# US 2019/0171377 A1 · Semiconductor device and reconfiguration control method of the same > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2019/0171377 A1 - Document ID: US20190171377A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/152,207 - Filed: 2018-10-04 - Published: 2019-06-06 - Earliest claimed: 2017-12-05 - Assignees: Renesas Electronics Corporation - Applicants: Renesas Electronics Corporation - Inventors: Yasumasa WATANABE; Mitsuhiro ONO; Toshiro FUJISAKI; Kenji KIMURA - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190171377A1 ## CPC - G06F 3/0625: {Power saving in storage systems} - G06F 1/3237: by disabling clock generation or distribution - G06F 1/3253: {Power saving in bus} - G06F 3/0634: {by changing the state or mode of one or more devices} - G06F 3/0659: {Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling} - G06F 3/0679: {Non-volatile semiconductor memory device, e.g. flash memory, one time programmable memory [OTP]} - G06F 13/00: Interconnection of, or transfer of information or other signals between, memories, input/output devices or central processing units (interface circuits for specific input/output devices G06F3/00 {; multiprogram control therefor G06F9/46}; multiprocessor systems G06F15/16 ) - G06F 13/1668: {Details of memory controller} - G06F 13/4068: {Electrical coupling} - Y02D 10/00: Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE ## Abstract Power consumption of a semiconductor device is reduced. A semiconductor device according to an embodiment includes a plurality of circuits, a bus circuit including a plurality of buffers that temporarily store communication data between the circuits and a plurality of arbitration circuits that arbitrate an access between the circuits and the buffers, a storage unit that stores information based on a use state of the buffers during communication between the circuits and configuration information including designation of unused circuits that are not used for the communication from among the circuits, and a control circuit that controls the bus circuit so as to stop use of unused buffers that are not used for the communication from among the buffers and at least a partial configuration in arbitration circuits corresponding to the unused circuits from among the arbitration circuits based on the configuration information. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A semiconductor device comprising: a plurality of circuits; a bus circuit including a plurality of buffers that temporarily store communication data between the circuits and a plurality of arbitration circuits that arbitrate an access between the circuits and the buffers; a storage unit that stores information based on a use state of the buffers during communication between the circuits and configuration information including designation of unused circuits that are not used for the communication from among the circuits; and a control circuit that controls the bus circuit so as to stop use of unused buffers that are not used for the communication from among the buffers and at least a partial configuration in arbitration circuits corresponding to the unused circuits from among the arbitration circuits based on the configuration information. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the bus circuit further includes a selection circuit that selects a buffer to be accessed from among the buffers, and wherein the control circuit instructs stop of supply of a clock signal to the unused buffers among the buffers, and instructs the selection circuit not to select the unused buffers. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The semiconductor device according to claim 2, wherein the configuration information includes a maximum number of used buffers in the communication among the buffers, and wherein the control circuit instructs the selection circuit to select buffers, the number of which is smaller than or equal to the maximum number of used buffers among the buffers. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The semiconductor device according to claim 3, wherein the configuration information further includes buffers, the number of which is obtained by subtracting the maximum number of used buffers from a total number of the buffers, as the unused buffers. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the unused circuits are circuits that are not used as a master circuit or a slave circuit in the communication among the circuits, wherein the bus circuit further includes a first arbitration circuit that arbitrates a plurality of accesses from the master circuit or the slave circuit among the arbitration circuits, and wherein the control circuit controls the bus circuit so as to stop supply of a clock signal to at least a partial configuration in the first arbitration circuit corresponding to the designated unused circuits. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The semiconductor device according to claim 5, wherein the bus circuit further includes a second arbitration circuit that arbitrates a plurality of accesses to the master circuit or the slave circuit among the arbitration circuits, and wherein the control circuit controls the bus circuit so as to stop supply of a clock signal to the second arbitration circuit corresponding to the designated unused circuits. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The semiconductor device according to claim 1, wherein the configuration information is information based on the use state when specific software is executed. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The semiconductor device according to claim 7, wherein the configuration information is information derived based on operation information acquired when the specific software is executed in another semiconductor device mounted with at least the same configuration as that of the circuits and the bus circuit. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The semiconductor device according to claim 7, wherein the configuration information is information associated with each interrupt processing that occurs when the specific software is executed, and wherein the control circuit identifies the configuration information corresponding to the interrupt processing from inside the storage unit when the interrupt processing occurs while the specific software is executed, controls the bus circuit based on the identified configuration information, and controls the bus circuit based on the configuration information before the occurrence of the interrupt processing after the interrupt processing is completed. ### Claim 10 (depends on 7) The semiconductor device according to claim 7, wherein the configuration information includes interrupt notification by an interrupt controller included in the semiconductor device, a channel used by DMA (Direct Memory Access), or designation of unused circuits identified based on a port of a communication port, which are used when the specific software is executed, and wherein the control circuit controls the interrupt controller, the DMA, or the communication port so as to stop supply of a clock signal to a configuration corresponding to the designated unused circuits when the specific software is executed. ### Claim 11 A reconfiguration control method of a semiconductor device including a plurality of circuits, a bus circuit including a plurality of buffers that temporarily store communication data between the circuits and a plurality of arbitration circuits that arbitrate an access between the circuits and the buffers, a storage unit that stores information based on a use state of the buffers during communication between the circuits and configuration information including designation of unused circuits that are not used for the communication from among the circuits, and a control circuit, the reconfiguration control method comprising: reading the configuration information from the storage unit by using the control circuit; and controlling the bus circuit so as to stop use of unused buffers that are not used for the communication from among the buffers and at least a partial configuration in arbitration circuits corresponding to the unused circuits from among the arbitration circuits based on the configuration information by using the control circuit. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The reconfiguration control method of a semiconductor device according to claim 11, further comprising: acquiring operation information related to the communication between the circuits when specific software is executed in another semiconductor device mounted with at least the same configuration as that of the circuits and the bus circuit; deriving the configuration information based on the operation information; storing the configuration information in the storage unit, and reading the configuration information from the storage unit when the specific software is executed in the semiconductor device.