Controlling operation of temperature sensors

摘要

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.

主权项

1. An integrated circuit, comprising:
a first temperature sensor configured to determine a first temperature of the integrated circuit and a subsequent, second temperature of the integrated circuit; and wherein the integrated circuit is configured to reduce power consumption of the first temperature sensor based, at least in part, on a decrease in temperature indicated by the second temperature being less than the first temperature, and wherein the integrated circuit is configured to reduce the power consumption of the first temperature sensor without varying power consumption of at least a portion of the integrated circuit, wherein the integrated circuit is configured to reduce the power consumption of the first temperature sensor by disabling the first temperature sensor for an interval selected based on the second temperature.