# US 11,442,491 B2 · Dynamic power monitor monitoring power basted on clock cycle, processor, and system on chip > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 11,442,491 B2 - Document ID: US11442491B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/931,043 - Filed: 2020-05-13 - Published: 2021-04-22 - Granted: 2022-09-13 - Earliest claimed: 2019-10-16 - Assignees: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. - Applicants: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. - Inventors: Byung-Su Kim; Taekkyun Shin; Chun-Guan Kim; Yohan Kwon; Yun Heo - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11442491B2 ## CPC - G06F 1/08: Clock generators with changeable or programmable clock frequency - G06F 1/3206: Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality - G06F 1/10: Distribution of clock signals {, e.g. skew} - G06F 1/26: Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C) - G06F 1/3234: Power saving characterised by the action undertaken - G06F 1/324: by lowering clock frequency - G06F 1/3296: by lowering the supply or operating voltage - G06F 9/546: {Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues} - G06F 11/3013: {where the computing system is an embedded system, i.e. a combination of hardware and software dedicated to perform a certain function in mobile devices, printers, automotive or aircraft systems (testing or monitoring of control systems or parts thereof G05B23/02)} - G06F 11/3058: {Monitoring arrangements for monitoring environmental properties or parameters of the computing system or of the computing system component, e.g. monitoring of power, currents, temperature, humidity, position, vibrations (thermal management in cooling arrangements of a computing system G06F1/206)} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A dynamic power monitor for monitoring a power of a block in an integrated circuit is provided. The dynamic power monitor includes an input buffer configured to store first state values corresponding to internal signals of the block according to a first cycle of a clock signal; a power calculator configured to identify first power classification values corresponding to the block according to the first cycle, based on the first state values; and a filter configured to identify a first filtered value of the first power classification values. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A dynamic power monitor for monitoring power of a block in an integrated circuit, the dynamic power monitor comprising: an input buffer circuit configured to store state values corresponding to internal signals of the block according to a clock signal; power calculation circuitry configured to identify a first power classification value of the block corresponding to a first cycle of the clock signal based on the state values corresponding to the first cycle, and a second power classification value of the block corresponding to a second cycle of the clock signal based on the state values corresponding to the second cycle; and a filter circuit configured to identify a first filtered value corresponding to a first interval comprising the first cycle based on the first power classification value and a second filtered value corresponding to a second interval comprising the second cycle based on the second power classification value; transition calculation circuitry configured to identify a transition value based on a difference between the first filtered value and the second filtered value; and output circuitry configured to generate a trigger signal indicating whether the transition value exceeds a reference value. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The dynamic power monitor of claim 1, wherein the first power classification value and the second power classification value are selected from among a plurality of ranges, each of which corresponds to a power range of the block. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The dynamic power monitor of claim 1, wherein the internal signals comprise at least one from among: a clock gating signal configured to control whether the clock signal is provided to a flip-flop of the block; and a block enable signal configured to selectively enable the block. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The dynamic power monitor of claim 1, wherein the power calculation circuitry is configured to implement: a linear regression calculator configured to identify a first power value, based on the state values corresponding to the first cycle, linear regression coefficients, and an error variable; and an encoder configured to provide the first power classification value based on a classification of the first power value. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The dynamic power monitor of claim 1, wherein the power calculation circuitry is further configured to execute a deep neural network configured to receive the state values stored in the input buffer circuit and output the first power classification value and the second power classification value. ### Claim 6 A processor comprising: a plurality of cores, each of which comprises an internal logic circuit and a dynamic power monitor circuit, the internal logic circuit being configured to operate based on an operating voltage and a clock signal, and the dynamic power monitor circuit being configured to monitor power by using state values of internal signals of the internal logic circuit according to cycles of the clock signal to obtain filtered values of the power classification values of the cores and identify transition values based on difference values between the filtered values to obtain a monitoring result; an output control circuit configured to generate a trigger signal based on the monitoring result obtained by the dynamic power monitor circuit of each of the plurality of cores; a clock manager circuit configured to scale the clock signal provided to the plurality of cores based on the trigger signal; and an internal voltage regulator configured to scale the operating voltage provided to the plurality of cores based on the trigger signal. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The processor of claim 6, wherein the dynamic power monitor circuit is configured to implement: an input buffer configured to receive the internal signals and store the state values of the internal signals according to the cycles of the clock signal; a power calculator configured to identify a power classification value of a corresponding core from among the plurality of cores, according to the cycles of the clock signal, based on the state values of the internal signals; and a filter configured to identify, according to the cycles of the clock signal, the filtered values of the power classification value of the corresponding core, and wherein the monitoring result comprises the filtered values. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The processor of claim 7, wherein the power classification value of the corresponding core indicates one from among a plurality of ranges divided corresponding to a power range of each of the plurality of cores. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The processor of claim 7, wherein the dynamic power monitor circuit is configured to implement a transition calculator configured to identify the difference values between the filtered values, and wherein the monitoring result further comprises the difference values. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The processor of claim 9, wherein the trigger signal of the output control circuit indicates whether one of the filtered values exceeds a first reference value and whether one of the difference values exceeds a second reference value. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The processor of claim 10, wherein the clock manager circuit is further configured to increase a frequency of the clock signal based on the trigger signal indicating that one of the filtered values exceeds the first reference value, and wherein the internal voltage regulator is further configured to increase a level of the operating voltage based on the trigger signal indicating that one of the filtered values exceeds the first reference value. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The processor of claim 10, wherein the clock manager circuit is further configured to decrease and then increase a frequency of the clock signal based on the trigger signal indicating that one of the difference values exceeds the second reference value. ### Claim 13 (depends on 6) The processor of claim 6, wherein the internal logic circuit comprises: a first flip-flop; a first clock gating circuit configured to gate the clock signal to the first flip-flop according to a first clock gating signal; a second flip-flop; a second clock gating circuit configured to gate the clock signal to the second flip-flop according to a second clock gating signal; and a combinational logic circuit connected between the first flip-flop and the second flip-flop, and wherein the internal signals comprise the first clock gating signal and the second clock gating signal. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The processor of claim 13, wherein the internal signals further comprise a core enable signal configured to selectively enable each of the plurality of cores and a temperature signal configured to selectively enable the processor according to a temperature of the processor. ### Claim 15 A system on chip comprising: a central processing unit cluster comprising a plurality of first cores, each of which comprises a first dynamic power monitor circuit configured to obtain a first monitoring result based on filtered values by filtering first power classification values provided by the first dynamic power monitor circuit of each of the plurality of first cores, and identify transition values based on difference values between the filtered values of each of the plurality of first cores; a graphics processing unit cluster comprising a plurality of second cores, each of which comprises a second dynamic power monitor circuit configured to obtain a second monitoring result based on filtered values by filtering second power classification values provided by the second dynamic power monitor circuit of each of the plurality of second cores, and identify transition values based on difference values between the filtered values of each of the plurality of second cores; a first internal voltage regulator configured to scale a first operating voltage provided to the plurality of first cores based on the first monitoring result, according to a first clock signal; a first clock manager circuit configured to scale the first clock signal provided to the plurality of first cores based on the first monitoring result; a second internal voltage regulator configured to scale a second operating voltage provided to the plurality of second cores based on the second monitoring result, according to a second clock signal; and a second clock manager circuit configured to scale the second clock signal provided to the plurality of second cores based on the second monitoring result. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The system on chip of claim 15, wherein the first dynamic power monitor circuit is configured to generate the first monitoring result based on first state values of first internal signals of each of the plurality of first cores according to the first clock signal, and wherein the second dynamic power monitor circuit is configured to generate the second monitoring result based on second state values of second internal signals of each of the plurality of second cores according to the second clock signal. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The system on chip of claim 16, wherein the central processing unit cluster further comprises a first output control circuit configured to receive the first monitoring result and control the first internal voltage regulator and the first clock manager circuit based on the first monitoring result, and wherein the graphics processing unit cluster further comprises a second output control circuit configured to receive the second monitoring result and control the second internal voltage regulator and the second clock manager circuit based on the second monitoring result. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The system on chip of claim 15, wherein the first internal voltage regulator and the second internal voltage regulator are configured to generate, respectively, the first operating voltage and the second operating voltage based on a power supply voltage, and wherein the first clock manager circuit and the second clock manager circuit are configured to generate, respectively, the first clock signal and the second clock signal based on a third clock signal. ### Claim 19 (depends on 6) The processor of claim 6, wherein the internal logic circuit comprises: a first flip-flop; and a first clock gating circuit configured to gate the clock signal to the first flip-flop according to a first clock gating signal, and wherein the internal signals comprise the first clock gating signal. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The system on chip of claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of first cores comprises a first flip-flop, a first clock gating circuit configured to gate the first clock signal to the first flip-flop according to a first clock gating signal, and wherein the first dynamic power monitor circuit of each of the plurality of first cores is configured to operate based on the first clock gating signal.