Autonomous thermal controller for power management IC

An apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of modules, each module configured to process power to or from a corresponding off-chip power entity;
• a temperature sensor configured to sense a temperature of an integrated circuit on which the plurality of modules is provided;
• and
• a thermal controller configured to adjust a power processed by each of said plurality of modules in response to the sensed temperature;
• wherein the thermal controller and the plurality of modules are provided on a single integrated circuit;
• and further wherein the thermal controller is configured to reduce current scaling factors of the plurality of modules in succession in response to the sensed temperature being above a first threshold, the succession being determined by a plurality of scaling priority registers.

An apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of modules, each module configured to process power to or from a corresponding off-chip power entity;
• a temperature sensor configured to sense a temperature of an integrated circuit on which the plurality of modules is provided;
• and
• a thermal controller configured to adjust a power processed by each of said plurality of modules in response to the sensed temperature;
• wherein the thermal controller and the plurality of modules are provided on a single integrated circuit;
• and further wherein the thermal controller is configured to reduce current scaling factors of the plurality of modules in parallel in response to the sensed temperature being above a first threshold.

An apparatus comprising:

• a plurality of modules, each module configured to process power to or from a corresponding off-chip power entity;
• a temperature sensor configured to sense a temperature of an integrated circuit on which the plurality of modules is provided;
• and
• a thermal controller configured to adjust a power processed by each of said plurality of modules in response to the sensed temperature;
• wherein the thermal controller and the plurality of modules are provided on a single integrated circuit;
• and further wherein the thermal controller is configured to adjust an amplifier gain of a module to adjust an audio signal power processed by said module.

A computer program product storing code for causing a computer to manage the temperature of an integrated circuit, the code comprising:

• code for causing a computer to assign priorities to a plurality of modules processing power to or from at least one corresponding off-chip power entity;
• code for causing a computer to determine the temperature of an integrated circuit on which the plurality of modules is provided;
• and
• code for causing a computer to adjust a power processed by each of said plurality of modules in response to the determined temperature, wherein the code for causing the computer to adjust the power provided in a memory integrated on a single chip with the code for causing a computer to assign priorities;
• and
• code for causing a computer to assign minimum current scaling factors to each of said plurality of modules.