Reducing power consumption of memory
AssigneeLSI Corporation
InventorsRoss Kohler, Richard Stephani, Donald Evans, Ting Zhou
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Described embodiments provide for a memory system having a transparent source bias (TSB) circuit. A monitor in the memory system monitors a process, temperature, and/or a leakage current of the memory. The system determines whether at least one of the monitored process, temperature, and leakage current reaches a corresponding threshold. The threshold is set based on a power budget of the memory. If the corresponding threshold is reached, the TSB is disabled and the memory operates at a relatively high speed. If the corresponding threshold is not reached, the TSB is enabled and the memory operates at a relatively law speed.
Claims11
A method of power management for a memory having a transparent source bias circuit (TSB), the method comprising:
- monitoring at least one of a process, a temperature, and a leakage current of the memory;
- determining whether the at least one monitored process, temperature and leakage current of the memory reaches a corresponding threshold, the threshold set on a power budget of the memory;
- and
- if the corresponding threshold is not reached, disabling the TSB, thereby operating the memory at a relatively high speed;
- otherwise, enabling the TSB if the corresponding threshold is reached, thereby operating the memory at a relatively low speed.
A memory system, the system comprising:
- one or more memories each having a transparent source bias (TSB) circuit;
- a monitor coupled to the one or more memories, wherein the monitor is adapted to:
- monitor at least one of a process, a temperature, and a leakage current of the memory;
- determine whether the at least one monitored process, temperature and leakage current of the memory reaches a corresponding threshold, the threshold set on a power budget of the memory;
- and
- if the corresponding threshold is not reached, disable the TSB, thereby operating the memory at a relatively high speed;
- otherwise, enable the TSB if the corresponding threshold is reached, thereby operating the memory at a relatively low speed.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.