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:
Mar. 21, 2017
Filed:
Feb. 02, 2011
Guy Sotomayor, San Jose, CA (US);
Guy Sotomayor, San Jose, CA (US);
Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US);
Abstract
The disclosed embodiments provide a system that facilitates power management in a multi-core processor. During operation, the system detects a change related to a number of active processor cores in the multi-core processor. (Within this system, a given processor core can reside in an active state, wherein the given processor core can draw an active power, or alternatively in a constrained state, wherein the given processor core can draw a constrained power, which is less than the active power.) In response to detecting the change, the system computes a new current limit Ifor the multi-core processor based on the number of active and constrained processor cores. Finally, the system communicates Ito a power-management mechanism within the multi-core processor. This enables the power-management mechanism to use Ito account for power saved by the constrained processor cores when the multi-core system is subsequently determining whether to change its operating frequency.