Configurable thermal and power management for portable computers
OwnerC. Douglass Thomas, Alan E. Thomasinventors
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Abstract
Improved approaches to providing thermal and power management for a computing device are disclosed. These approaches facilitate intelligent control of a processor's clock frequency and/or a fan's speed so as to provide thermal and/or power management for the computing device.
Claims27
A method for managing operation of a portable computer, the portable computer including at least a processor and a fan, the fan being operable to cool at least the processor, said method comprising:
- configuring the portable computer to utilize at least one of a first power management configuration or a second power management configuration;
- monitoring a temperature of the processor;
- setting a speed of the fan based on the configured one of the first and second power management configurations and based on the monitored temperature of the processor;
- and
- setting a speed of the processor based on the configured one of the first and second power management configurations and based on the monitored temperature of the processor.
A method for managing operation of a portable computer, the portable computer including at least a processor and a fan, the fan being operable to cool at least the processor, said method comprising:
- configuring the portable computer for one of a plurality of different power management configurations;
- monitoring a temperature of the processor;
- setting a speed of the fan based on the configured power management configuration for the portable computer and based on the monitored temperature of the processor;
- and
- setting a speed of the processor based on the configured power management configuration for the portable computer configured and based on the monitored temperature of the processor.
A computing apparatus, comprising:
- a processing unit configured to operate at an operational speed;
- a temperature sensor configured to monitor a temperature of said processing unit;
- a fan for cooling at least said processing unit;
- and
- a power management apparatus operatively connected to said processing unit, said temperature sensor and said fan, said power management apparatus being configured to operate in accordance with at least one of a first power management configuration or a second power management configuration, and said power management apparatus being operable to (i) receive the temperature of the processing unit using said temperature sensor, (ii) control a speed of the fan based on the configured one of the first and second power management configurations and based on the temperature of the processing unit, and (iii) control a speed of the processing unit based on the configured one of the first and second power management configurations and based on the temperature of the processing unit.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.