Integrated circuit and method for generating a clock signal

Abstract

An integrated circuit for generating a clock signal includes a voltage conversion unit, a maximum power determination unit, a clock control unit and a clock generator. The voltage conversion unit converts an external power supply voltage into an internal power supply voltage and detects a variance in current consumption of a functional block to generate a detected voltage wherein the functional block consumes a predetermined current using the internal power supply voltage. The maximum power determination unit determines a maximum current consumption of the functional block and converts the maximum current consumption to a corresponding maximum allowed voltage. The clock control unit generates at least one frequency control signal based on a comparison between the detected voltage and the maximum allowed voltage. The clock generator generates the clock signal whose frequency is adjusted according to the frequency control signal.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.