U.S. Patent No. 7,085,945 - Prepared by Attorney David Tran for Intel Corporation and filed by Intel Corporation

Brief Description:  A component in a computer includes multiple functional unit blocks (FUB). Each FUB may be associated with a sensor and may be managed individually. When the sensor detects that a problem associated with a particular FUB may arise, a controller may be used to adjust operation of the FUB instead of operation of the entire component.  Modern computer components (e.g., processors, chipsets, etc.) are designed with increasing frequency and power density for higher performance. Their performance may be limited by the amount of heat that can be extracted using the available cooling technology or power/frequency throttling techniques. Typically, each of the computer components may have multiple FUBs. Each FUB may perform a different function and may potentially be a hot spot of the component when the FUB reaches a certain thermal point. Currently, when a FUB becomes a hot spot, power throttling is applied to the entire component to reduce the temperature of the entire component.