Systems and methods for determining temperatures of integrated circuits

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10001800-B1
Application number	US-201514850495-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Sep 10, 2015
Priority date	Sep 10, 2015
Publication date	Jun 19, 2018
Grant date	Jun 19, 2018

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed relating to power management of an integrated circuit. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a plurality of temperature sensors configured to measure a plurality of temperatures at different locations in the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit further includes a power management circuit configured to determine a set of guard bands based on a temperature difference determined using the plurality of temperatures. The power management circuit is configured to adjust, using the set of guard bands, a particular one of the plurality of temperatures, and to use the adjusted particular temperature to manage power consumption of the integrated circuit. In some embodiments, the power management circuit is configured to manage the power consumption by adjusting a voltage supplied to the integrated circuit, the adjusted voltage being based on the adjusted particular temperature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An integrated circuit, comprising:
a plurality of temperature sensors configured to measure a plurality of temperatures at different locations in the integrated circuit;
a power management circuit configured to:
store a set of guard bands usable to adjust ones of the plurality of temperatures;
determine, using the plurality of temperatures, a temperature difference by subtracting a first temperature from a second temperature;
select ones of the stored set of guard bands based on the temperature difference;
adjust, using the selected guard bands, a particular one of the plurality of temperatures, wherein adjusting the particular temperature includes adding a guard band to the particular temperature; and
manage power consumption of the integrated circuit using the adjusted particular temperature.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the power management circuit is configured to manage the power consumption by adjusting a voltage supplied to the integrated circuit, wherein the adjusted voltage is based on the adjusted particular temperature.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the power management circuit is configured to manage the power consumption by adjusting an operating frequency of the integrated circuit, wherein the adjusted operating frequency is based on the adjusted particular temperature.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the power management circuit is configured to:
select a first of the set of guard bands based on a first temperature difference computed using the plurality of temperatures; and
select a second of the set of guard bands based on a second temperature difference computed using the plurality of temperatures, wherein the power management circuit is configured to select the first and second guard bands such that the second guard band is larger than the first guard band in response to the second temperature difference being greater than the first temperature difference.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , further comprising:
a processor configured to execute instructions, wherein a first of the plurality of temperature sensors is located within the processor, and wherein a second of the plurality of temperature sensors is located externally to the processor.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the set of guard bands includes a first guard band and a second guard band, and wherein the power management circuit is configured to:
calculate a first adjusted temperature by adding the first guard band to the particular temperature;
calculate a second adjusted temperature by subtracting the second guard band from the particular temperature; and
manage the power consumption of the integrated circuit based on the first and second adjusted temperatures.

7. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the particular temperature is a temperature measured by a first of the plurality of temperature sensors, and wherein the power management circuit is configured to:
select another set of guard bands for a temperature measured by a second of the plurality of temperature sensors; and
adjust, using the other set of guard bands, the temperature measured by the second temperature sensor.

8. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , wherein the power management circuit is configured to:
receive an external temperature from a temperature sensor located externally to the integrated circuit;
determine a minimum one of the plurality of temperatures and the received external temperature; and
select ones of the set of the guard bands using a temperature difference computed using the minimum temperature.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 8 , wherein the power management circuit includes a register configured to receive the external temperature from the external temperature sensor, wherein the register is accessible to an operating system executable to store the external temperature from the external temperature sensor in the register.

10. A computing device, comprising:
a processor;
a plurality of temperature sensors configured to measure a plurality of temperatures of the computing device including temperatures of the processor; and
a power management unit configured to:
store a set of guard bands usable to adjust ones of the plurality of temperatures;
select a first of the set of guard bands based on a temperature difference computed using the plurality of temperatures;
perform a first adjustment of a first of the plurality of temperatures by adding the first guard band to the first temperature; and
change, based on the first adjustment of the first temperature, a voltage supplied to the processor.

11. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the power management unit is configured to:
select a second of the set of guard bands based on the temperature difference;
perform a second adjustment of the first temperature by subtracting the second guard band from the first temperature; and
change the voltage based on the second adjustment.

12. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the plurality of temperature sensors includes a temperature sensor located on a housing of the computing device.

13. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the power management unit is configured to:
identify a minimum one of the plurality of temperatures; and
determine the temperature difference based on the minimum identified temperature.

14. The computing device of claim 13 , wherein the power management unit is configured to:
identify a maximum one of the plurality of temperatures; and
determine the temperature difference between the minimum identified temperature and the maximum temperature.

15. The computing device of claim 10 , wherein the power management unit is configured to change the voltage to throttle the processor.

16. A method, comprising:
storing, in an integrated circuit, a set of offset values usable to adjust temperatures;
receiving a plurality of temperatures of the integrated circuit;
dynamically determining, for a particular one of the plurality of temperatures, an offset value based on the stored set of offset values and a temperature difference between the particular temperature and a minimum one of the plurality of temperatures;
adjusting the particular temperature based on the offset value; and
changing an operating voltage of the integrated circuit based on the adjusted particular temperature.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the particular temperature is a maximum one of the plurality of temperatures.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of temperatures includes a first temperature measured by a temperature sensor located in the integrated circuit and a second temperature measured by a temperature sensor located externally to the integrated circuit.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the offset value is a high-side guard band that is added to the particular temperature to adjust the particular temperature, and wherein the method further comprises:
dynamically determining, for the particular temperature, a low-side guard band based on the temperature difference; and
adjusting the particular temperature by subtracting the low-side guard band from the particular temperature.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Takayanagi Toshinari
• Yang Yizhang

Classifications

• G06F1/3296

  by lowering the supply or operating voltage · CPC title

• G05F3/02 Primary

  Regulating voltage or current · CPC title

• G06F1/206

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• G06F1/3243

  Power saving in microcontroller unit · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

  Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management · CPC title