A method for estimating temperature at a critical point

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are disclosed to estimate temperature at one or more critical points in a data processing system comprising modeling a steady state temperature portion of a thermal model at the one or more critical points using regression analysis; modeling the transient temperature portion of the thermal model at the one or more critical points using a filtering algorithm; and generating a thermal model at the one or more critical points by combining the steady state temperature portion of the thermal model with the transient temperature portion of the thermal model. The thermal model may then be used to estimate an instantaneous temperature at the one or more critical points or to predict a future temperature at the one or more critical points.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A machine-implemented method, comprising:
 receiving, by a processor of a data processing system, temperature measurement data from a temperature sensor located on a first component of the data processing system when the data processing system is operating at a power level;   determining, by the processor, a temperature of a second component of the data processing system based on the received temperature measurement data using an overall thermal model representing the determined temperature as a function of the temperature measurement data;   comparing, by the processor, the temperature of the second component to a predetermined temperature; and   modifying, by the processor, the power level of the data processing system in response to the comparison.   
     
     
         2 . The machine-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the overall thermal model includes one or more of
 a steady state thermal model representing a steady state temperature of the second component as a function of the temperature measurement data, or   a transient thermal model representing a transient temperature of the second component as a function of the temperature measurement data.