Norman Ray James

6642811, Nov 4, 2003

Jan 30, 2002

10/059662

Scott Leonard Daniels - Cedar Park TX
Norman Karl James - Liberty Hill TX
James Douglas Jordan - Round Rock TX
Daniel Eugene Pridgeon - Austin TX

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

H03H 701

333181, 333185

A power-supply filter that is built into an integrated circuit package is disclosed. An LC, RC, or RLC filter is built into the integrated circuits chip carrier module and connected so as to filter the power supply entering the integrated circuit. By manufacturing the filter as part of the integrated circuit package, a chip manufacturer can eliminate the need for application-level developers to provide an external filtering network in the deployment of the integrated circuit in an application circuit.

7385437, Jun 10, 2008

Feb 11, 2005

11/055840

Daniel Mark Dreps - Georgetown TX, US
Norman Karl James - Liberty Hill TX, US
Hector Saenz - Austin TX, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G05F 1/10
G05F 3/02

327539

A digitally tunable low voltage CMOS current reference is disclosed. A tunable current reference circuit is provided that includes a current source circuit that is coupled to a power supply voltage. The current source circuit provides a stable current reference output regardless of fluctuations in the power supply voltage. Multiple digitally selectable inputs are included in the current reference circuit and are coupled to the current source circuit. These inputs are used to adjust a value of the current reference output.

7576569, Aug 18, 2009

Oct 13, 2006

11/549138

Gary D. Carpenter - Austin TX, US
Alan J. Drake - Round Rock TX, US
Harmander S. Deogun - Austin TX, US
Michael S. Floyd - Austin TX, US
Norman K. James - Liberty Hill TX, US
Robert M. Senger - Austin TX, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G01R 29/02
G06F 17/50
H03K 5/22

327 14, 327 24, 716 14, 716 18

A circuit for dynamically monitoring the operation of an integrated circuit under differing temperature, frequency, and voltage (including localized noise and droop), and for detecting early life wear-out mechanisms (e. g. , NBTI, hot electrons).

7962887, Jun 14, 2011

Jun 16, 2008

12/139928

Carl John Anderson - Austin TX, US
Michael Stephen Floyd - Cedar Park TX, US
Norman Karl James - Liberty Hill TX, US
Phillip John Restle - Katonah NY, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G06F 17/50
G06F 11/22
G05B 13/02

716136, 700 28

Sensors on the integrated circuit are used to detect the current operating state of the chip, such as frequency, voltage, temperature characteristics, or variation in the integrated circuit manufacturing process. In response, the integrated circuit may choose to modify operational parameters (such as frequency, voltage, or power-down states) in order to dynamically and autonomously maintain an optimal performance and/or power-efficiency operational point.

8055477, Nov 8, 2011

Nov 20, 2008

12/274534

Harold W. Chase - Cedar Park TX, US
Soraya Ghiasi - Boulder CO, US
Michael Stephen Floyd - Cedar Park TX, US
Joshua David Friedrich - Austin TX, US
Steven Paul Hartman - Round Rock TX, US
Norman Karl James - Liberty Hill TX, US
Malcolm Scott Ware - Austin TX, US
Richard L. Willaman - Austin TX, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G06F 15/00

702186, 702182, 713300

A benchmark tester retrieves a voltage margin that corresponds to a device that a system includes. The voltage margin indicates an additional amount of voltage to apply to a nominal voltage that, when added, results in the device operating at a power limit while executing a worst-case power workload. Next, the benchmark tester (or thermal power management device) sets an input voltage for the device to a value equal to the sum of the voltage margin and the nominal voltage. The benchmark tester then dynamically benchmark tests the system, which includes adjusting the device's frequency and input voltage while ensuring that the device does not exceed the device's power limit. In turn, the benchmark tester records a guaranteed minimum performance boost for the system based upon a result of the benchmark testing.

8122312, Feb 21, 2012

Apr 14, 2009

12/423442

Michael S. Floyd - Austin TX, US
Joshua D. Friedrich - Austin TX, US
Robert B. Gass - Pflugerville TX, US
Norman K. James - Liberty Hill TX, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G01R 31/28

714733, 714724

A mechanism is provided for internally controlling and enhancing logic built-in self test in a multiple core microprocessor. The control core may use architectural support for scan and external scan communication (XSCOM) to independently test the other cores while adjusting their frequency and/or voltage. A program loaded onto the control core may adjust the frequency and configure the LBIST to run on each of the cores under test. Once LBIST has completed on a core under test, the control core's program may evaluate the results and decide a next test to run for that core. For isolating failing latch positions, the control core may iteratively configure the LBIST mask and sequence registers on the core under test to determine the location of the failing latch. The control core may control the LBIST stump masks to isolate the failure to a particular latch scan ring and then position within that ring.

8140902, Mar 20, 2012

Nov 12, 2008

12/269490

Michael S. Floyd - Austin TX, US
Robert B. Gass - Pflugerville TX, US
Norman K. James - Liberty Hill TX, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G06F 11/00

714 30, 714 46

A mechanism is provided for internally controlling and enhancing advanced test and characterization in a multiple core microprocessor. To decrease the time needed to test a multiple core chip, the mechanism uses micro-architectural support that allows one core, a control core, to run a functional program to test the other cores. Any core on the chip can be designated to be the control core as long as it has already been tested for functionality at one safe frequency and voltage operating point. An external testing device loads a small program into the control core's dedicated memory. The program functionally running on the control core uses micro-architectural support for functional scan and external scan communication to independently test the other cores while adjusting the frequencies and/or voltages of the other cores until failure. The control core may independently test the other cores by starting, stopping, and determining pass/fail results.

8635478, Jan 21, 2014

Dec 29, 2011

13/340640

Harold W. Chase - Cedar Park TX, US
Joshua D. Friedrich - Austin TX, US
Andrew J. Geissler - Pflugerville TX, US
Soraya Ghiasi - Boulder CO, US
Norman K. James - Liberty Hill TX, US
Jagat V. Pokala - Cupertino CA, US
Malcolm S. Ware - Austin TX, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G06F 1/26
G06F 1/32

713321, 713322, 713324

During manufacture, an operating range for dynamic voltage and frequency scaling can be established. A nominal operating point is identified based on a design nominal operating frequency for a computer processor. The nominal operating point comprises a nominal operating voltage identified for the design nominal operating frequency. In dependence upon the nominal operating point, an operating range of frequency and voltage over which the computer processor is to function is determined. Information specifying the nominal operating point and the operating range is stored in non-volatile storage associated with the computer processor.