# US 2021/0278891 A1 · Thermal leveling

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- Number: US 2021/0278891 A1
- Document ID: US20210278891A1
- Status: Published application
- Kind: A1
- Application number: 17/322,034
- Filed: 2021-05-17
- Published: 2021-09-09
- Earliest claimed: 2019-03-08
- Assignees: Micron Technology, Inc.
- Applicants: Micron Technology, Inc.
- Inventors: Reshmi Basu
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210278891A1

## CPC

- G06F 1/3275: {Power saving in memory, e.g. RAM, cache}
- G06F 1/206: {comprising thermal management}
- G06F 1/3225: of memory devices
- G06F 9/5016: {the resource being the memory}
- G06F 9/505: {considering the load}
- G06F 9/5094: {where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria (power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206)}
- 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

Systems, apparatuses, and methods related to thermal leveling are described. Thermal leveling can be performed on a host computing system as opposed to on a memory system. Thermal leveling can include operations performed by a host to control temperature characteristics and/or power consumption of a memory system. For instance, a host computing system can control temperature characteristics of multiple memory devices that are deployed in a memory system. In an example, a set of processing resources (e.g., a thermal leveling component) can be provided on a host. The set of processing resources can receive information corresponding to thermal characteristics of a memory device coupled to the host and control a thermal setting for the memory device based on the received thermal characteristics.

## Claims

### Claim 1

An apparatus, comprising:
a memory device; and
a processing resource coupled to the memory device, wherein the processing resource is configured to:
monitor workloads running on the memory device to determine whether a first workload running on the memory device produces a change in thermal characteristics of the memory device;
determine that a second workload to be executed by the memory device is similar in scope to the first workload running on the memory device; and
perform a thermal leveling operation for the memory device prior to execution of the second workload.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing resource is configured to:
assign a value to the first workload based, at least in part, on an amount of determined change in the thermal characteristics of the memory device generated by execution of the first workload;
assign a value to the second workload based, at least in part, on an amount of predicted change in the thermal characteristics of the memory device generated by execution of the second workload; and
determine that the second workload is similar in scope to the first workload based on the value assigned to the first workload and the value assigned to the second workload.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the thermal characteristics correspond to at least one of a temperature of the memory device or an amount of power consumption of the memory device, or both.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing resource is configured to:
determine that the thermal characteristics of the memory device exceeds a threshold range; and
manage assignment of workloads to the memory device as part of performance of the thermal leveling operation for the memory device in response the determination.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the processing resource is configured to:
manage assignment of the workload to the memory device by refraining from assigning a workload to the memory device, or manage assignment of the workload to the memory device by reassigning a workload from the memory device to a different memory device, or both.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing resource is configured to:
determine, based on the received information, that the thermal characteristics of the memory device are within a particular range; and
assign a workload to the memory device as part of performance of the thermal leveling operation for the memory device in response the determination.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing resource is configured to:
receive information corresponding to thermal characteristics of sectors of the memory device; and
control workload allocation to the sectors of the memory device based, at least in part, on the received information corresponding to the thermal characteristics of the sectors of the memory device.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a controller resident on the memory device, wherein:
the controller is configured to write information corresponding to the thermal characteristics of the memory device to a register resident on the memory device, and
the processing resource is configured to retrieve the information corresponding to the thermal characteristics of the memory device from the register.

### Claim 9

An apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of memory devices; and
a processing resource coupled to the plurality of memory devices, wherein the processing resource is configured to:
allocate, based on determined thermal characteristics of the plurality of memory devices, workloads to the plurality of memory devices;
monitor the workloads running on the plurality of memory devices to determine whether a change in the thermal characteristics measured by a first memory device among the plurality of memory devices corresponding to execution of the workloads has occurred;
determine that a workload to be subsequently executed by a second memory device among the plurality of memory devices exhibits similar thermal characteristics as a workload running on the first memory device; and
perform a thermal leveling operation for the second memory device based on the determination that the workload to be subsequently executed by the second memory device exhibits similar thermal characteristics as the workload running on the first memory device prior to execution of the subsequently executed workload.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the thermal characteristics includes a temperature characteristic or a power consumption characteristic, or both, corresponding to respective memory devices among the plurality of memory devices.

### Claim 11 (depends on 9)

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processing resource is resident on a host computing device coupled to the plurality of memory devices.

### Claim 12 (depends on 9)

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processing resource is further configured to send a command to a controller resident on the memory devices to request the thermal characteristics.

### Claim 13 (depends on 9)

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the processing resource is configured to allocate the workloads to the plurality of memory devices as part of a wear leveling operation performed on the memory devices.

### Claim 14 (depends on 9)

The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the set of processing resources is further configured to:
assign a value indicative of a thermal workload experienced by each memory device among the plurality of memory devices based, at least in part, on the thermal characteristics corresponding to the plurality of memory devices; and
allocate the workloads to the plurality of memory devices based, at least in part, on the respective values for each memory device.

### Claim 15

A method, comprising:
assigning respective values indicative of a thermal impact arising from execution of workloads running on a memory device based, at least in part, on a change in thermal characteristics measured by the memory device during execution of the workloads;
determining that a workload to be subsequently executed by the memory device is the same in scope to a particular workload running on the memory device; and
performing a thermal leveling operation involving the memory device prior to execution of the workload to be subsequently executed based, at least in part on determining that the workload to be subsequently executed by the memory device is the same in scope to the particular workload running on the memory device.

### Claim 16 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising assigning a value indicative of a thermal impact arising from execution of the workload to be subsequently executed by the memory device that is similar to the value assigned to the particular workload that is the same in scope to the workload to be subsequently executed.

### Claim 17 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, wherein the information corresponding to the thermal characteristics corresponds to at least one of a temperature of the memory device and an amount of power consumption of the memory device.

### Claim 18 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising managing assignment of workloads to the memory device based, at least in part, on the received thermal characteristics.

### Claim 19 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising:
receiving information corresponding to thermal characteristics of each sector of the memory device; and
controlling workload allocation to each sector of the memory device based, at least in part, on the received information corresponding to the thermal characteristics of each sector of the memory device.

### Claim 20 (depends on 15)

The method of claim 15, further comprising managing workload allocation for the memory device as part of a wear leveling operation performed on the memory device.