Apparatus and method for software specified power management performance using low power virtual threads

A processor, comprising:

• a software control module specifying a power performance metric;
• a policy manager responsive to said software control module;
• and
• a dispatch scheduler responsive to said policy manager to operate said processor in accordance with said power performance metric;
• wherein said dispatch scheduler is within the core of said processor and said policy manager is a customizable multi-thread scheduling unit outside the core of said processor;
• wherein said policy manager instructs selected threads to be shut down in response to said power performance metric and said dispatch scheduler shuts down said selected threads.

A method of operating a processor, comprising:

• specifying a power performance metric via software control;
• responding to said power performance metric at a customizable multi-thread external processor core component;
• and
• implementing said power performance metric with a multi-thread internal processor core component responsive to said customizable multi-thread external processor core component;
• wherein responding includes specifying a low power virtual thread responsive to said power performance metric, and implementing includes scheduling said low power virtual thread but never selecting said low power virtual thread.

A method of operating a processor, comprising:

• specifying a power performance metric via software control;
• responding to said power performance metric at a customizable multi-thread external processor core component;
• and
• implementing said power performance metric with a multi-thread internal processor core component responsive to said customizable multi-thread external processor core component;
• wherein responding includes instructing selected threads to be shut down in response to said power performance metric, wherein responding includes instructing selected threads to be shut down on a cycle-by-cycle basis.

A computer readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions to:

• define a policy manager responsive to a power performance metric from a software control module, wherein said policy manager is a customizable multi-thread scheduling unit outside the core of a processor;
• and
• specify a dispatch scheduler within said core of said processor to be responsive to said policy manager to operate in accordance with said power performance metric;
• wherein said executable instructions to define a policy manager include executable instructions to specify a low power virtual thread responsive to said power performance metric, and wherein said executable instructions to specify a dispatch scheduler include executable instructions to specify a dispatch scheduler to schedule said low power virtual thread but never select said low power virtual thread.

A method of enabling a computer to generate a processor, comprising:

• selecting executable instructions that
• define a policy manager responsive to a power performance metric from a software control module, wherein the policy manager is a customizable multi-thread scheduling unit outside the core of said processor;
• and
• specify a dispatch scheduler responsive to said policy manager to operate a processor in accordance with said power performance metric, wherein said dispatch scheduler is within the core of said processor;
• and
• transmitting said executable instructions over a network to a designated computer;
• wherein selecting executable instructions includes selecting executable instructions that define a policy manager that specifies a low power virtual thread responsive to said power performance metric, and wherein selecting executable instructions includes selecting executable instructions that specify a dispatch scheduler to schedule said low power virtual thread but never select said low power virtual thread.