Power system utilizing processor core performance state control

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10146289-B2
Application number	US-201615282497-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2016
Priority date	Oct 5, 2012
Publication date	Dec 4, 2018
Grant date	Dec 4, 2018

Abstract

An information handling system includes a power supply coupled to a processor that includes a plurality of cores. A power system controller is coupled to the power supply and the processor. The power system controller may set each of the plurality of cores to a performance state that is below a highest performance state. The power system controller may then determine whether the power supplied from the power supply to the processor during operation is sufficient to operate each of the plurality of cores at the highest performance state. In response to the power being insufficient to operate each of the plurality of cores at the highest performance state, the power system controller may control the plurality of cores such that a subset operate at the highest performance state and the remainder operate at a performance state that is lower than the highest performance state.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power system, comprising
a powered system including a plurality of subsystems that are each configured to operate in a plurality of different frequencies that each provide a respective performance state;
a power system controller that is coupled to each of the plurality of subsystems in the powered system through a respective dedicated power connection, and that is configured to couple to a power supply, wherein the power system controller is configured to:
control power provided from the power supply to the respective dedicated power connection for each of the plurality of subsystems in the powered system such that each of the plurality of subsystems operate at a respective performance state;
identify at least one workload that is to be performed using at least some of the plurality of subsystems and that is associated with a workload-based power budget; and
control, in response to identifying the at least one workload, power provided from the power supply to the respective dedicated power connection for each of the plurality of subsystems such that a subset of the plurality of subsystems operate at a highest frequency that provides the highest performance state and the remainder of the plurality of subsystems operate at least one frequency that provides a performance state that is lower than the highest performance state using the workload-based power budget such that the plurality of subsystems perform the at least one workload according to the workload-based power budget.

2. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the controlling power provided from the power supply to the respective dedicated power connection for each of the plurality of subsystems such that the subset of the plurality of subsystems operate at the highest frequency that provides the highest performance state and the remainder of the plurality of subsystems operate at the at least one frequency that provides the performance state that is lower than the highest performance state ensures that only a predetermined number of the subsystems are capable of demanding a subsystem peak power amount.

3. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the power system controller is further configured to:
retrieve a powered system configuration; and
determine a power-supply-based power budget for the powered system using the powered system configuration, wherein the at least one frequency that provides the performance state that is lower than the highest performance state is selected using the power-supply-based power budget such that the powered system does not demand power that exceeds the power-supply-based power budget.

4. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the power system controller is further configured to:
monitor a dynamic power demand of the powered system; and
control power provided from the power supply to the respective dedicated power connection for each of the plurality of subsystems such that the plurality of subsystems included in the subset of the plurality of subsystems that operate at the highest frequency that provides the highest performance state changes.

5. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the power system controller is coupled to at least one database that includes operation data for the plurality of subsystems in the powered system.

6. The power system of claim 5 , wherein the power system controller is further configured to:
retrieve the operation data for the plurality of subsystems from the at least one database; and
use the operation data along with the workload-based power budget to control power provided from the power supply to the respective dedicated power connection for each of the plurality of subsystems such that the subset of the plurality of subsystems operate at the highest frequency that provides the highest performance state and the remainder of the plurality of subsystems operate at the at least one frequency that provide the performance state that is lower than the highest performance state.

7. The power system of claim 1 , wherein the highest performance state makes a transient high power demand performance feature available in the plurality of subsystems, and wherein the performance state that is lower than the highest performance state makes the transient high power demand performance feature unavailable in the plurality of subsystems.

8. An information handling system (IHS), comprising:
a power supply;
a processor coupled to the power supply and including a plurality of cores;
a memory coupled to the processor; and
a power system controller that is coupled to the power supply and to each of the plurality of cores in the processor through a respective voltage plane, wherein the power system controller is configured to:
control power provided from the power supply to the respective voltage plane for each of the plurality of cores in the processor such that each of the plurality of cores operate at a respective performance state;
identify at least one workload that is to be performed using at least some of the plurality of cores and that is associated with a workload-based power budget; and
control, in response to identifying the at least one workload, power provided from the power supply to the respective voltage plane for each of the plurality of cores such that a subset of the plurality of cores operate at the highest performance state and the remainder of the plurality of cores operate at a performance state that is lower than the highest performance state such that the plurality of scores perform the at least one workload according to the workload-based power budget.

9. The IHS of claim 8 , wherein the controlling power provided from the power supply to the respective voltage plane for each of the plurality of cores such that the subset of the plurality of cores operate at the highest performance state and the remainder of the plurality of cores operate at the performance state that is lower than the highest performance state ensures that only a predetermined number of the cores are capable of demanding a core peak power amount.

10. The IHS of claim 8 , wherein the power system controller is further configured to:
retrieve an IHS configuration; and
determine a power-supply-based power budget for the processor using the IHS configuration, wherein the performance state that each of the plurality of cores operate at and that is below the highest performance state is selected using the power-supply-based power budget such that the processor does not demand power that exceeds the power-supply-based power budget.

11. The IHS of claim 8 , wherein the power system controller is further configured to:
monitor a dynamic power demand of the processor; and
control power provided from the power supply to the respective voltage plane for each of the plurality of cores such that the plurality of cores included in the subset of the plurality of cores that operate at the highest performance state changes.

12. The IHS of claim 8 , wherein the power system controller is coupled to at least one database that includes operation data for the plurality of cores in the processor.

13. The IHS of claim 12 , wherein the power system controller is further configured to:
retrieve the operation data for the plurality of cores from the at least one database; and
use the operation data along with the workload-based power budget to control power provided from the power supply to the respective voltage plane for each of the plurality of cores such that the subset of the plurality of cores operate at the highest performance state and the remainder of the plurality of cores operate at the performance state that is lower than the highest pe

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Khatri Mukund P
• Artman Paul T
• Khalid Humayun
• Molloy Michael Karl

Classifications

• G06F1/3296

  by lowering the supply or operating voltage · CPC title

• G06F1/324 Primary

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title

• G06F1/3206

  Monitoring of events, devices or parameters that trigger a change in power modality · CPC title

• Y02D10/172

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02D10/126

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic