APPARATUS AND METHOD TO CONTROL TEMPERATURE RAMP RATES INCLUDING TEMPERATURE SPIKE DETECTION AND CONTROL

An apparatus and method to control temperature ramp rates including temperature spike detection and control. For example, one embodiment of a processor comprises: a plurality of cores to execute instructions; a power management unit to control power consumption of each core of the plurality of cores, the power management unit comprising: a frequency ramp governor or power step governor to determine a frequency ramp rate limit or power step limit for a core of the plurality of cores based, at least in part, on a present frequency or present power metrics of the core; a frequency limiter or voltage limiter to determine a maximum frequency or maximum voltage of the core based, at least in part, on a measured temperature; and limit resolution circuitry to determine a first frequency or a first power level of the core in accordance with the frequency ramp rate limit or the power step limit and the maximum frequency or maximum voltage.