Memory module thermal management

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10890931-B2
Application number	US-201715723155-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2017
Priority date	Oct 30, 2006
Publication date	Jan 12, 2021
Grant date	Jan 12, 2021

Abstract

A method is disclosed for implementing a scheme to configure thermal management control for a memory device resident on a memory module for a computing platform. A method is also disclosed for implementing the configured thermal management control. In a run-time environment for a computing platform a temperature is obtained from a thermal sensor monitoring the memory module. The memory module is in a given memory module with thermal sensor configuration that includes the memory device. An approximation of a temperature for the memory device is made based on thermal information associated with the given configuration of the memory module and the obtained temperature. The configured thermal management control for the memory device is implemented based on the approximated temperature. Other implementations and examples are also described in this disclosure.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
implementing a scheme to configure thermal management control for a memory device resident on a memory module for a computing platform, the scheme based on:
a configuration of the memory module to include a thermal sensor to monitor the memory module's temperature; and
thermal information associated with a given memory module with thermal sensor configuration, the thermal information including thermal characteristics, the thermal characteristics to include:
a resolution of the thermal sensor;
an accuracy of the thermal sensor;
a first offset value related to the memory device in a low workload mode;
a second offset value related to the memory device in a high workload mode; and
a theta value related to a given increase in temperature for a given increase in power consumed by the memory device.

2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein implementing the scheme to configure thermal management control for the memory device further comprises:
determining whether the memory module matches the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration; and
obtaining default thermal information from one or more basic input/output system (BIOS) tables maintained by the computing platform based on the memory module not matching the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration.

3. A method according to claim 2 , wherein the default thermal information includes one or more default thermal characteristics, the one or more default thermal characteristics to include:
a value related to a high temperature point for the memory device;
a value related to an accuracy of the thermal sensor; and
an offset value related to the memory device in a high workload mode.

4. A method according to claim 3 , wherein implementing the scheme to configure thermal management control for the memory device further comprises determining a threshold value based on the one or more thermal characteristics, the threshold value to indicate implementing thermal management control for the memory device based on a temperature obtained from the thermal sensor meeting or exceeding the threshold value.

5. A method according to claim 1 , wherein implementing the scheme to configure thermal management control for the memory device further comprises:
determining whether the memory module matches the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration; and
obtaining at least a portion of the thermal information associated with the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration from one or more basic input/output system (BIOS) tables maintained by the computing platform based on the memory module matching the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration.

6. A method according to claim 5 , wherein the thermal information associated with the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration includes one or more thermal characteristics of the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration, the one or more thermal characteristics determined by:
collecting information as the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration is in one or more modes of operation on a computing platform, collecting information to include:
temperature of one or more memory devices resident on the memory module;
temperature of the thermal sensor; and
power consumed by the memory module; and

determining the one or more thermal characteristics based on the collected information.

7. A method according to claim 6 , wherein implementing the scheme to configure thermal management control for the memory device further comprises determining a threshold value based on the thermal information associated with the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration that includes the one or more thermal characteristics, the threshold value to indicate implementing thermal management control for the memory device based on a temperature obtained from the thermal sensor meeting or exceeding the threshold value.

8. A method according to claim 1 , wherein the thermal sensor to monitor the memory module comprises the thermal sensor resident on the memory module.

9. A method comprising:
obtaining a temperature from a thermal sensor monitoring a memory module on a computing platform, the memory module in a given memory module with thermal sensor configuration that includes one or more memory devices;
approximating a temperature for a memory device of the one or more memory devices, the approximated temperature based on thermal information associated with the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration and the temperature obtained from the thermal sensor, the thermal information including thermal characteristics, the thermal characteristics to include:
a resolution of the thermal sensor;
an accuracy of the thermal sensor;
a first offset value related to the memory device in a low workload mode;
a second offset value related to the memory device in a high workload mode; and
a theta value related to a given increase in temperature for a given increase in power consumed by the memory device; and
implementing thermal management control for the memory device based on the approximated temperature.

10. A method according to claim 9 , wherein implementing thermal management control for the memory device includes determining whether the approximated temperature meets or exceeds a threshold value, the threshold value based on the thermal information associated with the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration.

11. A method according to claim 9 , wherein thermal management control includes at least one of: throttling memory access requests to the memory device and reducing power provided to the memory device.

12. A method according to claim 11 , wherein throttling memory access requests comprises a memory controller for the computing platform reducing a rate at which the memory device is accessed over a given time period.

13. A method according to claim 11 , wherein reducing power provided to the memory module comprises an operating system for the computing platform causing the memory device to transition to a lower power state.

14. A method according to claim 9 , wherein approximating the temperature for the memory device based on thermal information associated with the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration and the temperature obtained from the thermal sensor comprises
a theta value to determine a third offset value related to the memory device in a workload mode between the low and the high workload mode.

15. A method according to claim 14 , where the workload mode between the low and the high workload mode is determined based on power consumed by the memory device.

16. A method according to claim 9 , wherein the memory module in the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration comprises the memory module as a small outline dual in line memory module (SO-DIMM) with the thermal sensor resident on the SO-DIMM.

17. An apparatus comprising:
a thermal manager for a computing platform, the thermal manager to include logic to:
obtain a temperature from a thermal sensor monitoring a memory module that includes one or more memory devices, the memory module in a given memory module with thermal sensor configuration;
approximate a temperature for a memory device of the one or more memory devices based on thermal information associated with the given memory module with thermal sensor configuration and the temperature obtained from the thermal sensor, the thermal information including thermal characteristics, the thermal character

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Santos Ishmael
• Hall Corinne
• Cox Christopher

Classifications

• G05D23/19 Primary

  characterised by the use of electric means {(G05D23/1393 takes precedence)} · CPC title