The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 26, 1996
Filed:
Apr. 28, 1994
Dan Kikinis, Saratoga, CA (US);
Consilium Overseas Limited, Geneva, CH;
Abstract
A system for controlling temperature buildup in an IC employs a temperature sensor to provide an indication of the IC temperature to a control circuit which is configured to provide an operational clock rate to the IC which is less than the system clock rate, based on a function of the temperature of the IC or its package. In one embodiment temperature sensors are implemented as solid-state circuitry within different functional areas of a single IC, such as a microprocessor, In other embodiments, operating voltage is lowered as operating frequency is lowered. In yet another embodiment temperature sensing of multiple processors in a system is provided to a controller or controllers which are configured to allocate workload between the processors as a means to limit temperature rise, as well as to lower operational clock rate and to lower operating voltage.