Active power management in a computing device subsystem based on micro-idle duration

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10642337-B2
Application number	US-201715668554-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2017
Priority date	Aug 3, 2017
Publication date	May 5, 2020
Grant date	May 5, 2020

Abstract

Micro-idle power in a subsystem of a portable computing device may be actively managed based on client voting. Each client vote may include a client activity status indication and a client latency tolerance indication. Votes are aggregated to provide an aggregate client latency tolerance, which may be used to obtain a set of micro-idle time values. Micro-idle timers in the subsystem may be set to associated micro-idle time values. The micro-idle timers determine whether one or more of the micro-idle time values have elapsed. A power management policy associated with each micro-idle time value determined to have elapsed may be applied to a portion of the subsystem.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for power management in a subsystem of a portable computing device, comprising:
receiving a plurality of votes from a corresponding plurality of client devices of the subsystem, each vote including a client activity status indication and a client latency tolerance indication;
providing an aggregate client latency tolerance in response to the plurality of votes, the aggregate client latency tolerance corresponding to a plurality of micro-idle time values associated with a corresponding plurality of micro-idle timers, each micro-idle timer associated with a different hardware device of the subsystem, the subsystem comprising a plurality of different hardware devices, each hardware device supports a separate and different operation within the subsystem;
setting each of the micro-idle timers to an associated micro-idle time value in response to the aggregate client latency tolerance;
determining, using the micro-idle timers, whether one or more of the micro-idle time values have elapsed; and
applying to a portion of the subsystem a corresponding power management policy associated with each micro-idle time value determined to have elapsed.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subsystem is a memory subsystem, and the client devices are memory clients.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein each micro-idle timer is reset in response to a memory transaction.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein each micro-idle timer corresponds to a different power management policy and a different power management policy exit penalty.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing an active client categorization indication in response to the plurality of votes.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein setting each of the micro-idle timers to an associated micro-idle time value comprises:
applying the aggregate client latency tolerance indication to the lookup table; and
obtaining the micro-idle time values from the lookup table in response to the aggregate client latency tolerance indication.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
providing an active client categorization indication in response to the plurality of votes; and
applying a combination of the aggregate client latency tolerance and the active client categorization indication to the lookup table,
wherein the micro-idle time values are obtained from the lookup table in response to the a combination of the aggregate client latency tolerance and the active client categorization indication.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the aggregate client latency tolerance represents a minimum client latency tolerance among the plurality of votes.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portable computing device comprises one of a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a pager, a smartphone, a navigation device, and a hand-held computer with a wireless link.

10. A system for power management in a portable computing device, comprising:
a resource power manager (“RPM”) configured to receive a plurality of votes from a corresponding plurality of client devices of a subsystem of the portable computing device, each vote including a client activity status indication and a client latency tolerance indication, the RPM further configured to providing an aggregate client latency tolerance in response to the plurality of votes;
a plurality of micro-idle timers, each configured to determine whether an associated micro-idle time value has elapsed and to apply to a corresponding portion of the subsystem a corresponding power management policy associated with a micro-idle time value determined to have elapsed, each micro-idle timer associated with a different hardware device of the subsystem, the subsystem comprising a plurality of different hardware devices, each hardware device supports a separate and different operation within the subsystem; and
an aggregator configured to set each of the micro-idle timers to the associated micro-idle time value in response to the aggregate client latency tolerance.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the subsystem is a memory subsystem, and the client devices are memory clients.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein each micro-idle timer is reset in response to a memory transaction.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein each micro-idle timer corresponds to a different power management policy and a different power management policy exit penalty.

14. The system of claim 10 , further comprising providing an active client categorization indication in response to the plurality of votes.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein setting each of the micro-idle timers to an associated micro-idle time value comprises:
applying the aggregate client latency tolerance indication to the lookup table; and
obtaining the micro-idle time values from the lookup table in response to the aggregate client latency tolerance indication.

16. The system of claim 15 , further comprising:
providing an active client categorization indication in response to the plurality of votes; and
applying a combination of the aggregate client latency tolerance and the active client categorization indication to the lookup table,
wherein the micro-idle time values are obtained from the lookup table in response to the a combination of the aggregate client latency tolerance and the active client categorization indication.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the aggregate client latency tolerance represents a minimum client latency tolerance among the plurality of votes.

18. The system of claim 10 , wherein the portable computing device comprises one of a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a pager; a smartphone, a navigation device, and a hand-held computer with a wireless link.

19. A computer program product for power management in a subsystem of a portable computing device, the computer program product comprising processor-executable instructions embodied in at least one non-transitory storage medium, execution of the instructions by one or more processors of a system configuring the system to:
receiving a plurality of votes from a corresponding plurality of client devices of the subsystem, each vote including a client activity status indication and a client latency tolerance indication;
providing an aggregate client latency tolerance in response to the plurality of votes, the aggregate client latency tolerance corresponding to a plurality of micro-idle time values associated with a corresponding plurality of micro-idle timers, each micro-idle timer associated with a different hardware device of the subsystem, the subsystem comprising a plurality of different hardware devices, each hardware device supports a separate and different operation within the subsystem; and
setting each of the micro-idle timers to an associated micro-idle time value in response to the aggregate client latency tolerance, wherein the micro-idle timers determine whether one or more of the micro-idle time values have elapsed and apply to a portion of the subsystem a corresponding power management policy associated with each micro-idle time value determined to have elapsed.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein the subsystem is a memory subsystem, and the client devices are memory clients.

21. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein each micro-idle timer is reset in response to a memory transaction.

22. The computer program product of claim 19 , wherein each micro-idle timer corresponds to a different

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Chamarty Vinod
• Nguyen Trang
• Jose Edwin
• Kang Xin
• Sweeney Sean
• Drop Michael
• Andreev Boris
• Aquil Farrukh

Classifications

• G06F1/324 Primary

  by lowering clock frequency · CPC title

• H04W52/029

  reducing the clock frequency of the controller · CPC title

• H04W52/0209

  in terminal devices · CPC title

• G06F1/3287

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

• G06F1/3237

  by disabling clock generation or distribution · CPC title