Energy-based sampling for performance monitoring
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsKeith I. Farkas, Carl A. Waldspurger
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Abstract
The present invention performs energy usage profiling of computing resources using an energy-based interrupt source for sampling. The present invention uses energy consumption as an event to be monitored by specialized profiling hardware. An energy consumption counter tracks the energy consumed by the computing resources and generates an interrupt after a specific energy count is attained. Profiling software uses the counter to statistically estimate the amount of energy used by regions of code at various levels of abstraction. Code that uses more energy to execute will accumulate proportionally more samples, producing an energy usage profile that is both detailed and accurate, as desired.
Claims16
An energy profiling system for use in associating energy consumption with a plurality of computer processes in a computer system, comprising:
- an energy counter for measuring energy consumed by the computer system;
- and
- an energy comparator that generates an interrupt request subject to a determination that the energy counter has reached a predetermined energy threshold.
A computer system adapted to determine the energy consumption associated with regions of software code within the computer system, the system comprising:
- a processor adapted to receive an interrupt signal and determine the software code executing at the time the interrupt signal is received;
- and
- an energy-based sampling system coupled to the processor, wherein the energy-based sampling system measures the energy consumption of the computer system and periodically generates the interrupt signal when the energy consumption reaches a predetermined energy threshold.
An energy-based sampling system, comprising:
- a circuit for measuring the energy drawn from a power source and sending a first signal when an energy threshold is reached;
- and
- a count-down counter coupled to the circuit for receiving the signal and generating a second signal when a predetermined number of first signals have been received.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.