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US 8,621,246 B2Granted
Power management system and method to provide supply voltage to a load
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsKrishnan Ravichandran, Lilly Huang, Hee-Jun Park, Alexander B. Uan-Zo-Li
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A power manager controls the supply voltage level at a load according to load current demand, and optionally the impedance of the power delivery path, by adjusting the supply voltage. The supply voltage may be reduced by determining a fixed load current that corresponds to a first operating frequency, determining a supply voltage that corresponds to the fixed load current, and then powering the load based on the supply voltage. Alternatively, the supply voltage may be increased along with increasing the operating frequency of the load while maintaining system power consumption within a predetermined limit.
Claims27
A power management system comprising:
- a power delivery circuit to output power to a load;
- and
- a power manager to control the power delivery circuit,
- wherein the power manager is to determine a fixed load current that corresponds to a first performance state of the load and a supply voltage that corresponds to the fixed load current, the fixed load current different from an actual current drawn by the load,
- the power manager is to determine the fixed load current and the supply voltage based on first load current information for the first performance state of the load, the first load current information to identify a plurality of sub-bands within a current range of the load, wherein a different fixed current value is assigned to each sub-band and wherein the fixed load current determined by the power manager corresponds to the fixed current value assigned to a sub-band in which the actual load current is located, and
- wherein the power manager is to control the power delivery circuit to output the supply voltage to the load.
3 more elements
A power management method comprising:
- detecting a first performance state of a load;
- determining a fixed load current that corresponds to the first performance state;
- determining a supply voltage that corresponds to the fixed load current, the fixed load current and the supply voltage are determined based on first load current information for the first performance state of the load, the first load current information to identify a plurality of sub-bands within a current range of the load, wherein a different fixed current value is assigned to each sub-band and wherein the determined fixed load current corresponds to the fixed current value assigned to a sub-band in which the actual load current is located;
- and
- outputting the supply voltage from a power delivery circuit to the load, wherein the fixed load current is different from an actual current drawn by the load.
2 more elements
A power management system comprising:
- a power delivery circuit to output power to a load;
- a power manager to control the power delivery circuit;
- and
- a memory to store information,
- wherein the power manager is to determine a fixed load current that corresponds to a first performance state of the load and a supply voltage that corresponds to the fixed load current, the fixed load current different from an actual current drawn by the load, and
- the memory to store the first load current information for the first performance state of the load, the first load current information to identify a plurality of sub-bands within a current range of the load, wherein a different fixed current value is assigned to each sub-band and wherein the fixed load current determined by the power manager corresponds to the fixed current value assigned to a sub-band in which the actual load current is located, and wherein the power manager is to control the power delivery circuit to output the supply voltage to the load.
3 more elements
A power management method comprising:
- detecting a performance state of a load;
- determining a fixed load current that corresponds to the performance state by determining a first operating frequency that corresponds to the performance state, and determining the fixed load current based on the operating frequency;
- storing first load current information for the first operating frequency of the load, wherein the first load current information identifies a plurality of sub-bands within a current range of the load, wherein a different fixed current value is assigned to each sub-band, and wherein the fixed load current corresponds to the fixed current value assigned to a sub-band in which an actual current drawn by the load is located;
- determining a supply voltage that corresponds to the fixed load current;
- and
- outputting the supply voltage from a power delivery circuit to the load, wherein the fixed load current is different from an actual current drawn by the load.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.