Conserving energy in a data processing system by selectively powering down processors

摘要

One or more processors are activated and deactivated responsive to processing activity in order to meet a performance or response requirement. Hardware facilities or software modules monitor workload. A policy manager receiving workload information determines processor number based on a predetermined performance criteria. A resource pool module selects which processors are activated and deactivated in response to changes in the determined processor number as determined by the policy manager. The resource pool module prepares a selected processor for deactivation by migrating any processes or thread running thereon to other processor(s) in the pool of available processors and by flushing the contents of the selected processor's cache memory. A CPU power control module transitions a processor selected for deactivation from a full power state to a low-power state.