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:
Oct. 25, 2011
Filed:
May. 15, 2008
Christopher M. Abernathy, Austin, TX (US);
Jens Leenstra, Bondorf, DE;
Nicolas Maeding, Holzgerlingen, DE;
Dung Quoc Nguyen, Austin, TX (US);
Christopher M. Abernathy, Austin, TX (US);
Jens Leenstra, Bondorf, DE;
Nicolas Maeding, Holzgerlingen, DE;
Dung Quoc Nguyen, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method for reducing the power consumption of a register file of a microprocessor supporting simultaneous multithreading (SMT) is disclosed. Mapping logic and associated table entries monitor a total number of processing threads currently executing in the processor and signal control logic to disable specific register file entries not required for currently executing or pending instruction threads or register file entries not meeting a minimum access threshold using a least recently used algorithm (LRU). The register file utilization is controlled such that a register file address range selected for deactivation is not assigned for pending or future instruction threads. One or more power saving techniques are then applied to disabled register files to reduce overall power dissipation in the system.