US 7,383,453 B2
Conserving power by reducing voltage supplied to an instruction-processing portion of a processorGeneral
US 7,383,453 B2
Conserving power by reducing voltage supplied to an instruction-processing portion of a processor
Tech Center:
2100 Computer Architecture and Software
Examiner:
Rehana Perveen
Art Unit:
2116 Computer Error Control, Reliability, & Control Systems
Inventors:
Lynn R. Youngs
Assignee:
Priority:
04/29/02
Filed:
08/25/05
Granted:
06/03/08
Expiration:
06/23/22
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that facilitates reducing static power consumption of a processor. During operation, the system receives a signal indicating that instruction execution within the processor is to be temporarily halted. In response to this signal, the system halts an instruction-processing portion of the processor, and reduces the voltage supplied to the instruction-processing portion of the processor. Full voltage is maintained to a remaining portion of the processor, so that the remaining portion of the processor can continue to operate while the instruction-processing portion of the processor is in reduced power mode.
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
G06G06F1/3203G06FY02D30/50Y02D