International Business Machines Corporation

Matthew E Fernsler

Mack Wayne Riley

Todd Swanson

David William Boerstler

Hans Mikael Jacobson

Jieming Qi

Eskinder Hailu

Sanjay Gupta

Tilman Gloekler

Nathan Paul Chelstrom

Christopher John Spandikow

Irene Beattie

Johny Srouji

Harm Peter Hofstee

Ramyanshu Datta

A design structure for a pipeline electronic processor device may be embodied in a machine readable medium for designing, manufacturing or testing a processor integrated circuit. The design structure may embody a pipeline electronic circuit that enables power conservation in the stages of the pipeline via a simulation that identifies clock-gating opportunities among the stages of the pipeline. In one embodiment, simulation results assist a designer in the design of the pipeline electronic circuit design structure to achieve power conservation by incorporating clock-gating circuitry among the stages of the pipeline at clock gating opportunity locations that the simulation identifies.

Structure for detecting clock gating opportunities in a pipelined electronic circuit design

A pipeline electronic circuit and design methodology enables power conservation in the stages of the pipeline via a simulation that identifies clock-gating opportunities among the stages of the pipeline. In one embodiment, simulation results assist a designer in the design of the pipeline electronic circuit to achieve power conservation by incorporating clock-gating circuitry among the stages of the pipeline at clock gating opportunity locations that the simulation identifies.

Method and apparatus for detecting clock gating opportunities in a pipelined electronic circuit design

A design structure is embodied in a machine readable medium for designing, manufacturing, or testing integrated circuitry. The design structure includes a general purpose computational resource for performing general purpose operations of a system. A special purpose computational resource is coupled to the general purpose computational resource. The special purpose computational resource is for: storing test patterns, a description of the integrated circuitry, and a description of hardware for testing the integrated circuitry; and executing software for simulating an operation of the described hardware's testing of the described integrated circuitry in response to the test patterns.

Structure for testing an operation of integrated circuitry

A general purpose computational resource is provided for performing general purpose operations of a system. A special purpose computational resource is coupled to the general purpose computational resource. The special purpose computational resource is provided for: storing test patterns, a description of integrated circuitry, and a description of hardware for testing the integrated circuitry; and executing software for simulating an operation of the described hardware's testing of the described integrated circuitry in response to the test patterns.

Testing an operation of integrated circuitry

A mechanism for accelerating test, debug and failure analysis of a multiprocessor device is provided. With the mechanism, on-chip trace logic is utilized to receive internal signals from logic provided in modules of the multiprocessor device. The modules are preferably copies of one another such that, given the same inputs, each module should operate in the same manner and generate the same output as long as the modules are operating properly. The modules are provided with the same inputs and the internal signals of the modules are traced using an on-chip trace bus and on-chip trace logic analyzer to perform the trace. The internal signals from one module are compared against another module so as to determine if there is any discrepancy which would indicate a fault. Additional pairs of modules may be compared to pinpoint a faulty module that is the source of the fault.

Accelerating test, debug and failure analysis of a multiprocessor device

A mechanism for using electrical fuses (eFuses) to store phase-locked loop (PLL) configuration data are provided. With the mechanism, a portion of the eFuses present in the integrated circuit are reserved for the PLL configuration data. Upon power up, a power up controller and eFuse controller direct the sensing and serial transfer of the data in the portion of eFuses to the PLL under the reference clock. When the transfer is complete, the power up controller directs the PLL logic to load the configuration data and start. The mechanism of the present invention allows manufacturing to tailor the PLL configuration on a given device based on the characteristics of that device and its intended usage. Thus, the same PLL may be used in the same or different architectures to perform different operations based on the configuration data passed into the PLL from the eFuses.

Using eFuses to store PLL configuration data

A frequency synthesizer lock detection system is disclosed that distributes a frequency synthesizer output signal across a distribution network to one or more receptor circuits. The distribution network may exhibit delay and other distortion that may cause the downstream signal arriving at the receptor circuit to lose frequency lock with both the frequency synthesizer output signal and a reference clock signal that controls the frequency of the synthesizer output signal. The lock detection system tests the downstream signal to determine if the downstream signal exhibits a lock with respect to the reference clock that determines the operating frequency of the frequency synthesizer. In this manner, lock of the downstream signal to the reference clock signal may be accurately assessed in one embodiment.

Method and apparatus for detecting frequency lock in a system including a frequency synthesizer

An information handling system including a frequency synthesizer lock detection system is disclosed that distributes a frequency synthesizer output signal across a distribution network to one or more receptor circuits. The distribution network may exhibit delay and other distortion that may cause the downstream signal arriving at the receptor circuit to lose frequency lock with both the frequency synthesizer output signal and a reference clock signal that controls the frequency of the synthesizer output signal. The lock detection system tests the downstream signal to determine if the downstream signal exhibits a lock with respect to the reference clock that determines the operating frequency of the frequency synthesizer. In this manner, lock of the downstream signal to the reference clock signal may be accurately assessed in one embodiment.

Information handling system capable of detecting frequency lock of signals downstream from a signal synthesized by frequency synthesizer

An apparatus and method for using electrical fuses (eFuses) to store phase-locked loop (PLL) configuration data are provided. With the apparatus and method, a portion of the eFuses present in the integrated circuit are reserved for the PLL configuration data. Upon power up, a power up controller and eFuse controller direct the sensing and serial transfer of the data in the portion of eFuses to the PLL under the reference clock. When the transfer is complete, the power up controller directs the PLL logic to load the configuration data and start. The mechanism of the present invention allows manufacturing to tailor the PLL configuration on a given device based on the characteristics of that device and its intended usage. Thus, the same PLL may be used in the same or different architectures to perform different operations based on the configuration data passed into the PLL from the eFuses.

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Round Rock, TX, United States of America

Matthew E Fernsler