Mitigating voltage droop

An apparatus comprising an electric circuit configured to:

• perform a first determination that a timing margin is less than a first threshold, wherein the first threshold comprises a high-edge threshold and a low-edge threshold, and wherein performing the first determination comprises:
• generating a history of critical-path monitor sensor signals within a plurality of sampling windows, wherein the history comprises a plurality of high-edge critical-path monitor (CPM) signals and a plurality of low-edge CPM signals;
• identifying the high-edge CPM signals based on the high-edge threshold and the low-edge threshold;
• identifying the low-edge CPM signals based on the high-edge threshold and the low-edge threshold;
• and
• determining that one of the low-edge CPM signals occurs after one of the high-edge CPM signals within the history;
• perform a second determination that an increase in processor activity exceeds a second threshold;
• determine that a voltage droop is indicated based on the first determination and the second determination;
• and
• signal a plurality of throttling circuits for a corresponding plurality of cores of a computer processor to actuate.

A system comprising:

• a computer processing circuit comprising a plurality of cores;
• and
• a voltage droop mitigation circuit, which, when activated, is configured to:
• perform a first determination that a timing margin is less than a first threshold, wherein the first threshold comprises a high-edge threshold and a low-edge threshold, and wherein performing the first determination comprises:
• generating a history of critical-path monitor sensor signals within a plurality of sampling windows, wherein the history comprises a plurality of high-edge critical-path monitor (CPM) signals and a plurality of low-edge CPM signals;
• identifying the high-edge CPM signals based on the high-edge threshold and the low-edge threshold;
• identifying the low-edge CPM signals based on the high-edge threshold and the low-edge threshold;
• and
• determining that one of the low-edge CPM signals occurs after one of the high-edge CPM signals within the history;
• perform a second determination that an increase in processor activity exceeds a second threshold;
• determine that a voltage droop is indicated based on the first determination and the second determination;
• and
• signal a plurality of throttling circuits corresponding to the plurality of cores to actuate.