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:
Nov. 18, 2008
Filed:
Mar. 11, 2005
James P. Laudon, Madison, WI (US);
Curtis R. Mcallister, Los Altos, CA (US);
James P. Laudon, Madison, WI (US);
Curtis R. McAllister, Los Altos, CA (US);
Sun Microsystems, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
A system is provided for detecting when a temperature of a multiprocessor chip approaches an established threshold temperature indicating an imminent overheat condition. When the threshold temperature is reached, a number of active threads are idled in order to remove their contribution from the overall power consumption of the multiprocessor chip. Idling of the threads serves to prevent the multiprocessor chip from reaching the overheat condition. Once the temperature of the multiprocessor chip drops to an acceptable level, execution of the previously idled threads is resumed. Detection of the imminent overheat condition and corresponding idling of the threads to avoid reaching the overheat condition is conducted by hardware to ensure timely reduction of the multiprocessor chip temperature.