Method and apparatus for thermal sensitivity based dynamic power control of a processor

摘要

A method and system provides dynamic power control based on thermal sensitivity of a processor system. The method and system includes a circuit that reduces the clock frequency for the processor system in response to thermal characteristics satisfying a pre-determined threshold that allows maximal thermal temperature limit utilization without substantially degrading processor performance.

主权项

1. A processor comprising:
a sensor to measure at least one thermal characteristic of the processor; and a frequency control circuit, responsive to the at least one thermal characteristic satisfying a threshold, to reduce a clock frequency of the processor to one of multiple levels according to an indication of a level of sensitivity for the clock frequency reduction, the indication comprising a performance demanding level signal based on hardware performance profiling of at least one hardware component coupled to the processor indicative of a processor speed requirement for the at least one hardware component during execution of an application, wherein the performance demanding level signal is to have a first value to indicate that the clock frequency reduction can be aggressive and a second value to indicate that the clock frequency reduction is to be of fine granularity.