Voltage scaling system supporting synchronous applications

摘要

A voltage scaling system can scale a supply voltage while preventing a processor from communicating with first system components that are rendered unstable from the scaling. On the other hand, the voltage scaling system allows second system components that are stable during the scaling to communicate with the processor. A processor scales a system supply voltage to a target supply voltage. The processor halts operations of the first system components and executes the instruction. When the first system components are halted, the processor cannot access the first system components. The second system components can continue operating during the scaling. A controller that saves power can configure a voltage regulator to scale the system supply voltage to the target supply voltage. Once the target supply voltage is reached, the voltage regulator sends an indication to a power management unit, after which the first system components continue to operate.

主权项

1. A method performed by a circuit for scaling voltage, the method comprising:
receiving an instruction to scale a system supply voltage to a target supply voltage; in response to receiving the instruction, setting a register to a first value; based on the register being set to the first value, halting operations of one or more first components, wherein halting the operations comprises:
receiving an output of the register at a power scaling system;in response to the register being set to the first value, enabling, by the power scaling system, a sleep mode signal that is configured to halt the operations of the one or more first components;receiving, at a gate circuit, at least one of the output of the register or an operating mode output by the power scaling system; andin response to the register being set to the first value or the operating mode output by the power scaling system being the enabled sleep mode signal, outputting, by the gate circuit, a signal that is configured to halt the operations of the one or more first components; scaling the system supply voltage to the target supply voltage; when the target supply voltage is reached, setting the register to a second value; and based on the register being set to the second value, resuming operations of the one or more first components.