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US 2004/0003310 A1Published application
Method and apparatus for configuring a voltage regulator based on current information
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsPochang Hsu, Don J. Nguyen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A computer system includes a voltage regulator that supplies power to a component. The component may provide a signal indicating an amount of current the component consumes under a high utilization operating condition. The voltage regulator may then determine the slope of a load line using this signal.
Claims34
A processor comprising:
- an input port to receive power from a voltage regulator;
- and
- an output port to provide a signal to indicate an approximate amount of current the processor is to consume.
A voltage regulator comprising:
- an input port to receive a signal, the signal to be used to determine a slope of a load line of the voltage regulator;
- and
- an output port to supply power to a component.
A computer system comprising:
- a component to provide a signal to indicate an approximate amount of current the component is to consume;
- and
- a voltage regulator to supply power to the component, a characteristic of the power to be determined using the signal.
A method comprising:
- coupling a component to a voltage regulator to provide a signal to the voltage regulator to indicate an approximate amount of current the component is to consume;
- and
- coupling the voltage regulator to the component to supply power to the component, a voltage level of the power to decrease to approximately a lower specified supply voltage limit for the component if the current consumed by the component increases to approximately the amount of current indicated by the signal.
A method comprising:
- testing a processor to determine an approximate amount of current the processor consumes;
- and
- encoding the approximate amount in the processor.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.