How Chips Save Power by Managing Individual Parts Separately
A method for computer chips to save energy by monitoring how busy specific internal parts are and adjusting their power and speed individually rather than as a whole.
Original patent title: “USRE47420E1 - Performance and power optimization via block oriented performance measurement and control”
A method for computer chips to save energy by monitoring how busy specific internal parts are and adjusting their power and speed individually rather than as a whole. Granted to Advanced Micro Devices Inc in 2019 with 54 claims and 1 forward citation.
Key facts
Coverage
What does this patent actually cover?
Modern computer chips are made of many specialized sections, like math units or memory controllers. This patent describes a system where each of these sections reports how busy it is—its utilization level—to a central controller. Instead of slowing down the entire chip when the workload is light, the system independently adjusts the voltage, clock speed, or operation dispatch rate for only the busy or idle sections. For example, if a chip is processing complex math but not using its input/output interface, the math unit can run at high speed while the interface is throttled down to save battery.
The gap
What does this patent NOT cover?
- Does not cover power management schemes that treat the entire processor as a single unit.
- Does not cover software-only power management that lacks hardware-level utilization monitoring circuits.
- Does not cover power adjustments based on external factors like temperature or ambient light.
These exclusions are unique to PatentBrief — derived from the actual claim language, not patent-office boilerplate.
What made this novel
The innovation lies in the granularity of the control: by using utilization registers to track activity at the level of specific functional blocks, the chip can make micro-adjustments in real-time that are invisible to the user but significant for energy efficiency.
Schematic visualization of the patent's claim structure. Hand-drawn diagrams in progress for each landmark patent.
Where you've seen this
Real-world examples
AMD Ryzen mobile processors
Modern laptop CPUs with dynamic frequency scaling
Smartphone system-on-a-chip (SoC) power management
Why it matters
The bigger picture
This technology is fundamental to modern mobile and high-performance computing. As chips get denser, managing heat and battery life becomes impossible if you treat the whole chip as one power domain. This approach allows devices like laptops and smartphones to deliver high performance when needed while remaining efficient during background tasks.
Filed
July 22, 2016
Granted
June 4, 2019
Market context
Who's building on this
Companies in this space
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) continues to refine this technology in their Zen architecture series. Other major chip designers like Intel and ARM utilize similar granular power management techniques to balance performance and thermal constraints in their respective architectures.
Market impact
This approach to power management has become an industry standard for mobile and server-grade silicon. It enabled the transition to highly efficient multi-core processors, allowing manufacturers to pack more transistors onto a chip without exceeding the thermal limits of the device.
Claim 1 — Plain English
What this patent covers
Modern computer chips are made of many specialized sections, like math units or memory controllers. This patent describes a system where each of these sections reports how busy it is—its utilization level—to a central controller. Instead of slowing down the entire chip when the workload is light, the system independently adjusts the voltage, clock speed, or operation dispatch rate for only the busy or idle sections. For example, if a chip is processing complex math but not using its input/output interface, the math unit can run at high speed while the interface is throttled down to save battery.
The clever bit
The innovation lies in the granularity of the control: by using utilization registers to track activity at the level of specific functional blocks, the chip can make micro-adjustments in real-time that are invisible to the user but significant for energy efficiency.
What it does not cover
- Does not cover power management schemes that treat the entire processor as a single unit.
- Does not cover software-only power management that lacks hardware-level utilization monitoring circuits.
- Does not cover power adjustments based on external factors like temperature or ambient light.
Patent timeline
Application submitted to the patent office
Application published, typically 18 months after filing
Patent officially issued
PatentBrief Score
Impact Score
Early stage
Citation count
6/40
Early citations
Claim breadth
20/20
Very broad protection
Recency
10/20
Granted 5–10 years ago
Assignee scale
0/20
Independent or smaller assigneeassigneeThe entity that owns the patent — usually the inventor's employer or a company.Read more →
PatentBrief Impact Score — based on citation count, claim breadth, recency, and assignee scale. Not a legal assessment.
Heuristic Value Estimate
What this patent might be worth
$96K – $307K
Midpoint $192K · 10.1 yr remaining · industry ×1.6
Heuristic only — blends forward/backward citation counts, claim scope, time remaining, litigation history, and CPC-derived industry baseline. Real valuations need a professional appraisal.
The original legal language
Original claims
54 claims as filed with the patent office.
Concepts involved
Citations
Patent lineage
Cite this patent
Menezes, E., Altmejd, M., & Tobias, D. (2019). How Chips Save Power by Managing Individual Parts Separately (U.S. Patent No. RE47,420). U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/RE47420/google-translate
Auto-generated from the patent record. Double-check author order and the issue date against the official USPTO document before submitting.
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Common Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What does How Chips Save Power by Managing Individual Parts Separately cover?
A method for computer chips to save energy by monitoring how busy specific internal parts are and adjusting their power and speed individually rather than as a whole.
Who owns patent US RE47420?
Advanced Micro Devices Inc owns this patent, granted in 2019.
When does this patent expire?
This patent is expected to expire on June 4, 2039, when the invention enters the public domain.
What is patent US RE47420 cited by?
This patent has been cited by 1 later patents that build on its ideas.
What problem does this patent solve?
This technology is fundamental to modern mobile and high-performance computing. As chips get denser, managing heat and battery life becomes impossible if you treat the whole chip as one power domain. This approach allows devices like laptops and smartphones to deliver high performance when needed while remaining efficient during background tasks.
What does this patent NOT cover?
Does not cover power management schemes that treat the entire processor as a single unit.
Patent monitoring