Reducing Power Dissipation Using Process Corner Information
AssigneeSilicon Laboratories Inc.
InventorTimothy Nutt
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for determining process corner information of an integrated circuit (IC) and controlling at least one analog current for at least one analog circuit of the IC based on the process corner information. More specifically, if the process corner information is indicative of a fast corner IC, the analog current may be scaled down. At the same time that the analog current is scaled down, a current consumption level of digital circuitry of the IC may increase. In this way, overall power consumption of the IC may be reduced to the extent that the analog current(s) are scaled.
Claims17
A method comprising:
- determining speed information of an integrated circuit (IC) including analog circuitry and digital circuitry;
- and
- controlling at least one analog current provided to the analog circuitry based on the speed information, including generating a plurality of analog currents for the analog circuitry from a reference voltage, a value of the reference voltage indicative of the speed information.
An integrated circuit (IC) comprising:
- at least one analog circuit;
- at least one digital circuit;
- a detector to determine whether the IC is of a fast process corner or a slow process corner;
- and
- a current generator to generate an analog current provided to the at least one analog circuit, wherein the current generator is to provide the analog current at a nominal level if the IC is of the slow process corner and to provide the analog current at a reduced level if the IC is of the fast process corner, wherein the at least one digital circuit is to consume greater power if the IC is of the fast process corner.
A system comprising:
- a tuner to receive an incoming radio frequency (RF) signal including content and to provide a tuned channel output, the tuner comprising analog circuitry and digital circuitry, and including a detector to determine a speed of the tuner, the detector comprising a reference circuit to output a reference voltage indicative of the speed, and a current generator to generate an analog current for the analog circuitry, wherein the current generator is to provide the at least one analog current at a scaled level if the tuner is of a fast process corner;
- a demodulator coupled to the tuner to demodulate the tuned channel output;
- and
- an output device coupled to the demodulator to provide the content corresponding to the demodulated tuned channel output.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.