Chip transient temperature predictor
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsChen-Yong Cher, Haifeng Qian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An integrated circuit (IC) includes: a plurality of hardware performance counters; a thermal sensor; and a micro-controller. The micro-controller generates a plurality of thermal predictors based on values of the counters and temperatures sensed by the thermal sensor. The thermal predictors include first and second rising thermal delta predictors to predict rising temperature deltas and first and second falling thermal delta predictors to predict falling temperature deltas. The micro-controller predicts a future temperature of the IC based on an idle temperature of the IC and a selected one of the temperature deltas.
Claims20
A method of predicting a future temperature within an integrated circuit (IC) to prevent a malfunction of the IC, comprising:
- generating, first and second rising thermal delta predictors, based on values of hardware counters of the IC and temperatures sensed by a thermal sensor within the IC, to predict rising temperature deltas;
- predicting the future temperature based on an idle temperature of the IC and a selected one of the temperature deltas;
- and
- performing an action to prevent an internal temperature of the IC from reaching the predicted future temperature, when the predicted future temperature exceeds a threshold temperature,
- wherein the predicted future temperature is a temperature at which the IC experiences the malfunction when the predicted future temperature exceeds the threshold temperature.
An integrated circuit (IC) comprising:
- a plurality of hardware performance counters;
- a thermal sensor;
- and
- a micro-controller,
- wherein the micro-controller generates a plurality of thermal predictors based on values of the counters and temperatures sensed by the thermal sensor, the thermal predictors comprising first and second rising thermal delta predictors to predict rising temperature deltas, wherein the micro-controller predicts a future temperature of the IC based on an idle temperature of the IC and a selected one of the temperature deltas, and performs an action to prevent an internal temperature of the IC from reaching the predicted future temperature, when the predicted future temperature exceeds a threshold temperature, wherein the predicted future temperature is a temperature at which the IC experiences a malfunction when the predicted future temperature exceeds the threshold temperature.
A computer program product for predicting a future temperature within an integrated circuit (IC) to prevent a malfunction of the IC, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a computer to perform a method comprising:
- generating, first and second rising thermal delta predictors to predict rising temperature deltas;
- predicting the future temperature based on an idle temperature of the IC and a selected one of the temperature deltas;
- and
- performing one of i) reducing an operating frequency of a central processing unit (CPU) of the IC, ii) directing the CPU to switch from executing a first task to executing a second task, and iii) increasing a priority of the first task and decreasing a priority of the second task, when the predicted future temperature exceeds a threshold temperature, wherein the predicted future temperature is a temperature at which the IC experiences the malfunction when the predicted future temperature exceeds the threshold temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.