Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba

Taku Ohneda

Shinichi Kanno

Masaya Tarui

Yukimasa Miyamoto

Riku Ogawa

A logic circuit system with power consumption that is reduced by automatically varying the clock frequency and operating voltage according to processing capability imposed on programmable logic circuits. The programmable logic circuits are capable of achieving plural circuit functions dynamically and can change realized circuit functions during operation. In addition, the system has a voltage supply portion for supplying a voltage to the programmable logic circuits, a clock signal supply portion for supplying a clock signal to the programmable logic circuits, a change control portion for changing the circuit functions realized by the programmable logic circuits to any one of the circuit functions, an operation time measuring portion for measuring the operation times of the programmable logic circuits to perform processing to achieve the circuit functions, respectively, and a clock-and-voltage determination portion for determining the frequency of the clock signal and the voltage, using the operation times.

Logic circuit system and method of changing operating voltage of a programmable logic circuit

A logic circuit apparatus includes a plurality of programmable logic circuits, a circuit data memory, a control unit. The plurality of programmable logic circuits are each configured to have a changeable circuit component based on circuit data. Each programmable logic circuit has a different processing performance. The circuit data memory is used to store a plurality of circuit data and performance requirements for the circuit data. The control unit is configured to selectively assign the plurality of circuit data to the plurality of programmable logic circuits so that a total power of all programmable logic circuits minimizes on condition that the performance requirement of the circuit data assigned to each programmable logic circuit is within the processing performance of each programmable logic circuit.

Logic circuit apparatus for selectively assigning a plurality of circuit data to a plurality of programmable logic circuits for minimizing total power while maintaining necessary processing performance

A logic circuit system, having a programmable logic circuit including a circuit configuration including a first set of plural unit circuits and that is reconfigurable during operation, a circuit configuration information supplier configured to supply circuit configuration information about a second set of plural unit circuits to said programmable logic circuit, a change controller configured to change the circuit configuration of said programmable logic circuit from said first set of said plural unit circuits to said second set of said plural unit circuits based on said circuit configuration information, an operation time measurer configured to measure operation times of said first and second set of plural unit circuits, and a clock-and-voltage supplier configured to use said measured operation times to change from a first frequency and voltage value corresponding to said first set to a second frequency and voltage value corresponding to said second set, and to supply a clock signal having said second frequency and voltage value to said programmable logic circuit, thereby varying a programmable logic circuit frequency and voltage value in accordance with variations in said operation times.

Programmable logic circuits are changeable circuit components based on circuit data. A circuit data memory stores a plurality of circuit data and performance requirements. A feature data memory stores feature data of each programmable logic circuit. A control unit calculates a minimum voltage of the plurality of programmable logic circuits to execute the plurality of circuit data based on the performance requirements, and selectively assigns the plurality of circuit data to the plurality of programmable logic circuits so that the performance requirement of circuit data assigned to each programmable logic circuit is within the operation range of the programmable logic circuit at the minimum voltage. A supply unit supplies the minimum voltage to the plurality of programmable logic circuits.

Method and apparatus for selectively assigning circuit data to a plurality of programmable logic circuits for maintaining each programmable logic circuit within an operation range at a minimum voltage

A programmable logic circuit apparatus includes a programmable logic circuit that dynamically switches and operates a plurality of circuit blocks. The circuit blocks include a branch circuit block that performs branch processing and a plurality of child circuit blocks that selectively perform a plurality of kinds of processing on data obtained by the branch circuit block. The apparatus also includes a storage unit that stores data obtained by the branch circuit block and an identifier of a child circuit block into which the data is input. The identifier is associated with the data. The apparatus also includes a controller that causes the programmable logic circuit to process data associated with the same identifier as an identifier of a child circuit block being in operation in the programmable logic circuit, among the data stored in the storage unit, in preference to data associated with identifiers of other child circuit blocks.

Growing community of inventors

Kanagawa-ken, Japan

Taku Ohneda