Method, system, and apparatus for dynamic thermal management
View Patent ↗A method, apparatus, article of manufacture, and system, the method including, in some embodiments, processing a computational load by a first core of a multi-core processor, and dynamically distributing at least a portion of the computational load to a second core of the multi-core processor to reduce a power density of the multi-core processor for the processing of the computational load.
1. At least one non-transitory machine accessible storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed on a machine, cause the machine to:
determine temperature characteristics of a first processor core and a second processor core in a plurality of processor cores on a die;
determine a variation between the temperature characteristics of the first processor core and temperature characteristics of the second processor core; and
perform dynamic distribution of a computational workload between the first processor core and the second processor core based on the variation, wherein the dynamic distribution is controlled by an operating system (OS), the dynamic distribution of the computational workload comprises redistributing workload from the first processor core to the second processor core based on the first processor core having an operating temperature that is higher than the second processor core, the computational workload is to be distributed according to a frequency based on respective thermal time constants of each of the first processor core and the second processor core, and the frequency is varied over time as a function of the temperature characteristics of at least one of the first processor core and the second processor core.
2. The at least one non-transitory machine accessible storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the frequency causes the computational workload to be distributed to the first processor core for intervals shorter than the thermal time constants of both the first processor core and the second processor core.
3. The at least one non-transitory machine accessible storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the frequency being varied over time as the function of the temperature characteristics of the at least one of the first processor core and the second processor core comprises:
initiating the dynamic distribution at the frequency; and
increasing the frequency over time based on an increase in the temperature characteristics of the first processor core.
4. The at least one non-transitory machine accessible storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first processor core and the second processor core are included in a same cluster of processor cores comprising a subset of the plurality of processor cores and the dynamic distribution of the computational workload comprises cyclically redistributing workload to each processor core in the same cluster of processor cores.
5. The at least one non-transitory machine accessible storage medium of claim 1 , wherein determining the variation between the temperature characteristics of the first processor core and the second processor core comprises determining a difference between the operating temperature of the first processor core and an operating temperature of the second processor core.
6. The at least one non-transitory machine accessible storage medium of claim 5 , wherein the dynamic distribution is performed based on the difference.
7. A method comprising:
determining temperature characteristics of a first processor core and a second processor core in a plurality of processor cores on a die;
determine a variation between the temperature characteristics of the first processor core and temperature characteristics of the second processor core; and
using an operating system to perform dynamic distribution of a computational workload between the first processor core and the second processor core based on the variation, wherein the dynamic distribution of the computational workload comprises redistributing workload from the first processor core to the second processor core based on the first processor core having an operating temperature that is higher than the second processor core, the computational workload is to be distributed according to a frequency based on respective thermal time constants of each of the first processor core and the second processor core, and the frequency is varied over time as a function of the temperature characteristics of at least one of the first processor core and the second processor core.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the frequency causes the computational workload to be distributed to the first processor core for intervals shorter than the thermal time constants of both the first processor core and the second processor core.
9. The method of claim 7 , wherein determining temperature characteristics of the first processor core and the second processor core comprises determining a difference between the operating temperature of the first processor core and an operating temperature of the second processor core.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the dynamic distribution is performed based on the difference.
11. A system comprising:
a die comprising a plurality of processor cores;
an operating system to utilize the plurality of processor cores; and
an operating system-level hot spot mitigation tool to:
determine a difference in temperatures between a first processor core and a second processor core in the plurality of processor cores; and
perform dynamic distribution of a computational workload between the first processor core and the second processor core based on the difference, wherein the dynamic distribution of the computational workload comprises redistributing workload from the first processor core to the second processor core based on the first processor core having a temperature that is higher than the second processor core, the computational workload is to be distributed according to a frequency based on respective thermal time constants of each of the first processor core and the second processor core, and the frequency varied over time as a function of the temperature of at least one of the first processor core and the second processor core.
12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the frequency causes the computational workload to be distributed to the first processor core for intervals shorter than the thermal time constants of both the first processor core and the second processor core.
13. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a cooling fan.
14. The at least one non-transitory machine accessible storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the first processor core is included in a first cluster of processor cores comprising a subset of the plurality of processor cores, the second processor core is included in a second cluster of processor cores comprising a different subset of the plurality of processor cores, and the dynamic distribution of the computational workload comprises redistributing workload from the first cluster of processor cores to the second cluster of processor cores.
15. The method of claim 7 , wherein the frequency being varied over time as the function of the temperature characteristics of the at least one of the first processor core and the second processor core comprises:
initiating the dynamic distribution at the frequency; and
increasing the frequency based on an increase in the temperature characteristics of the first processor core.
16. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first processor core and the second processor core are included in a same cluster of processor cores comprising a subset of the plurality of processor cores and the dynamic distribution of the computational workload comprises cyclically redistributing workload to each processor core in the same cluster of processor cores.
17. The method of claim 7 , wherein the first processor core is included in a first cluster of processor cores comprising a subset of the plurality of processor cores, the second processor core is included in a second cluster of processor cores comprising a different subset of the plurality of processor cores, and the dynamic distribution of the computational workload comprises redistributing workload from the first cluster of processor cores to the second cluster of processor cores.
18. The system of claim 11 , wherein the frequency being varied over time as the function of the temperature of at least one of the first processor core and the second processor core comprises the operating system-level hot spot mitigation tool to:
initiate the dynamic distribution at the frequency; and
increase the frequency based on an increase in the temperature of the first processor core.
19. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first processor core and the second processor core are included in a same cluster of processor cores comprising a subset of the plurality of processor cores and the dynamic distribution of the computational workload comprises cyclically redistributing workload to each processor core in the same cluster of processor cores.
20. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first processor core is included in a first cluster of processor cores comprising a subset of the plurality of processor cores, the second processor core is included in a second cluster of processor cores comprising a different subset of the plurality of processor cores, and the dynamic distribution of the computational workload comprises redistributing workload from the first cluster of processor cores to the second cluster of processor cores.