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US 9,436,250 B1Granted
Apparatus for improving power consumption of communication circuitry and associated methods
AssigneeAltera Corporation
InventorsCurt Wortman, Keith Duwel, Michael Menghui Zheng
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Abstract
An integrated circuit (IC) includes communication circuitry, a body bias generator, and a controller. The communication circuitry includes a physical medium attachment (PMA) and a physical coding sublayer (PCS). The body bias generator provides body bias signals to the PMA and PCS. The controller controls the body bias generator such that the body bias signals are controlled to improve a power consumption of the communication circuitry.
Claims18
An integrated circuit (IC), comprising:
- communication circuitry, comprising a physical medium attachment (PMA) and a physical coding sublayer (PCS), to communicate with a communication channel;
- a body bias generator to provide body bias signals to the PMA and PCS;
- and
- a controller to control the body bias generator,
- wherein the body bias signals are controlled to improve a power consumption of the communication circuitry, and wherein the body bias signals are controlled by monitoring a bit error rate (BER) of the communication channel and controlling the body bias signals based on the monitored bit error rate.
2 more elements
An integrated circuit (IC), comprising:
- communication circuitry, comprising a physical medium attachment (PMA) and a physical coding sublayer (PCS), to communicate with a communication channel;
- a body bias generator to provide body bias signals to the PMA and PCS;
- and
- wherein the body bias signals are dynamically reconfigured during operation of the IC to improve a power consumption of the communication circuitry, and wherein the body bias signals are controlled by monitoring a bit error rate of the communication channel and controlling the body bias signals based on the bit error rate.
1 more element
A method of operating an integrated circuit (IC), the method comprising:
- generating body bias signals by using a body bias generator;
- providing the body bias signals to a physical medium attachment (PMA) and a physical coding sublayer (PCS) in communication circuitry of the IC to communicate with a communication channel;
- and
- controlling the body bias signals so as to improve a power consumption of the communication circuitry, wherein controlling the body bias signals further comprises monitoring a bit error rate of the communication channel and controlling the body bias signals based on the monitored bit error rate.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.