Claims
- 1. An integrated circuit with power conservation comprising:
- a plurality of functional blocks, each of which includes digital circuitry and at least one output control line, each of said functional blocks including a modulated clock input; and
- a power controller coupled to said at least one output control line of each of said functional blocks such that said power controller is responsive to a plurality of control lines, said power controller reducing power consumed by selected functional blocks in response to control signals on said plurality of control lines, wherein said power controller comprises a clock controller which provides a plurality of modulated clocks in response to said control signals on said plurality of control lines, wherein said clock controller is coupled to a modulated clock input of each of said functional blocks to provide a modulated clock for each of said functional blocks;
- wherein at least two of said functional blocks are coupled together as neighboring functional blocks, and wherein both of said neighboring functional blocks include a control line for itself and its neighbor to provide control signals to said clock controller.
- 2. An integrated circuit as recited in claim 1 wherein said functional blocks are coupled together for a flow of data between said functional blocks, and wherein each particular functional block includes N+1 control lines coupled to said clock controller, where N is the number of neighbor functional blocks of said particular functional block.
- 3. An integrated circuit as recited in claim 2 wherein a particular functional block can provide a control signal to said clock controller to shut off said particular functional block or a neighbor functional block.
- 4. An integrated circuit as recited in claim 1 wherein said clock controller has an input clock, wherein signals on said plurality of control lines are used to modulate said input clock to produce said modulated clocks.
- 5. An integrated circuit as recited in claim 4 wherein said clock controller further provides an output clock regular derived from said input clock, wherein there is a substantial, relative skew between said input clock and said output clock regular, but wherein there is little relative skew between said output clock regular and said modulated clocks.
- 6. A system with power conservation comprising:
- a plurality of functional blocks capable of processing data, each of said functional blocks including a modulated clock input and N+1 clock control lines, where N is the number of neighbors of a particular functional block that are connected to said particular functional block by at least one data path; and
- a clock controller having an input clock, said clock controller being coupled to said modulated clock inputs and said clock control lines, said control controller being operative to modulate said input clock in accordance with signals on said clock control lines to provide modulated clocks to each of said plurality of functional blocks, said modulated clocks reducing power consumption of functional blocks which are not needed to process data.
- 7. A system with power conservation as recited in claim 6 wherein said modulated clocks are skewed with respect to said input clock.
- 8. A system with power conservation as recited in claim 7 further comprising an output regular clock which is skewed with respect to said input clock, but which is substantially in phase with said modulated clocks.
- 9. A system with power conservation as recited in claim 6 wherein one of said modulated clocks for a particular functional block has a frequency of about the same frequency as said input clock when said particular functional block is in operation, and has a frequency of about zero when said particular functional block is not in operation.
- 10. A system with power conservation as recited in claim 6 wherein a particular functional block can provide a signal to turn itself off or to turn off one or more of its neighbors.
- 11. A system with power conservation as recited in claim 6 wherein each of said functional blocks is provided data flow recognition circuitry which recognizes the direction of data flow, and with clock control line circuitry which provides signals on said clock control lines such that a neighbor functional block in the direction of data flow is active to process data.
- 12. A system with power conservation as recited in claim 11 wherein said clock control line circuitry further provides signals on said clock control lines such that a neighbor function block not in the direction of data flow is not active.
- 13. A system with power conservation as recited in claim 11 wherein said clock control circuitry further provides signals on said clock control lines such that one of said modulated clocks to said particular functional block causes said particular functional block to not be active.
- 14. A system with power conservation as recited in claim 6 wherein said clock controller includes:
- a main clock skew corrector receptive to said input clock and operative to produce an output clock regular;
- a plurality of combinational logic circuits, each receptive to clock control lines of a respective functional block and operative to develop a modulation signal for said respective functional block; and
- a plurality of clock gating logic circuits associated with respective ones of said plurality of combinational logic circuits, where each of said plurality of clock gating logic circuits is responsive to an associated modulation signal and to said output clock regular, and is operative to produce a plurality of modulated output clocks associated with respective ones of said plurality of functional blocks.
- 15. A method for reducing power consumption in a digital electronic circuit comprising the steps of:
- receiving control signals from a plurality of functional blocks indicating requests from said functional blocks;
- deactivating a particular functional block upon a request from said particular functional block or from another functional block, and in the absence of a request from another functional block requesting the activation of said particular functional block, wherein said particular functional block consumes less power when deactivated than when activated; and
- activating a particular functional block upon a request from another functional block.
- 16. A method for reducing power consumption as recited in claim 15 wherein the deactivation of a particular functional block is accomplished by the step of reducing the frequency of a clock provided to said particular functional block.
- 17. A method for reducing power consumption as recited in claim 16 wherein said step of reducing the frequency of a clock is accomplished by modulating a regular clock with a modulation signal to provide a modulated clock such that a frequency of said modulated clock is either about the frequency of said regular clock or is about zero.
- 18. A method for reducing power consumption as recited in claim 15 further comprising the steps of:
- within each particular functional block, determining a direction of data flow; and
- creating modulated clocks for neighboring functional blocks of said particular functional blocks which controls their activation and deactivation.
- 19. A method for reducing power consumption as recited in claim 18 further comprising the steps of requesting the activation of a neighbor functional block that is in the direction of data flow, and requesting the deactivation of a neighbor functional block that is not in the direction of data flow.
- 20. An integrated circuit with power conservation comprising:
- a plurality of functional blocks, each of which includes digital circuitry and at least one output control line which carries control signals that pertains to potential power usage in said integrated circuit; and
- a power controller coupled to said at least one output control line of each of said functional blocks such that said power controller is responsive to said control signals on a plurality of control lines, said power controller reducing power consumed by selected functional blocks in response to said control signals.
- 21. An integrated circuit as recited in claim 20 wherein each of said functional blocks further includes a clock input, and wherein said power controller is a clock controller coupled to said clock input of each of said functional blocks, such that power can be reduced by reducing the frequency of a particular clock at a clock input of a particular functional block.
- 22. An integrated circuit as recited in claim 21 wherein said clock input of each of said functional blocks is a modulated clock input, and wherein said clock controller is operative to provide a plurality of modulated clocks, one each, to said functional blocks in response to said control signals on said plurality of control lines.
- 23. An integrated circuit as recited in claim 22 wherein said functional blocks are coupled together for a flow of data between said functional blocks, and wherein each particular functional block includes N+1 control lines coupled to said clock controller, where N is the number of neighbor functional blocks of said particular functional block.
- 24. An integrated circuit as recited in claim 23 wherein a particular functional block can provide a control signal to said clock controller to shut off said particular functional block or a neighbor functional block.
- 25. An integrated circuit as recited in claim 22 wherein said clock controller has an input clock, wherein signals on said plurality of control lines are used to modulate said input clock to produce said modulated clocks.
- 26. An integrated circuit as recited in claim 25 wherein said clock controller further provides an output clock regular derived from said input clock, wherein there is a substantial, relative skew between said input clock and said output clock regular, but wherein there is little relative skew between said output clock regular and said modulated clocks. .Iadd.
- 27. A system of circuits with power conservation, comprising:
- a plurality of functional blocks capable of processing data, each of the blocks including digital circuitry and at least one output control line that carries control signals pertaining to potential power usage; and
- a power controller coupled to each of the output control lines such that the power controller is responsive to the control signals on a plurality of control lines, the power controller being configured and arranged to reduce power consumed by selected functional blocks in response to the control signals..Iaddend..Iadd.28. A system of circuits with power conservation, according to claim 27, wherein the power controller is configured and arranged to reduce power consumed by selected functional blocks by modulating clock signals driving the selected functional blocks..Iaddend..Iadd.29. A system of circuits with power conservation, according to claim 27, wherein the power controller is configured and arranged to reduce power consumed by selected functional blocks by modulating operating power supplied to the selected functional blocks..Iaddend..Iadd.30. A system of circuits with power conservation, according to claim 27, wherein at least one of the plurality of functional blocks includes an external interface..Iaddend..Iadd.31. A system of circuits with power conservation, comprising:
- a plurality of functional blocks capable of processing data, each of the blocks including digital circuitry and at least one output control line that carries control signals pertaining to potential power usage; and
- a power controller coupled to each of the output control lines such that the power controller is responsive to the control signals on a plurality of control lines, the power controller being configured and arranged to reduce power consumed by selected functional blocks by modulating clock signals driving the selected functional blocks and by modulating operating power supplied to the selected functional blocks..Iaddend..Iadd.32. A system of circuits with power conservation, according to claim 27, wherein at least one of the plurality of functional blocks includes an external
- interface..Iaddend..Iadd.33. A system of circuits with power conservation, comprising:
- a plurality of functional blocks capable of processing data, each of the blocks including digital circuitry and at least one output control line that carries control signals pertaining to potential power usage; and
- power consumption means for controlling power consumption, the power consumption means being coupled to each of the output control lines such that the power consumption means is responsive to the control signals on a plurality of control lines, the power consumption means and the functional blocks being configured and arranged to reduce power consumed by selected functional blocks by modulating clock signals driving the selected functional blocks and by modulating operating power supplied to the selected functional blocks..Iaddend..Iadd.34. A method for conserving power in a system having a plurality of functional blocks capable of processing data, each of the blocks including digital circuitry, the method comprising:
- from each of the functional blocks, generating control signals on at least one output control line, the control signals pertaining to potential power usage; and
- reducing power consumed by selected functional blocks in response to the control signals by modulating at least one clock signal driving the selected functional blocks..Iaddend..Iadd.35. A method, according to claim 34, further comprising reducing power consumed by selected functional blocks by modulating clock signals driving the selected functional blocks..Iaddend..Iadd.36. A method, according to claim 34, further comprising reducing power consumed by selected functional blocks by modulating operating power supplied to the selected functional blocks..Iaddend..Iadd.37. A method for conserving power in system having a plurality of functional blocks capable of processing data, each of the blocks including digital circuitry, the method comprising:
- from each of the functional blocks, generating control signals on at least one output control line, the control signals pertaining to potential power usage; and
- in response to the control signals, reducing power consumed by selected functional blocks by modulating clock signals driving the selected functional blocks and by modulating operating power supplied to the selected functional blocks..Iaddend.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation, of application Ser. No. 08/388,312 filed Feb. 14, 1995, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (4)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
5140184 |
Hamamoto et al. |
Aug 1992 |
|
5239215 |
Yamaguchi |
Aug 1993 |
|
5430397 |
Itoh et al. |
Jul 1995 |
|
5638009 |
Sutherland et al. |
Jun 1997 |
|
Foreign Referenced Citations (3)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0613074 A1 |
Aug 1994 |
EPX |
0624837 A1 |
Nov 1994 |
EPX |
2279473 |
Jan 1995 |
GBX |
Continuations (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
388312 |
Feb 1995 |
|
Reissues (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
686272 |
Jul 1996 |
|