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:
Sep. 29, 1998
Filed:
Dec. 15, 1995
Applicant:
Inventors:
Mark W McDermott, Austin, TX (US);
Antone L Fourcroy, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Assignee:
National Semiconductor Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F / ; G06F / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
395556 ; 395560 ;
Abstract
A processing system includes a clock synchromesh that receives indicia of critical activity from various functional units within the processing system and responsive to the indicia, ratchets down/up the frequency of a clock output signal to at least one of the functional units to reduce power consumption. The determination of critical activity is preferably made according to a heuristic internal to a processor under software or hardware control.