Thermal mitigation of multi-core processor

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10114443-B2
Application number	US-201715441124-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 23, 2017
Priority date	Oct 30, 2014
Publication date	Oct 30, 2018
Grant date	Oct 30, 2018

Abstract

A thermal controller for managing thermal energy of a multi-core processor is provided. The cores include a first core processing a load and remaining cores. The thermal controller is configured to determine that a temperature of the first core is greater than a first threshold, determine a temperature of a second core of the remaining cores in response to determining that the temperature of the first core is greater than the first threshold, and determine whether the temperature of the second core is greater than or less than a second threshold. The thermal controller is configured to transfer at least a portion of the load of the first core to the second core in response to determining that the temperature of the first core is greater than the first threshold and based on whether the temperature of the second core is greater than or less than the second threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating of a user equipment (UE), the UE having a processor including a plurality of cores, the plurality of cores including a first core processing a load and remaining cores, comprising:
determining that a temperature of the first core is greater than a first threshold;
determining a temperature of a second core of the remaining cores in response to determining that the temperature of the first core is greater than the first threshold;
determining whether the temperature of the second core is greater than or less than a second threshold, the second threshold being less than the first threshold;
transferring at least a portion of the load of the first core to the second core in response to determining that the temperature of the first core is greater than the first threshold, the transfer of the at least the portion of the load being based on whether the temperature of the second core is greater than or less than the second threshold;
determining whether each core of the remaining cores has a temperature greater than the second threshold; and
transferring a remaining portion of the load to a set of cores of the remaining cores to share the load between the second core and the set of cores upon determining that each core of the remaining cores has the temperature greater than the second threshold.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining to transfer all the load to the second core in response to determining that the second core has a temperature less than the second threshold, the at least a portion of the load being all the load.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining temperatures of each core of the remaining cores, wherein the at least the portion of the load of the first core is transferred to the second core based on the determination of the temperatures of each core of the remaining cores.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining which of the remaining cores has a lowest temperature, wherein the at least the portion of the load is transferred to the second core in response to determining that the second core has the lowest temperature of the remaining cores.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the at least a portion of the load is all the load, and all the load is transferred from the first core to the second core in response to determining that the second core has the lowest temperature of the remaining cores.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
powering up the second core before transferring all the load from the first core to the second core; and
powering down the first core in response to transferring all the load from the first core to the second core.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a respective temperature difference between the temperature of each of the remaining cores and the temperature of the first core, wherein the load of the first core is shared among the remaining cores based on the respective temperature differences of the remaining cores.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least a portion of the load is transferred further in response to determining that the temperature of the first core is less than a third threshold, the third threshold being greater than the first threshold, the method further comprising:
determining a second temperature of the first core;
determining that the second temperature of the first core is greater than the third threshold; and
reducing a power consumption of the first core in response to determining that the second temperature of the first core is greater than the third threshold.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the reducing the power consumption of the first core includes at least one of:
reducing a frequency of the first core;
reducing a supply voltage of the first core;
power collapsing the first core; or
transferring all the load of the first core to at least one core of the remaining cores.

10. A thermal control module for managing thermal energy of a processor including a plurality of cores, the plurality of cores including a first core processing a load and remaining cores, comprising:
means for determining that a temperature of the first core is greater than a first threshold;
means for determining a temperature of a second core of the remaining cores in response to determining that the temperature of the first core is greater than the first threshold;
means for determining whether the temperature of the second core is greater than or less than a second threshold, the second threshold being less than the first threshold;
means for transferring at least a portion of the load of the first core to the second core in response to determining that the temperature of the first core is greater than the first threshold, the transfer of the at least the portion of the load being based on whether the temperature of the second core is greater than or less than the second threshold;
means for determining whether each core of the remaining cores has a temperature greater than the second threshold; and
means for transferring a remaining portion of the load to a set of cores of the remaining cores to share the load between the second core and the set of cores upon determining that each core of the remaining cores has the temperature greater than the second threshold.

11. The thermal control module of claim 10 , further comprising means for determining to transfer all the load to the second core in response to determining that the second core has a temperature less than the second threshold, the at least a portion of the load being all the load.

12. The thermal control module of claim 10 , further comprising means for determining temperatures of each core of the remaining cores, wherein the at least the portion of the load of the first core is transferred to the second core based on the determination of the temperatures of each core of the remaining cores.

13. The thermal control module of claim 12 , further comprising means for determining which of the remaining cores has a lowest temperature, wherein the at least the portion of the load is transferred to the second core in response to determining that the second core has the lowest temperature of the remaining cores.

14. The thermal control module of claim 13 , wherein the at least a portion of the load is all the load, and all the load is transferred from the first core to the second core in response to determining that the second core has the lowest temperature of the remaining cores.

15. The thermal control module of claim 14 , further comprising:
means for powering up the second core before transferring all the load from the first core to the second core; and
means for powering down the first core in response to transferring all the load from the first core to the second core.

16. The thermal control module of claim 10 , further comprising means for determining a respective temperature difference between the temperature of each of the remaining cores and the temperature of the first core, wherein the means for transferring is configured to share the load of the first core among the remaining cores based on the respective temperature differences of the remaining cores.

17. The thermal control module of claim 10 , wherein the at least a portion of the load is transferred further in response to determining that the temperature of the first core is less than a third threshold, the third threshold being greater than the first threshold, the thermal control module further comprising:
means for determining a second temperature

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Mittal Rajat
• Krishnappa Madan
• Chandra Rajit
• Tamjidi Mohammad

Classifications

• Y02D10/32

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02D10/22

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02D10/126

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02D10/16

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F9/5094

  where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria (power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206) · CPC title