Method and apparatus for reducing power consumption through dynamic control of supply voltage and body bias including maintaining a substantially constant operating frequency
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsJames W. Tschanz, Yibin Ye, Liqiong Wei, Vivek K. De
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Abstract
An approach for power reduction of an integrated circuit device. In response to detecting a change in an activity factor associated with an integrated circuit device from a first activity factor to a second activity factor, a supply voltage and a body bias associated with the integrated circuit device are adjusted based on the second activity factor to reduce power consumption. For one aspect, the supply voltage and body bias are adjusted to maintain a substantially constant operating frequency for the integrated circuit device.
Claims27
A method comprising:
- detecting a change in an activity factor associated with an integrated circuit device from a first activity factor to a second activity factor;
- and
- dynamically adjusting a supply voltage and a body bias associated with the integrated circuit device from first supply voltage and body bias values to second, different supply voltage and body bias values based on the second activity factor, dynamically adjusting the supply voltage and the body bias further including maintaining a substantially constant operating frequency.
A method comprising:
- detecting a change in an activity factor associated with an integrated circuit device operating at a first frequency;
- dynamically adjusting a supply voltage and a body bias of the integrated circuit from a first supply voltage and first body bias to a second supply voltage and second body bias based on the detected change in activity factor, the second supply voltage and second body bias to cause the integrated circuit device to continue to operate at substantially the first frequency.
An apparatus comprising:
- a look-up table;
- and
- a supply voltage and body bias control unit to control dynamic adjustment of a supply voltage and a body bias of an integrated circuit device based on an activity factor associated with the integrated circuit device, the supply voltage and body bias control unit to access the look-up table to determine adjustments to the supply voltage and body bias to maintain a substantially constant operating frequency for the integrated circuit device.
A system comprising:
- a battery to provide an alternate power source;
- a processor to operate at a first frequency;
- a voltage regulator module to provide a supply voltage to the processor;
- a first body bias generator to provide a body bias to a first set of transistors on the processor;
- and
- a dynamic supply voltage and body bias control unit to, in response to detecting a change in an activity factor associated with the processor, dynamically adjust each of the supply voltage and the body bias from first supply voltage and first body bias settings to second supply voltage and second body bias settings that cause the processor to continue to operate at substantially the first frequency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.