Power manager and method for managing power

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9459679-B2
Application number	US-99247809-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 12, 2009
Priority date	May 13, 2008
Publication date	Oct 4, 2016
Grant date	Oct 4, 2016

Abstract

A power manager ( 106 ) and method for managing the power supplied to an electronic device is provided. Furthermore, a system wherein the power supplied to an electronic device is managed is provided. The power manager ( 106 ) is operative to monitor a hardware monitor ( 104 ) during a monitoring time period. The hardware monitor ( 104 ) is coupled to an electronic device ( 102 ). The electronic device ( 102 ) has a workload during operational use. The hardware monitor is operative to indicate the workload of the electronic device ( 102 ). The power manager is operative to control power supplied to the electronic device ( 102 ) in dependency on the monitoring.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An electronic system comprising:
a hardware monitor coupled to an electronic device and configured to monitor a workload of the electronic device and to generate a signal indicative of the workload of the electronic device during a monitoring time period between a first time and a second time; and
a power manager coupled to the hardware monitor and configured to:
determine a frequency of a periodicity of the workload based on the signal,
detect a first event in the workload at the first time, the first event represented by at least a first predetermined amount of change in the signal from a first level in a first predetermined length of time,
detect a second event in the workload at the second time after the first time, the second event represented by at least another first predetermined amount of change in the signal from the first level in the first predetermined length of time,
predict a third time at which a future event in the workload is expected to occur based on a difference between the first time and the second time,
predict a fourth time after the third time, the fourth time corresponding to a predicated time when another future event in the workload is expected to occur based on the difference between the first time and the second time,
select a subsequent monitoring time period between the third time at which the predicted future event is expected to occur and the fourth time at which said another predicted further event is expected to occur, the difference between the first time and the second time different from another difference between the third time and the fourth time, and
control an amount of power supplied to the electronic device based on the frequency of the periodicity of the workload,

wherein the hardware monitor is further configured to monitor the workload of the electronic device during the subsequent monitoring time period.

2. The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein the power manager is further configured to detect a third event in the workload represented by at least a second predetermined amount of change in the signal to the first level from a second level in a second predetermined length of time.

3. The electronic system of claim 2 , wherein the power manager is further configured to determine a number of unit cycles in the second level between the first event and the third event to predict the future event and said another future event.

4. The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein the first event is represented by at least the first predetermined amount of change in the signal from the first level to a second level higher than the first level.

5. The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein the power manager is further configured to:
produce a monitoring trace representing a history of the signal from the hardware monitor, and wherein the first event and the second event are detected using the monitoring trace.

6. The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein the hardware monitor is integrated in the power manager.

7. The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein the workload is substantially periodic.

8. The electronic system of claim 1 , wherein the hardware monitor is further configured to skip monitoring one or more events of the electronic device occurring between the monitoring time period and the selected subsequent monitoring time period.

9. A method for managing power supplied to an electronic device, the method comprising:
monitoring, during a monitoring time period between a first time and a second time, a workload of the electronic device to generate a signal indicative of the workload;
determining a frequency of a periodicity of the workload based on the signal;
detecting a first event in the workload at the first time, the first event represented by at least a first predetermined amount of change in the signal from a first level in a first predetermined length of time;
detecting a second event in the workload at the second time after the first time, the second event represented by at least another first predetermined amount of change in the signal from the first level in the first predetermined length of time;
predicting a third time at which a future event in the workload is expected to occur based on a difference between the first time and the second time;
predicting a fourth time after the third time, the fourth time corresponding to a predicted time when another future event in the workload is expected to occur based on the difference between the first time and the second time;
selecting a subsequent monitoring time period between the third time at which the predicted future event is expected to occur and the fourth time at which said another predicted future event is expected to occur, the difference between the first time and the second time different from another difference between the third time and the fourth time;
monitoring the workload of the electronic device during the subsequent monitoring time period; and
controlling an amount of power supplied to the electronic device based on the frequency of the periodicity of the workload and the third time.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
detecting a third event in the workload represented by at least a second predetermined amount of change in the signal to the first level from a second level in a second predetermined length of time.

11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
producing a monitoring trace representing a history of the signal,
wherein the first event and the second event are detected using the monitoring trace.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
skipping monitoring one or more events of the electronic device occurring between the monitoring time period and the selected subsequent monitoring time period.

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store program code, the program code comprising instructions when executed by a processor cause the processor to:
monitor, during a monitoring time period between a first time and a second time, a workload of an electronic device to generate a signal indicative of the workload;
determine a frequency of a periodicity of the workload based on the signal;
detect a first event in the workload at the first time, the first event represented by at least a first predetermined amount of change in the signal from a first level in a first predetermined length of time;
detect a second event in the workload at the second time after the first time, the second event represented by at least another first predetermined amount of change in the signal from the first level in the first predetermined length of time;
predict a third time at which a future event in the workload is expected to occur based on a difference between the first time and the second time;
predict a fourth time after the third time, the fourth time corresponding to a predicted time when another future event in the workload is expected to occur based on the difference between the first time and the second time;
select a subsequent monitoring time period between the third time at which the predicted future event is expected to occur and the fourth time at which said another predicted future event is expected to occur, the difference between the first time and the second time different from another difference between the third time and the fourth time;
monitor the workload of the electronic device during the subsequent monitoring time period; and
control an amount of power supplied to the electronic device based on the frequency of the periodicity of the workload and the third time.

14. The non-transitory computer rea

Assignees

• Burchard Artur Tadeusz
• Kersten Ger
• Molnos Anca Mariana
• Milutinovic Aleksander
• Goossens Kees Gerard Willem
• Steffens Elisabeth Francisca Maria
• Synopsys Inc

Inventors

• Burchard Artur Tadeusz
• Kersten Ger
• Molnos Anca Mariana
• Milutinovic Aleksander
• Goossens Kees Gerard Willem
• Steffens Elisabeth Francisca Maria

Classifications

• G06F1/26

  Power supply means, e.g. regulation thereof (for memories G11C) · CPC title

• G06F1/3296

  by lowering the supply or operating voltage · CPC title

• Y02B60/1285

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F1/3203 Primary

  Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode · CPC title

• Y02B60/1217

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic