Platform power control as a method to optimize power delivery requirements

A scheme of firmware-based platform power management is presented as means of guaranteeing operation within AC adaptor constraints. This paper provides the design, prototype, and validation of a new approach to maximize the power/performance of a platform within a given maximum platform power delivery limit. This scheme allows the platform designer to trade-off power delivery requirements with other vectors such as cost, weight and performance. In this example, the cost and size of the platform power delivery sub-system is optimized rather than designing to the worst case platform power. For portable platforms this could greatly reduce the size and weight of the AC/DC adaptor without compromising system performance. Additionally, suggestions on how to extend this power management method to additional board components are outlined.