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:
Dec. 03, 2002
Filed:
Mar. 16, 2001
Samuel D. Naffziger, Ft. Collins, CO (US);
Don D Josephson, Ft Collins, CO (US);
Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Abstract
A system and method are disclosed that utilize analog detection of an integrated circuit's (“chip's”) power consumption to enable power consumption management. On-chip circuitry may be utilized to detect analog electrical characteristics of the chip, such as its voltage, from which the chip's power consumption is determined. One embodiment utilizes on-chip circuitry to manage long-term, sustained power consumption of the chip, which encompasses power consumption for approximately a microsecond, as well as more extended time frames. Another embodiment utilizes on-chip circuitry to manage short-term power consumption of the chip, which encompasses power consumption for less than a microsecond (e.g., nanosecond time frame). A preferred embodiment implements both the circuitry for managing long-term power consumption and the circuitry for managing short-term power consumption. On-chip control circuitry may be implemented to trigger certain operations to reduce the chip's long-term and/or short-term power consumption upon determination that such power consumption is too high.