Systems and methods for operating within operating condition limits
OwnerKevin Hurdinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for operating within operating condition limits are disclosed. One embodiment of a system may comprise a margin detector that generates a specification value that is a function of a plurality of operating factors associated with a core circuit and compares the specification value with a predetermined threshold to determine if the core circuit is operating below operating condition limits. The system may further comprise an operating condition control that adjusts an activity level of the core circuit if the core circuit is operating above operating condition limits.
Claims32
A system for operating within operating condition limits, the system comprising:
- a margin detector that generates a specification value that is a function of a plurality of operating factors associated with a core circuit, and compares the specification value with a predetermined threshold to determine if the core circuit is operating below operating condition limits;
- and
- an operating condition control that adjusts an activity level of the core circuit if the core circuit is operating above operating condition limits.
An integrated circuit comprising:
- a processor having an instruction throughput control portion;
- a margin detector that generates an aggregated specification count value indicative of operating conditions of the processor;
- and
- a comparator that generates a threshold indicator based on a comparison of the aggregated specification count value and a predetermined threshold count value indicative of operating condition limits of the processor;
- wherein the instruction throughput control portion is operative to adjust instruction throughput based on the threshold indicator.
A system for operating a core circuit within operating condition limits, the system comprising:
- means for generating a specification value that is a function of operating frequency, operating voltage and operating temperature of the core circuit;
- means for comparing the specification value to a predetermined threshold value indicative of operating condition limits of the core circuit to generate a threshold indicator;
- and
- means for reducing an activity level of the core circuit in response to the threshold indicator indicating that the specification value is below the predetermined threshold value.
A method for maintaining operating conditions of a core circuit within operating condition limits, the method comprising:
- enabling an oscillator for a predetermined clock cycle time period to generate an oscillator signal that is a function of operating conditions of the core circuit;
- counting the oscillator cycles for the predetermined clock cycle time period to generate a specification count value indicative of the operating conditions of the core circuit;
- and
- adjusting the activity level of the core circuit if the specification count value is below a predetermined threshold count value indicative of the operating condition limits of the core circuit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.