System and method of performing dynamic voltage and frequency scaling operations on a mobile device
AssigneeQUALCOMM Incorporated
InventorsBrian J. Salsbery, Norman S. Gargash
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A mobile device, a method for managing and exposing a set of performance scaling algorithms on the device, and a computer program product are disclosed. The mobile device includes a multiple-core processor communicatively coupled to a non-volatile memory. The non-volatile memory includes a set of programs defined by a respective combination of a performance scaling algorithm and a set of parameters, a startup program that when executed by the multiple-core processor identifies at least one member of the set of programs suitable for monitoring operation of the mobile device and scaling the performance of an identified processor core and an application programming interface that exposes the set of programs.
Claims21
A method of performing dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) operations on a mobile device that includes a multicore processor, the method comprising:
- applying a default DVFS program to each processor core in the multicore processor to scale an operating frequency of each processor core in the multicore processor;
- receiving in the mobile device via an application programming interface a plurality of DVFS programs;
- identifying for each processor core in the multicore processor at least one DVFS program in the received plurality of DVFS programs that is suitable for scaling the operating frequency of each respective processor core;
- storing each of the identified DVFS programs in the non-volatile memory in association with each respective processor core and in a hierarchical order for each respective processor core;
- traversing the hierarchical order for at least one processing core;
- selecting a first DVFS program encountered when traversing the hierarchical order;
- and
- applying the selected first DVFS program as part of a startup routine of the mobile device to its respective processor core to scale the operating frequency of the respective processing core.
A mobile device, comprising:
- a memory;
- and
- a multicore processor coupled to the memory, wherein at least one processor core of the multicore processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
- applying a default dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) program to at least one processor core of the multicore processor to scale the operating frequency of the processing core to which the default DVFS program is applied;
- receiving via an application programming interface a plurality of DVFS programs;
- identifying at least one DVFS program in the received plurality of DVFS programs as being suitable for scaling the operating frequency of each respective processor core;
- storing each of the identified DVFS programs in the memory in association with its respective processor core and in a hierarchical order for each respective processor core;
- traversing the hierarchical order for at least one processing core;
- selecting a first DVFS program encountered when traversing the hierarchical order;
- and
- applying the selected first DVFS program as part of a startup routine of the mobile device to its respective processor core to scale the operating frequency of the respective processor core.
A mobile device having a multicore processor, comprising:
- means for applying a default dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) program to each processor core in the multicore processor to scale an operating frequency of each processing core;
- means for receiving via an application programming interface a plurality of DVFS programs;
- means for identifying at least one DVFS program in the received plurality of DVFS programs as being suitable for scaling the operating frequency of each respective processor core;
- means for storing each of the identified DVFS programs in association with its respective processor core and in a hierarchical order for each the respective processor core;
- means for traversing the hierarchical order for at least one processing core;
- means for selecting a first DVFS program encountered when traversing the hierarchical order;
- and
- means for applying the selected first DVFS program as part of a startup routine of the mobile device to its respective processor core to scale the operating frequency of the respective processor core.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processing core of a multicore processor of a mobile device to perform operations comprising:
- applying a default dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) program to at least one processor core in the multicore processor to scale the operating frequency of the processing core to which the default DVFS program is applied;
- receiving via an application programming interface a plurality of DVFS programs;
- identifying at least one DVFS program in the received plurality of DVFS programs that is suitable for scaling the operating frequency of at least one processor core;
- storing each of the identified DVFS programs in association with the processor cores for which they are identified and in a hierarchical order for each of the processor cores for which they are identified;
- traversing the hierarchical order;
- selecting a first DVFS program encountered when traversing the hierarchical order;
- and
- applying the selected first DVFS program as part of a startup routine to its respective processor core to scale the operating frequency of that processing core.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.