Intel Corporation

Joseph T Dibene, Ii

Henry W Koertzen

Son H Lam

Steven D Patzer

Alon Naveh

Jorge Pedro Rodriguez

Hung-Piao Ma

Edward R Stanford

Gil Schwarzband

Peng Zou

Kosta Luria

Annabelle Pratt

Sean M Welch

Fenardi Thenus

Stefan Rusu

James G Hermerding, Ii

Tomm Aldridge

Ishmael F Santos

Dave Gordon

Fernardi Thenus

Henry W Koerzen

In accordance with some embodiments, margining routines to determine acceptable voltage command values for specific CPU implementations at one or more different operating levels may be provided.

Supply margining Method and apparatus

In some embodiments described herein, proposed schemes utilize a duty-cycle sensing technique to detect load current imbalance in each individual inductor, and then adjusts the duty cycles for the specific phases through a digital duty cycle tuner.

Method and apparatus of current balancing for multiple phase power converter

Supply margining method and apparatus

Disclosed is a switching voltage regulator circuitry controlled to supply a voltage to at least a portion of an integrated circuit (IC). Information corresponding to a current load for a different power state of at least a portion of the IC is received. The switching voltage regulator circuitry is controlled to adjust the voltage to a different value based at least in part on the received information. Disclosed is a voltage received for a power state of at least a portion of an IC having first logic to perform one or more functions and second logic integrated with the first logic. Information corresponding to a current load for a different power state of at least a portion of the IC is sent from the second logic to voltage regulator control logic to adjust the voltage to a different value.

Supply voltage control based at least in part on power state of integrated circuit

In some embodiments, the invention provides a higher efficiency, real-time platform power management architecture for computing platforms. A more direct power management architecture may be provided using integrated voltage regulators and in some embodiments, a direct power management interface (DPMI) as well. Integrated voltage regulators, such as in-silicon voltage regulators (ISVR) can be used to implement quicker, more highly responsive power state transitions.

Power management system for selectively changing the power state of devices using an OS power management framework and non-OS power management framework

Techniques to enable voltage regulators to adjust for coming load changes are presented herein. In some embodiments, a functional block such as a microprocessor core having an associated clock signal is powered by at least one switching-type voltage regulator. When the functional block is about to require an increased level of power, the associated clock is provided to drive the at least one regulator switches overriding their normal drive signal, which has a lower frequency. Thus, the switches are driven at a higher frequency sufficiently prior to (e.g., just ahead of) the load change to reduce the amount of droop that would otherwise occur.

Voltage regulator with drive override

Embodiments of an apparatus, system and method are described for dynamically time-interleaving supply voltage modulation to shape a power profile. An apparatus may comprise, for example, a power management module to monitor power information received from a plurality of devices and send a power control signal including delay information to each device having power information that exceeds a power threshold, the delay information comprising information for time-interleaving power usage among the devices having power information that exceeds the power threshold. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Method and apparatus for power profile shaping using time-interleaved voltage modulation

In some embodiments, the number of active cells in a multi-cell voltage regulator is controlled so that the current-per-active-cell approaches a predefined target or to be within an acceptable range so that the active cells operate with suitable efficiency.

Multi-cell voltage regulator

Methods and mechanisms to simultaneously regulate two or more supply voltages provided to an integrated circuit by a voltage regulator. In an embodiment of the invention, a voltage regulation message exchanged between the integrated circuit and the voltage regulator includes an identifier indicating two or more supply voltages selected from a plurality of supply voltages provided to the integrated circuit by the voltage regulator, where the voltage regulation message relates to the indicated two or more supply voltages. In another embodiment, the voltage regulation message indicates a desired supply voltage level to which the indicated two or more supply voltages are to transition.

Simultaneous multi-voltage rail voltage regulation messages

For one disclosed embodiment, switching voltage regulator circuitry may be controlled to supply a voltage to at least a portion of an integrated circuit. Information corresponding to a current load for a different power state of at least a portion of the integrated circuit may be received. The switching voltage regulator circuitry may be controlled to adjust the voltage to a different value based at least in part on the received information. For another disclosed embodiment, a voltage may be received for a power state of at least a portion of an integrated circuit having first logic to perform one or more functions and second logic integrated with the first logic. Information corresponding to a current load for a different power state of at least a portion of the integrated circuit may be sent from the second logic to voltage regulator control logic to adjust the voltage to a different value. Other embodiments are also disclosed.

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Olympia, WA, United States of America

Joseph T Dibene, Ii