Appeal No. 2006-2707
Application No. 09/749,792
1. At column 4, lines 26 through 50, Georgiou states the
following:
The signal 125 from the thermal sensor
is provided to a temperature decoder 130
which samples the signal and compares it to a
predetermined temperature threshold to
determine if the functional unit is
overheating. The temperature decoder 130
generates a current/clock control signal 270
as a function of the comparison, e.g., if the
threshold has been exceeded or as a function
of the temperature relative to a prior sample
and/or rate of temperature change. The
signal 270 is coupled to the adjustable on-
chip voltage regulators 330 to reduce the
supply voltage 325. The signal 270 is also
coupled to the clock selector 430 to
cooperatively modulate the clock frequency
sufficiently to maintain system
synchronization at the reduced supply
voltage. The output 325 of the adjustable
voltage regulator 330 is applied to the
voltage supply of the functional unit which
provided the thermal signal 125. The
modulated clock frequency 425 which
corresponds to the reduced supply voltage 325
is applied to the clock inputs of the
associated functional unit. The reduction in
the voltage swing achieves the bulk of the
reduction in the functional unit's power
dissipation. The clock frequency to the
functional unit is correspondingly reduced to
that which has been previously characterized
to ensure system synchronization at the
reduced voltage. The reduction in clock
frequency advantageously provides further
reductions in power dissipation. [Emphasis
added].
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