializes the duration of the condition on the basis of time information provided by the timer  209  (in step S 023 ) or sets the duration of the condition to 0 (seconds) and terminates the process (according to the first embodiment) of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the length of the run queue for the threads is larger than the “first run queue length threshold” (Yes in step S 020 ) or “2.0”, the CPU core control determining section  202  updates the duration of the condition on the basis of time information provided by the timer  209  (in step S 021 ). 
     In the first embodiment, if the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is in a range of the “first frequency threshold” to the “second frequency threshold” (or in a range of 700 MHz to 1000 MHz), the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that it is highly likely that power to be consumed by the CPU  101  is not reduced by increasing the number of operating cores of the CPU  101 . Thus, the CPU core control determining section  202  uses the “first run queue length threshold” in order to determine whether to increase the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  and thereby provides an environment in which the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is hardly increased. Note that the “first run queue length threshold” is larger than the “second run queue length threshold”. 
     Next, the CPU core control determining section  202  determines whether or not the duration of the condition is larger than the “duration threshold” (in step S 022 ). The first embodiment assumes that the “duration threshold” is “300 milliseconds”. If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the duration of the condition is not larger than the “duration threshold” (No in step S 022 ) or is equal to or smaller than 300 milliseconds, the CPU core control determining section  202  terminates the process (according to the first embodiment) of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the duration of the condition is larger than the “duration threshold” (Yes in step S 022 ) or 300 milliseconds, the CPU core control determining section  202  operates the core (core 1)  1012  or increases the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  (in step S 019 ) and the terminates the process (according to the first embodiment) of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased. Specifically, the CPU core control determining section  202  updates the “cpu1/online” of the CPU control information  303  to “1”. 
     In the first embodiment, if the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is equal to or lower than the “first frequency threshold” (700 MHz), the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that power to be consumed by the CPU  101  is not reduced by increasing the number of operating cores of the CPU  101 , and the CPU core control determining section  202  does not increase the number of operating cores of the CPU  101 . Thus, an unwanted increase in the number of operating cores may be suppressed. For example, an increase, caused by an increase in the number of operating cores, in power to be consumed by the CPU  101  may be suppressed. 
     In the first embodiment, however, if the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is in the range of the “first frequency threshold” to the “second frequency threshold (or in the range of 700 MHz to 1000 MHz), the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that it is highly likely that power to be consumed by the CPU  101  is not reduced by increasing the number of operating cores of the CPU  101 . Thus, the CPU core control determining section  202  uses the “first run queue length threshold” in order to whether to increase the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  and thereby provides the environment in which the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is hardly increased. Thus, an unwanted increase in the number of operating cores may be suppressed. For example, an increase, caused by an increase in the number of operating cores, in power to be consumed by the CPU  101  may be suppressed. 
       FIG. 12  is a flowchart of a process of measuring a thread load according to the first embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 12 , the thread load measurer  204  references the CPU core control parameter information  302  and acquires the “parallelism level threshold” corresponding to the case where the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is 1 (in step S 031 ). The first embodiment assumes that the “parallelism level threshold” is “2”. 
     Next, the thread load measurer  204  determines whether or not the thread load measurement flag is in an ON state or whether or not “1” is stored in the thread load measurement flag (in step S 032 ). 
     If the thread load measurer  204  determines that the thread load measurement flag is not in the ON state (No in step S 032 ) or that “1” is not stored in the thread load measurement flag, the thread load measurer  204  determines again whether or not the thread load measurement flag is in the ON state (in step S 032 ). 
     If the thread load measurer  204  determines that the thread load measurement flag is in the ON state (Yes in step S 032 ) or that “1” is stored in the thread load measurement flag, the thread load measurer  204  references the application and service execution information  301  and the process execution information  304  and calculates CPU utilization for each of threads of a process to be measured (in step S 033 ). Specifically, the thread load measurer  204  first references the application and service execution information  301  and acquires a process ID of a foreground application. Subsequently, the thread load measurer  204  references the process execution information  304  and identifies the threads of which the parent process is the foreground application associated with the process ID. Then, the thread load measurer  204  calculates CPU utilization for each of the threads on the basis of accumulated execution times of the threads. 
     Next, the thread load measurer  204  calculates a parallelism level of threads executed by the CPU  101  on the basis of the CPU utilization calculated for the threads and a CPU utilization threshold (in step S 034 ). Specifically, the thread load measurer  204  calculates the number of threads of which CPU utilization is higher than the CPU utilization threshold. The first embodiment assumes that the CPU utilization threshold is 40%. 
     Then, the thread load measurer  204  sets the timer  209  for the periodical monitoring and changes to a sleep state (in step S 035 ). A time set in the timer  209  is not limited. The first embodiment, however, assumes that the time set in the timer  209  is several tens of milliseconds. After the set time elapses and the timer  209  expires, the thread load measurer  204  executes the process of measuring a thread load from the process of step S 031 . 
     In the first embodiment, when the operational frequency of the CPU  101  is equal to or lower than the “lower limit for thread load measurement”, the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that power to be consumed by the CPU  101  is not reduced by increasing the number of operating cores of the CPU  101 , and the thread load measurer  204  does not start the calculation of the parallelism level of the threads. Note that the “lower limit for thread load measurement” is equal to or lower than the “first frequency threshold”. Thus, power to be consumed for the calculation of the parallelism level of the threads may be reduced. 
       FIG. 13  is a flowchart of a process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is reduced according to the first embodiment. 
     The process of determining whether or not the operation of the core (core 1)  1012  is stopped is described on the premise that both cores (cores 0 and 1)  1011  and  1012  of the CPU  101  are operating. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 13 , the CPU core control determining section  202  references the CPU core control parameter information  302  and acquires control parameters corresponding to the case where the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is 2 (in step S 041 ). Specifically, the CPU core control determining section  202  acquires, as the control parameters, the “duration threshold” and “third run queue length threshold” of the CPU core control parameter information  302 . 
     Next, the CPU core control determining section  202  references the system state information  305  and determines whether or not the length of the run queue for the threads is smaller than the “third run queue length threshold” (in step S 042 ). The first embodiment assumes that the “third run queue length threshold” is “1.2”. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the length of the run queue for the threads is not smaller than the “third run queue length threshold” (No in step S 042 ) or is equal to or larger than 1.2, the CPU core control determining section  202  initializes the duration of the condition on the basis of time information provided by the timer  209  (in step S 046 ) or sets the duration to 0 (seconds) and terminates the process (according to the first embodiment) of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is reduced. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the length of the run queue for the threads is smaller than the “third run queue length threshold” (Yes in step S 042 ) or 1.2, the CPU core control determining section  202  updates the duration of the condition on the basis of time information provided by the timer  209  (in step S 043 ). 
     Next, the CPU core control determining section  202  determines whether or not the duration of the condition is larger than the “duration threshold” (in step S 044 ). The first embodiment assumes that the “duration threshold” is “300 milliseconds”. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the duration of the condition is not larger than the “duration threshold” (No in step S 044 ) or is equal to or smaller than 300 milliseconds, the CPU core control determining section  202  terminates the process (according to the first embodiment) of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is reduced. 
     If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the duration of the condition is larger than the “duration threshold” (Yes in step S 044 ) or 300 milliseconds, the CPU core control determining section  202  stops the operation of the core (core 1)  1012  of the CPU  101  or reduces the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  (in step S 045 ). Specifically, the CPU core control determining section  202  updates the “cpu1/online” of the CPU control information  303  to “0”. When the “cpu1/online” is updated to “0”, the CPU state controller  208  instructs the CPU frequency and state setting section  206  to turn off the core (core 1)  1012 , and the operation of the core (core 1)  1012  is stopped. 
     Second Embodiment 
     A mobile information terminal  100 A according to the second embodiment is described below with reference to  FIGS. 14 to 17 . 
       FIG. 14  is an outline diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the mobile information terminal  100 A according to the second embodiment. 
     The CPU  101  of the mobile information terminal  100  according to the first embodiment has the core (core 0)  1011  and the core (core 1)  1012 , while a CPU  101 A of the mobile information terminal  100 A according to the second embodiment has the core (core 0)  1011 , the core (core 1)  1012 , a core (core 2)  1013 , and a core (core 3)  1014 . 
       FIG. 15  is an outline diagram illustrating functional blocks of the mobile information terminal  100 A according to the second embodiment. 
     In the second embodiment, the mobile information terminal  100 A has a CPU core control determining section  202 A, CPU core control parameter information  302 A, and system state information  305 A in order to achieve a process of determining control of the four cores of the CPU  101 A. 
     The CPU core control determining section  202 A, the CPU core control parameter information  302 A, and the system state information  305 A are each achieved by causing the CPU  101 A to execute the OS kernel of ANDROID or the application framework and the library. The CPU core control parameter information  302 A and the system state information  305 A are built in the auxiliary memory  103 . 
       FIG. 16  is an outline diagram illustrating the CPU core control parameter information  302 A according to the second embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 16 , the CPU core control parameter information  302 A according to the second embodiment stores the control parameters of the CPU core control parameter information  302  according to the first embodiment, control parameters corresponding to the case where the number of operating cores of the CPU  101 A is “3”, and control parameters corresponding to the case where the number of operating cores of the CPU  101 A is “4”. 
       FIG. 17  is an outline diagram illustrating the system state information  305 A according to the second embodiment. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 17 , the system state information  305 A according to the second embodiment stores “0”, “1”, “2”, and “3” in the “Online” and “Offline”, while “0” indicates the number of the core (core 0)  1011 , “1” indicates the number of the core (core 1)  1012 , “2” indicates the number of the core (core 2)  1013 , and “3” indicates the number of the core (core 3)  1014 . 
     The CPU core control determining section  202  according to the first embodiment determines whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is 1 (in step S 011 ). If the CPU core control determining section  202  determines that the number of operating cores of the CPU  101  is 1 (Yes in step S 011 ), the CPU core control determining section  202  acquires the control parameters corresponding to the case where the number of operating cores is 1 (in step S 012 ). 
     On the other hand, the CPU core control determining section  202 A according to the second embodiment does not determine whether or not the number of operating cores of the CPU  101 A is 1. The CPU core control determining section  202 A references the system state information  305 A and acquires the number of operating cores of the CPU  101 A. Subsequently, the CPU core control determining section  202 A according to the second embodiment references the CPU core control parameter information  302 A and acquires control parameters associated with the acquired number of operating cores, instead of acquiring the control parameters corresponding to the case where the number of operating cores is 1. 
     Then, the CPU core control determining section  202 A uses the control parameters associated with the acquired number of operating cores and thereby executes the process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is increased and the process of determining whether or not the number of operating cores is reduced. 
     The technique disclosed herein, therefore, is not only applied to the dual-core CPU but also applied to another multi-core CPU such as a quad-core CPU. 
     The first and second embodiments assume that the mobile information terminals  100  and  100 A are smart phones, tablet PCs, or the like. The mobile information terminals  100  and  100 A, however, are not limited to those devices. The first and second embodiments are applicable to desktop PCs and server devices as long as the desktop PCs and the server devices each have a multi-core CPU. 
     All examples and conditional language recited herein are intended for pedagogical purposes to aid the reader in understanding the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions, nor does the organization of such examples in the specification relate to a showing of the superiority and inferiority of the invention. Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail, it should be understood that the various changes, substitutions, and alterations could be made hereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Technology Category: 4