Graphics processing system with power-gating control function, power-gating control method, and computer program products thereof

A graphics processing system with power-gating control function comprising:

• a graphics processing unit, comprising a unified shader unit and one or more power-gating control elements, the unified shade comprising a plurality of shaders, wherein the plurality of shaders comprises first active shaders for rendering a plurality of previous frames and the one or more power-gating control elements are coupled to the shaders;
• and
• a driver coupled to the graphics processing unit for calculating a number of the first active shaders required for rendering each of the plurality of previous frames and respective frame rate of each of the plurality of previous frames, and determining a number of second active shaders of the plurality of shaders used for rendering a next frame immediately following the previous frames based on the calculated number of the first active shaders required for rendering each of the plurality of previous frame and the calculated frame rate of each previous frame,
• wherein the one or more power-gating control elements are configured to activate corresponding shaders of the plurality of shaders according to the determined number of the second active shaders used for rendering the next frame immediately following the previous frames.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer program product being loaded into and executed by a machine to perfoun a power-gating control method for a graphics processing unit having a unified shader unit, which comprises a plurality of shaders, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising:

• a first program code for rendering a plurality of previous frames via first active shaders of the plurality of shaders;
• a second program code for calculating a number of the first active shaders required for rendering each of the plurality of previous frames, and respective frame rate of each of the plurality of previous frames;
• a third program code for determining a number of second active shaders of the plurality of shaders used for rendering a next frame immediately following the previous frames based on the calculated number of the first active shaders required for rendering each of the plurality of previous frame and the calculated frame rate of each previous frame;
• and
• a fourth program code for activating corresponding shaders of the plurality of shaders through one or more power-gating control elements according to the determined number of the second active shaders used for rendering the next frame immediately following the previous frames.