Integrated circuit for implementing a cooling algorithm and a mobile device including the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10474209-B2
Application number	US-201615341314-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 2, 2016
Priority date	Nov 20, 2015
Publication date	Nov 12, 2019
Grant date	Nov 12, 2019

Abstract

In one example embodiment, an integrated circuit includes a memory configured to store a first table listing a plurality of clip frequencies respectively corresponding to a plurality of reference temperatures, and a second table listing one or more of the plurality of clip frequencies and a plurality of timestamps each respectively corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of clip frequencies. The integrated circuit further includes a cooling frequency adjustor configured to select one of the plurality of clip frequencies stored in the first table as a first clip frequency, and store a current timestamp of the first clip frequency in the second table. The integrated circuit further includes a central processing unit (CPU) configured to control an operation of the cooling frequency adjustor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An integrated circuit comprising:
a memory configured to store,
a first table listing a plurality of clip frequencies respectively corresponding to a plurality of reference temperatures,
a second table listing one or more of the plurality of clip frequencies and one or more timestamps, each of the one or more timestamps respectively corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of clip frequencies, and
computer-readable instructions; and

at least one processor configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to,
select one of the plurality of clip frequencies stored in the first table as a first clip frequency,
store a current timestamp of the first clip frequency in the second table listing the one or more timestamps,
determine whether the first clip frequency has been repeated during a time period, and
control an operating frequency of the at least one processor based on whether the first clip frequency has been repeated.

2. The integrated circuit of claim 1 , further comprising:
a plurality of thermal sensors; and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to,
determine a current temperature based on a plurality of temperatures detected by the plurality of thermal sensors,
at least one of,
select the first clip frequency based on the current temperature, and
determine a second clip frequency corresponding to the current temperature based on the one or more of the plurality of clip frequencies in the second table, and

control the operating frequency by controlling a clock signal applied to the at least one processor to have one of the first clip frequency or the second clip frequency.

3. The integrated circuit of claim 2 , wherein
the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to adjust a previous timestamp of the first clip frequency with the current timestamp of the first clip frequency;
the one or more of the plurality of clip frequencies include the first clip frequency; and
the one or more timestamps include the previous timestamp of the first clip frequency.

4. The integrated circuit of claim 2 , wherein the second clip frequency is different from any of the plurality of clip frequencies in the first table.

5. The integrated circuit of claim 2 , wherein the second clip frequency is an average of the one or more of the plurality of clip frequencies in the second table.

6. The integrated circuit of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to,
output a determination result signal to control the clock signal.

7. The integrated circuit of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to,
control the clock signal to have the second clip frequency in response to determining that the first clip frequency has been repeated, and
control the clock signal to have the first clip frequency in response to determining that the first clip frequency has not been repeated.

8. The integrated circuit of claim 2 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to,
determine which one of a plurality of temperature windows that an average temperature of the plurality of temperatures belongs to, and
determine, based on a temperature window to which the average temperature belongs, the current temperature as one of (i) the average temperature, (ii) a maximum temperature of the plurality of temperatures, and (iii) a minimum temperature of the plurality of temperatures.

9. The integrated circuit of claim 2 , wherein
the at least one processor is configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to,
detect a change in the current temperature,
obtain an increased clip frequency by increasing one of the first clip frequency or the second clip frequency by a frequency increase step based on the change in the current temperature, and
control the clock signal to have the increased clip frequency.

10. An integrated circuit comprising:
at least one processor configured to,
determine whether a first clip frequency corresponding to a first temperature of the integrated circuit has been previously supplied to the at least one processor at least once during a time period, and
control a clock signal applied to the at least one processor to have one of the first clip frequency or a second clip frequency of a first group of clip frequencies by generating a control signal based on whether the first clip frequency has been previously supplied to the at least one processor at least once during the time period; wherein
the second clip frequency is based on a second temperature corresponding to the first group of clip frequencies that have been supplied to the at least one processor during the time period.

11. The integrated circuit of claim 10 , further comprising:
a memory configured to store,
a first table including a second group of clip frequencies, each having a corresponding reference temperature; and
a second table including the first group of clip frequencies as well as timestamps respectively corresponding to the first group of clip frequencies, the first group of clip frequencies including the first clip frequency.

12. The integrated circuit of claim 11 , further comprising:
a plurality of thermal sensors,
wherein the at least one processor is configured to,
determine the first temperature based on a plurality of temperatures detected by the plurality of thermal sensors, and
at least one of,
select the first clip frequency based on the first temperature, and
determine the second clip frequency corresponding to the first temperature based on the first group of clip frequencies.

13. The integrated circuit of claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to,
generate the control signal for generation of the clock signal having the second clip frequency in response to determining that the first clip frequency has been previously supplied to the at least one processor at least once during the time period, and
generate the control signal for generation of the clock signal having the first clip frequency in response to determining that the first clip frequency has not been previously supplied to the at least one processor during the time period.

14. The integrated circuit of claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to,
determine which one of a plurality of temperature windows that an average temperature of the plurality of temperatures belongs to, and
determine, based on a temperature window to which the average temperature belongs, the first temperature as one of (i) the average temperature, (ii) a maximum temperature of the plurality of temperatures, and (iii) a minimum temperature of the plurality of temperatures.

15. The integrated circuit of claim 12 , wherein the at least one processor is configured to,
detect a change in the first temperature, and
obtain an increased clip frequency by increasing one of the first clip frequency and the second clip frequency by a frequency increase step based on the change in the first temperature, and
control the clock signal to have the increased clip frequency.

16. A device comprising:
a memory having computer-readable instructions stored therein; and
a processor configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to,
determine a temperature value based on a plurality of temperature readings associated with the device;
determine an operating frequency bas

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Park Jong Lae
• Kim Seung Kyu

Classifications

• G06F1/324

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title

• G06F1/3243 Primary

  Power saving in microcontroller unit · CPC title

• G06F1/206 Primary

  comprising thermal management · CPC title

• Y02D10/16

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02D10/126

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic