Dynamically selecting processor cores for overall power efficiency

A multi-core processor computer system for conserving average operating power, comprising:

• a plurality of computer hardware processor cores that differ amongst themselves in at least their respective operating power requirements and processing capabilities;
• a monitor for gathering performance and power metric information from each of said computer hardware processor cores that is specific to a particular run of application software then executing on a first computer hardware processor core in the plurality of computer hardware processor cores;
• a workload transfer and control mechanism connected to the plurality of computer hardware processor cores and to the monitor, and providing for a transfer of said application software then executing to a second computer hardware processor core in the plurality of computer hardware processor cores;
• and
• a transfer delay mechanism connected to delay a subsequent transfer of said application software then executing if an overall operating power of the system may be conserved by said delay.

A method for operating a multi-core processor computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

• executing a software application program on one of at least two processor cores in the computer system;
• collecting a performance metric and power consumption metric from said one of said processor cores;
• comparing said performance metric and power consumption metric to another performance metric and power consumption metric obtained from another of said processor cores;
• and
• transferring said software application program to execute on said another of said processor cores in response to comparing the performance metrics and power consumption metrics,
• wherein executing the software application program on one of the at least two processor cores comprises executing the software application program on one of the at least two processor cores provided on a single semiconductor chip having differing operating power requirements.

A method for operating a multi-core processor computer system, the method comprising the steps of:

• executing a software application program on one of at least two processor cores in the computer system that have differing operating power requirements, the at least two processor cores being on a single semiconductor chip;
• collecting a performance metric from said one of said processor cores;
• comparing said performance metric to another performance metric obtained from another of said processor cores;
• transferring said software application program to execute on said another of said processor cores depending on the power consumption;
• and
• timing the duration of the step of executing such that the step of collecting said performance metric is substantially shorter compared to a time allowed to lapse between successive steps of collecting.

A method for operating a multi-core processor computer system having at least two processor cores on a single semiconductor chip that have differing operating power models and performance levels, the method comprising the steps of:

• executing a software application program on a first one of said processor cores for a first time interval;
• collecting a first performance metric from said first one of said processor cores;
• transferring said software application program to execute on a second one of said processor cores for a second time interval that is shorter than said first time interval;
• collecting a second performance metric from said second one of said processor cores;
• comparing said first and second performance metrics to determine a favored one of said processor cores according to one or more predetermined criteria;
• and
• transferring said software application program to execute on said second one of said processor cores depending on a result obtained in the step of comparing.