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:
Jul. 02, 2013
Filed:
Jun. 24, 2011
Kevin Safford, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Rohit Bhatia, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Chris Bostak, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Richard Blumberg, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Blaine Stackhouse, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Steve Undy, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Kevin Safford, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Rohit Bhatia, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Chris Bostak, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Richard Blumberg, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Blaine Stackhouse, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Steve Undy, Fort Collins, CO (US);
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatuses for reducing step loads of processors are disclosed. Method embodiments comprise examining a number of instructions to be processed by a processor to determine the types of instructions that it has, calculating power consumption by in an execution period based on the types of instructions, and limiting the execution to a subset of instructions of the number to control the quantity of power for the execution period. Some embodiments may also create artificial activity to provide a minimum power floor for the processor. Apparatus embodiments comprise instruction type determination logic to determine types of instructions in an incoming instruction stream, a power calculator to calculate power consumption associated with processing a number of instructions in an execution period, and instruction throttling logic to control the power consumption by limiting the number of instructions to be processed in the execution period.