Apparatus and method for controlling power usage

A power control circuit for an electronic device comprising:

• clock means for scaling an operating frequency of a clock signal supplied to at least the electronic device;
• power means for scaling a voltage supplied to the electronic device;
• and
• control means for at least detecting whether the electronic device is idle for a predetermined percentage of a run-time of said electronic device and for outputting a plurality of control signals to commence dynamic scaling of the operating frequency and voltage supplied to the electronic device when idle for at least said predetermined percentage of said run-time, said control means being coupled to said clock means and said power means.

A computer system comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a power control circuit coupled to the processor, the power control circuit including
• a clock generation circuit that supplies a clock signal having a scalable frequency to said processor in response to a first signal,
• a power supply circuit that provides a power supply signal having a scalable voltage to said processor in response to a second signal, and
• a controller coupled to said clock generation circuit and said power supply circuit, said controller generates said first and second signal in response to an event in order to dynamically control power usage by said processor, the power usage is capable of being either incrementally increased or decreased in order to obtain a desired tradeoff between performance and power usage by the processor.

A computer system comprising

• processor means for processing information;
• bus means for transferring said information internally within the computer system;
• system control means for transferring said information between said processor means and said bus means, said system control means is coupled to said processor means and said bus means;
• and
• power control means for reducing power consumption by at least said processor, said power control means includes
• clock means for scaling an operating frequency of a clock signal supplied to at least said processor means,
• power means for scaling a voltage provided to said processor means, and
• control means for at least detecting whether the electronic device is idle for a predetermined percentage of a run-time of said electronic device and for outputting a plurality of control signals to commence frequency and voltage scaling of the processor means when idle for at least said predetermined percentage of said run-time, said control means being coupled to said clock means and said power means.

A method to control power consumption by an electronic device, the method comprising the steps of:

• determining whether a first condition exists which requires power consumption by the electronic device to be reduced;
• scaling an operating frequency of a clocking signal supplied to the electronic device if said first condition exists;
• and
• scaling a voltage supplied to the electronic device subsequent to scaling the operating frequency if said first condition exists.

A method to control power consumption and performance of an electronic device, the method comprising the steps of:

• determining whether a first condition exists which for an increase in increased power usage by the electronic device in order to increase performance of the electronic device;
• increasing a voltage supplied to the electronic device if the first condition exists;
• and
• increasing an operating frequency of a clocking signal supplied to the electronic device after an increase in the voltage if the first condition exists.