Apparatus and method for reducing power consumption in microprocessors through selective gating of clock signals

摘要

A circuit to reduce the power consumption of a microprocessor includes activity monitor circuitry to generate an activity signal in response to a low activity operational state of the microprocessor. A clock controller connected to the activity monitor circuitry produces a periodic clock gating signal from the activity signal. Clock gating circuits intermittently apply the internal clock signal to the microprocessor logic circuitry in response to the periodic clock gating signal.