System and Method for Determining Thermal Management Policy From Leakage Current Measurement

• Main Authors: ANDERSON JON J, ARTMEIER JAMES M, LI QING, SUR SUMIT, NIEMANN JEFFREY A
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 18.04.2013
• 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; PHYSICS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINSTCLIMATE CHANGE

Various embodiments of methods and systems for determining the thermal status of processing components within a portable computing device ("PCD") by measuring leakage current on power rails associated with the components are disclosed. One such method involves measuring current on a power rail after a processing component has entered a "wait for interrupt" mode. Advantageously, because a processing component may "power down" in such a mode, any current remaining on the power rail associated with the processing component may be attributable to leakage current. Based on the measured leakage current, a thermal status of the processing component may be determined and thermal management policies consistent with the thermal status of the processing component implemented. Notably, it is an advantage of embodiments that the thermal status of a processing component within a PCD may be established without the need to leverage temperature sensors.