Apparatus and method for adjusting an operating parameter of an integrated circuit

• Main Authors: BURNETT, JAMES D, JEW, THOMAS, HIGMAN, JACK M, QURESHI, QADEER A
• Format: Patent
• Language: Chinese; English
• Published: 01.11.2014
• Subjects: CALCULATING; CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION ANDCOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION ANDCOMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THIR OWNENERGY USE; COMPUTING; COUNTING; ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; INFORMATION STORAGE; PHYSICS; STATIC STORES; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE

A method for adjusting an operating parameter of an integrated circuit having a memory and logic, where the logic includes a timing circuit, includes accessing the memory, determining a relative speed of the memory access with respect to a speed of the timing circuit, and selectively adjusting the operating parameter based on the relative speed. In one embodiment, an integrated circuit may include a ring oscillator, a shift register having a clock input coupled to an output of the ring oscillator, and compare logic coupled to an output of the shift register. The shift register is enabled in response to initiating a memory access to a memory and disabled in response to completing the memory access. The compare logic provides a relative speed indicator representative of a relative speed of the memory.