US 11,808,804 B2
Power profiling in an integrated circuit having a current sensing circuit
Antonio Mauricio Brochi, Campinas (BR); and Felipe Ricardo Clayton, Campinas (BR)
Assigned to NXP USA, Inc., Austin, TX (US)
Filed by NXP USA, Inc., Austin, TX (US)
Filed on Dec. 15, 2020, as Appl. No. 17/247,516.
Prior Publication US 2022/0187358 A1, Jun. 16, 2022
Int. Cl. G01R 31/28 (2006.01); G01R 31/30 (2006.01); G01R 31/3185 (2006.01)
CPC G01R 31/2851 (2013.01) [G01R 31/3004 (2013.01); G01R 31/318575 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An integrated circuit (IC) comprising:
subcircuits, wherein each subcircuit is configured to execute application programs;
power switches, each power switch coupled to pass a respective load current to a respective one of the subcircuits when activated by a respective switch control signal, wherein each power switch is coupled between a voltage rail and the respective one of the subcircuits, and when each power switch is deactivated by the respective switch control, no supply voltage is provided to the respective one of the sub circuits;
sensing circuits, each of the sensing circuits coupled to a respective one of the subcircuits, wherein the sensing circuits are configured to generate sense currents that are proportional to the respective load currents;
a conversion circuit configured to receive at least one of the sense currents and to convert the at least one of the sense currents to an equivalent multi-bit digital signal;
a timestamp circuit configured to generate a timestamp value that is correlated with the multi-bit digital signal; and
a controller configured to provide signals to operate the power switches and the sensing circuits.