Back to results
US 12,756,319 B1Granted
Integrated power monitoring system for transient power management on a per-rail or per-subsystem basis
AssigneeAmazon Technologies, Inc.
InventorsLinfei Guo, Sagnik Kar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Technologies directed to a power monitoring circuit are described. The power monitoring circuit includes multiple circuit branches each corresponding to an independent voltage rail of an independent subsystem and having an averaging circuit, an oversampling circuit, and an accumulating circuit, and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) that selectively couples to each of the circuit branches. The ADC converts an accumulated current, output by the respective accumulating circuit, to a digital value representing power consumption by the respective independent subsystem. The ADC stores the digital value in a register. The digital values of each independent subsystem can be provided to the electronic device.
Claims20
A power management integrated circuit (PMIC) comprising:
- a set of N number of power regulators, each power regulator of the set of N number of power regulators to provide an independent voltage rail to an independent subsystem of an electronic device, the independent subsystem being coupled to the PMIC, wherein N is a positive integer greater than one;
- and
- a power monitoring subsystem coupled to the set of N number of power regulators, wherein the power monitoring subsystem comprises:
- an N-to-1 multiplexer;
- a single analog-to-digital converter (ADC) coupled to the N-to-1 multiplexer;
- a set of N number of registers, each register of the set of N number of registers to store a digital value representing power consumption of one of the independent voltage rails;
- and
- a set of N circuit branches coupled to the N-to-1 multiplexer, wherein each of the set of N circuit branches comprises:
- an averaging circuit to determine an average current by measuring and averaging an input current of the independent voltage rail corresponding to the respective independent subsystem;
- an oversampling circuit to determine an oversampled current by oversampling the average current;
- and
- an accumulating circuit to determine an accumulated current by accumulating the oversampled current,
- wherein the single ADC, for each of the independent voltage rail, is to convert the accumulated current to the digital value representing the power consumption of the respective independent voltage rail and store the digital value in the respective register of the set of N number of registers.
10 more elements
A power monitoring circuit comprising:
- a first circuit branch comprising a first averaging circuit, a first sampling circuit, and a first accumulating circuit, the first circuit branch corresponding to a first independent voltage rail provided to a first independent subsystem of an electronic device, the first independent subsystem being coupled to the power monitoring circuit;
- a second circuit branch comprising a second averaging circuit, a second sampling circuit, and a second accumulating circuit, the second circuit branch corresponding to a second independent voltage rail provided to a second independent subsystem of the electronic device, the second independent subsystem being coupled to the power monitoring circuit;
- and
- an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) selectively coupled to the first circuit branch and the second circuit branch, wherein the ADC is configured to:
- convert a first accumulated current, output by the first accumulating circuit, to a first digital value and store the first digital value in a first register, wherein the first digital value represents power consumption of the first independent subsystem;
- and
- convert a second accumulated current, output by the second accumulating circuit, to a second digital value and store the second digital value in a second register, wherein the second digital value represents power consumption of the second independent subsystem.
4 more elements
A method of operating a power monitoring circuit, the method comprising:
- determining a first average current from a first input current of a first independent voltage rail provided to a first independent subsystem of an electronic device coupled to the power monitoring circuit;
- determining a first oversampled current by oversampling the first average current;
- determining a first accumulated current by accumulating the first oversampled current;
- determining a second average current from a second input current of a second independent voltage rail provided to a second independent subsystem of the electronic device;
- determining a second oversampled current by oversampling the second average current;
- determining a second accumulated current by accumulating the second oversampled current;
- converting, using an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), a first accumulated current to a first digital value and storing the first digital value in a first register, wherein the first digital value represents power consumption of the first independent subsystem;
- and
- converting, using the ADC, a second accumulated current to a second digital value and store the second digital value in a second register, wherein the second digital value represents power consumption of the second independent subsystem.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.