Performing dynamic power control of platform devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9874922-B2
Application number	US-201514623764-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 17, 2015
Priority date	Feb 17, 2015
Publication date	Jan 23, 2018
Grant date	Jan 23, 2018

Abstract

In one embodiment, a processor includes at least one core to execute instructions and a power control logic to receive power capability information from a plurality of devices to couple to the processor and allocate a platform power budget to the devices, set a first power level for the devices at which the corresponding device is allocated to be powered, communicate the first power level to the devices, and dynamically reduce a first power to be allocated to a first device and increase a second power to be allocated to a second device responsive to a request from the second device for a higher power level. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A processor comprising:
at least one core to execute instructions; and
a power control logic coupled to the at least one core to:
receive power capability information from a plurality of devices to couple to the processor,
allocate a platform power budget to the plurality of devices,
for each of the plurality of devices, determine an initial power level at which the corresponding device is allocated to be powered,
responsive to a request from a first device of the plurality of devices for a higher power level, access a first entry of a use case storage including a plurality of entries each associated with a unique use case, the first entry identifying a first set of multiple devices involved in a first use case, the first set including the first device of the plurality of devices,
using first use case information stored in the first entry of the storage:
identify a second device of the plurality of devices to receive a reduced power allocation, and
dynamically increase a first power level to be allocated to the first device and reduce a second power level to be allocated to the second device.

2. The processor of claim 1 , wherein responsive to the request from the first device, the power control logic is to send a first message to the first device to cause the first device to operate at the increased first power level, and send a second message to the second device to cause the second device to operate at the reduced second power level.

3. The processor of claim 1 , the first entry further identifying a second set of multiple devices that are not involved in the first use case, wherein the second device is included in the second set identified by the first entry.

4. The processor of claim 1 , wherein the first device comprises a flash device, and the first use case comprises an illumination of the flash device to enable a user to capture an image via a capture device.

5. The processor of claim 1 , wherein after execution of the first use case, the power control logic is to cause each of the plurality of devices to operate at the corresponding initial power level.

6. The processor of claim 2 , wherein the second device comprises a data communication device, and the second message is to cause a communication frequency of the data communication device to be reduced during the first use case.

7. The processor of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of entries of the use case storage correspond to a plurality of use cases, wherein each entry includes information identifying at least one device to be active during a corresponding use case.

8. The processor of claim 1 , wherein the power capability information includes the first power level, a fourth power level, and a fifth power level for each of a plurality of time frames, the power capability information to be communicated from each of the plurality of devices to the power control logic.

9. The processor of claim 8 , wherein the first power level comprises a nominal power level at which the corresponding device is to operate, the fourth power level comprises a maximum power level at which the corresponding device is to operate, and the fifth power level comprises a minimum power level at which the corresponding device is to operate.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon data, which if used by at least one machine, causes the at least one machine to fabricate at least one integrated circuit to perform a method comprising:
allocating, via a power allocation logic of a processor, a nominal power level for each of a plurality of devices of a platform, the platform including the processor;
receiving a device notification from a first device of the plurality of devices for an increased power level;
responsive to the device notification from the first device, accessing a first entry of a use case storage including a plurality of entries, each of the plurality of entries associated with a unique use case, the first entry identifying a first set of multiple devices involved in a first use case, the first set including the first device of the plurality of devices;
using first use case information stored in the first entry of the storage:
identifying a second device of the plurality of devices to receive a reduced power allocation; and
reducing a power level of the second device and allocating the increased power level to the first device to enable the first device to perform an operation of the first use case.

11. The machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises sending a reduced power message to the second device.

12. The machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises allocating the increased power level to the first device and sending a device turbo message to the first device after sending the reduced power message, wherein the first device is to update one or more operating parameters of the first device to operate at the increased power level.

13. The machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises receiving power capability information from the plurality of devices and storing the power capability information in a capabilities storage.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises accessing the capabilities storage to determine the increased power level for the first device, and determining whether available power headroom exists to allocate the increased power level based at least in part on the increased power level.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises receiving an indication of the first use case with the device notification.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of entries of the use case storage correspond to a plurality of use cases, wherein each entry includes information identifying at least one device to be active during a corresponding use case.

17. A system comprising:
a processor including a plurality of cores each to independently execute instructions and a power control unit to control a power consumption of the plurality of cores;
a plurality of devices coupled to the processor, each of the plurality of devices including a capabilities storage to store a plurality of power levels at which the corresponding device is to operate in an associated operating mode, and a control logic to receive a power allocation message and to control one or more operating parameters of the corresponding device to enable operation at a power level associated with the power allocation message;
a power controller including a power allocation logic to receive the plurality of power levels from the plurality of devices, allocate a power budget to the plurality of devices, send the power allocation message to each of the plurality of devices including a first power level at which the corresponding device is allocated to be powered, and dynamically update a power to be allocated to a first device responsive to a notification from the first device regarding a first use scenario to be performed using the first device; and
a storage to store a plurality of entries each associated with a use scenario, wherein the power controller is to access a first entry of the storage responsive to the notification, the first entry identifying a first set of multiple devices involved in the first use scenario, wherein the first set includes the first device of the plurality of devices, wherein the power controller is to identify a second device of the plurality of devices to receive a reduced power allocation b

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Varma Ankush
• Sistla Krishnakanth V
• Srinivasan Vasudevan
• Gorbatov Eugene
• Henroid Andrew D
• Cooper Barnes
• Browning David W
• Therien Guy M
• Songer Neil W
• Hermerding Ii James G

Classifications

• G06F1/3203

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

• G06F1/3287

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

• G06F1/3206 Primary

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

• G06F1/3296

  by lowering the supply or operating voltage · CPC title

• G06F9/50

  Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU] · CPC title