Dynamically entering low power states during active workloads

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10133336-B2
Application number	US-201214128945-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 27, 2012
Priority date	Nov 29, 2011
Publication date	Nov 20, 2018
Grant date	Nov 20, 2018

Abstract

Systems and methods may provide for identifying runtime information associated with an active workload of a platform, and making an active idle state determination for the platform based on at least in part the runtime information. In addition, a low power state of a shared resource on the platform may be controlled concurrently with an execution of the active workload based on at least in part the active idle state determination.

First claim

We claim:

1. A computer implemented method comprising:
identifying runtime information associated with an active workload of a platform, wherein the runtime information includes one or more of an idle duration associated with the active workload, a latency tolerance requirement associated with the active workload, or a resource requirement associated with the active workload;
making an active idle state determination for the platform based on at least in part the runtime information;
controlling a low power state of a shared resource on the platform concurrently with an execution of the active workload to reduce platform power consumption during execution of the active workload based on at least in part the active idle state determination, wherein the shared resource is one of a plurality of shared resources that form a power hierarchy including different nodes having different power dependencies, and wherein the shared resource is a downstream component that serves as a node of another shared resource; and
placing the shared resource in the low power state if,
one or more downstream components of the shared resource are idle, and
the idle duration associated with the active workload exceeds an energy break-even time associated with the low power state, wherein entering the low power state depends at least in part on a status of an upstream shared resource and one or more downstream components, and wherein each of the one or more downstream components autonomously manages a power state associated with the downstream component.

2. The method of claim 1 , further including accessing an operating system timer to identify the idle duration.

3. The method of claim 1 , further including receiving the idle duration from an interrupt handler unit.

4. The method of claim 1 , further including placing the shared resource in the low power state if,
one or more downstream components of the shared resource are idle, and
a latency associated with the low power state does not exceed the latency tolerance requirement.

5. The method of claim 1 , further including placing the shared resource in the low power state if,
one or more downstream components of the shared resource are idle, and
the resource requirement does not include the shared resource.

6. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising a set of instructions which, if executed by a processor, cause a platform to:
identify runtime information associated with an active workload of the platform, wherein the runtime information is to include one or more of an idle duration associated with the active workload, a latency tolerance requirement associated with the active workload, or a resource requirement associated with the active workload;
make an active idle state determination for the platform based on at least in part the runtime information;
control a low power state of a shared resource on the platform concurrently with an execution of the active workload to reduce platform power consumption during execution of the active workload based on at least in part the active idle state determination, wherein the shared resource is to be one of a plurality of shared resources that form a power hierarchy including different nodes having different power dependencies, and wherein the shared resource is to be a downstream component that serves as a node of another shared resource; and
place the shared resource in the low power state if,
one or more downstream components of the shared resource are idle, and
the idle duration associated with the active workload exceeds an energy break-even time associated with the low power state, wherein entering the low power state is to depend at least in part on a status of an upstream shared resource and one or more downstream components, and wherein each of the one or more downstream components is to autonomously manage a power state associated with the downstream component.

7. The medium of claim 6 , wherein the instructions, if executed, cause the platform to access an operating system timer to identify the idle duration.

8. The medium of claim 6 , wherein the instructions, if executed, cause the platform to receive the idle duration from an interrupt handler unit.

9. The medium of claim 6 , wherein the instructions, if executed, cause the platform to place the shared resource in the low power state if,
one or more downstream components of the shared resource are idle, and
a latency associated with the low power state does not exceed the latency tolerance requirement.

10. The medium of claim 6 , wherein the instructions, if executed, cause the platform to place the shared resource in the low power state if,
one or more downstream components of the shared resource are idle, and
the resource requirement does not include the shared resource.

11. An apparatus comprising:
logic, implemented at least partly in one or more of configurable logic or fixed functionality logic hardware, to,
identify runtime information associated with an active workload of a platform, wherein the runtime information is to include one or more of an idle duration associated with the active workload, a latency tolerance requirement associated with the active workload, or a resource requirement associated with the active workload,
make an active idle state determination for the platform based on at least in part the runtime information,
control a low power state of a shared resource on the platform concurrently with an execution of the active workload to reduce platform power consumption during execution of the active workload based on at least in part the active idle state determination, wherein the shared resource is to be one of a plurality of shared resources that form a power hierarchy including different nodes having different power dependencies, and wherein the shared resource is to be a downstream component that serves as a node of another shared resource, and
place the shared resource in the low power state if,
one or more downstream components of the shared resource are idle, and
the idle duration associated with the active workload exceeds an energy break-even time associated with the low power state, wherein entering the low power state is to depend at least in part on a status of an upstream shared resource and one or more downstream components, and wherein each of the one or more downstream components is to autonomously manage a power state associated with the downstream component.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the logic is to access an operating system timer to identify the idle duration.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the logic is to receive the idle duration from an interrupt handler unit.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the logic is to place the shared resource in the low power state if,
one or more downstream components of the shared resource are idle, and
a latency associated with the low power state does not exceed the latency tolerance requirement.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the logic is to place the shared resource in the low power state if,
one or more downstream components of the shared resource are idle, and
the resource requirement does not include the shared resource.

16. A platform comprising:
a shared resource, wherein the shared resource is to be one of a plurality of shared resources that form a power hierarchy including different nodes having different power dependencies, and wherein the shared resource is to be a downstream component that serves as a node of another shared resource; and
logic to,
identify runtime information

Assignees

• Wang Ren
• Tai Tsung Yuan C
• Tsai Jr Shian
• Fleming Bruce L
• Muralidhar Rajeev D
• Ergin Mesut A
• Iyer Prakash N
• Seshadri Harinarayanan
• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Wang Ren
• Tai Tsung-Yuan C
• Tsai Jr-Shian
• Fleming Bruce L
• Muralidhar Rajeev D
• Ergin Mesut A
• Iyer Prakash N
• Seshadri Harinarayanan

Classifications

• G06F1/3234 Primary

  Power saving characterised by the action undertaken · CPC title

• G06F1/3287 Primary

  by switching off individual functional units in the computer system · CPC title

• Y02D10/171

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02D50/20

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02D10/00

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