National Semiconductor Corporation

Pasi Salmi

Juha Tapani Pennanen

Dragan Maksimovic

James Thomas Doyle

Sandeep Dhar

Mark Hartman

Juna Pennanen

A system and method is disclosed for providing multi-point calibration of an adaptive voltage scaling (AVS) system. A plurality of Reference Calibration Codes (RCCs) within a multi-point calibration table is provided. Each code is associated with one of the clock frequencies of the adaptive voltage scaling (AVS) system. The present invention provides multi-point calibration by calibrating a Reference Calibration Code (RCC) for each operating point (clock frequency) of the adaptive voltage scaling (AVS) system.

System and method for providing multi-point calibration of an adaptive voltage scaling system

A system and method is disclosed for providing a plurality of hardware performance monitors for adaptive voltage scaling in an integrated circuit system that comprises a plurality of threshold voltage Vlogic libraries. Each hardware performance monitor is associated with one of the plurality of threshold voltage Vlogic libraries and provides a signal that measures a performance of its respective threshold voltage Vlogic library die temperature, process corner and supply voltage. The difference between the measured performance and a nominal expected performance for each hardware performance monitor is determined. The largest of the plurality of difference signals is selected and provided to an advanced power controller for use in providing adaptive voltage scaling for the integrated circuit system.

[object Object]

A system and method is disclosed for providing a plurality of hardware performance monitors for adaptive voltage scaling in an integrated circuit system that comprises a plurality of clock domains. Each hardware performance monitor is associated with one of the plurality of clock domains and provides a signal that measures a performance of its respective clock domain temperature, process corner and supply voltage. The difference between the measured performance and a nominal expected performance for each hardware performance monitor is determined. The largest of the plurality of difference signals is selected and used in an advanced power controller to provide adaptive voltage scaling for the integrated circuit system.

System and method for providing adaptive voltage scaling with multiple clock domains inside a single voltage domain

A system and method is disclosed for rapidly increasing a rising slew rate of an adjustable power supply signal in an adaptive voltage scaling system. When a central processing unit of an adaptive voltage scaling system requests an increase in a performance level, a closed loop control mode of the adaptive voltage scaling system is disabled. Then a value of voltage that corresponds to the requested increased performance level is provided as a voltage change command to an adaptive voltage scaling regulator. The adaptive voltage scaling system is then operated at a maximum slew rate that can be achieved by the adaptive voltage scaling regulator. The closed loop mode is enabled after the adjustable power supply voltage reaches the requested voltage value.

System and method for rapidly increasing a rising slew rate of an adjustable supply voltage in adaptive voltage scaling

A system and method is disclosed for providing efficient closed loop feedback control in an adaptive voltage scaling system. The closed loop feedback circuitry of the invention comprises variable feedback gain for an error amplifier circuit. In one embodiment the variable feedback gain comprises a low value of feedback gain and a high value of feedback gain. The value of feedback gain that is employed determines the speed of response of the system (1) to performance level changes of an adjustable supply voltage, and (2) to disturbances such as temperature changes, IR voltage drops, and ripple voltages. The variable feedback gain feature enables the use of adaptive voltage scaling regulators that have outputs with relatively high ripple voltage.

System and method for providing variable gain loop control for use in adaptive voltage scaling

A system and method is disclosed for providing an improved voltage monitor that is capable of determining that a value of an adjustable supply voltage is suitable for a requested performance level in an adaptive voltage scaling system. An integrator circuit of the voltage monitor integrates a slack time error signal from a hardware performance monitor. Control circuitry evaluates a suitability of the integrated slack time error signal for the requested performance level for a number of voltage evaluation time periods. The adjustable supply voltage is deemed to be stable when the integrated slack time error signal is within a predetermined range of limits for at least two voltage evaluation time periods.

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Kemi, Finland

Pasi Salmi