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:
Apr. 19, 2016
Filed:
Oct. 13, 2010
Benjamin D. Bates, New Braunfels, TX (US);
Brian E. Williams, Newmarket, CA;
Stephen C. Ennis, Austin, TX (US);
Benjamin D. Bates, New Braunfels, TX (US);
Brian E. Williams, Newmarket, CA;
Stephen C. Ennis, Austin, TX (US);
Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
ATI Technologies ULC, Markham, CA;
Abstract
Techniques are disclosed relating to controlling power consumption of temperature sensors in integrated circuits. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit is disclosed that includes a temperature sensor that is configured to determine a temperature of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit also includes a sensor controller that is configured to vary power consumption of the temperature sensor based, at least in part, on the determined temperature. In some embodiments, the integrated circuit may determine a sampling rate of the temperature sensor based, at least in part, on the determined temperature and a temperature threshold of the integrated circuit. The integrated circuit may then vary the power consumption of the temperature sensor by periodically disabling the temperature sensor based on the determined sampling rate. In some embodiments, the integrated circuit may also vary the power consumption of the temperature sensor based on the operating state of one or more processing cores in the integrated circuit.