7  EP 1 499 941 B1 8  respect to the other devices in their system, while others operate synchronously as to themselves but asynchro- nously with respect to other devices in their system. [0029] The reader should appreciate that drawings showing methods, and the written descriptions thereof, should also be understood to illustrate machine- acces- sible media having recorded, encoded, or otherwise em- bodied therein instructions, functions, routines, control codes, firmware, software, or the like, which, when ac- cessed, read, executed, loaded into, or otherwise utilized by a machine, will cause the machine to perform the il- lustrated methods. Such media may include, by way of illustration only and not limitation: magnetic, optical, mag- neto- optical, or other storage mechanisms, fixed or re- movable discs, drives, tapes, semiconductor memories, organic memories, CD- ROM, CD- GLYPH<3> R, CD- GLYPH<3> RW, DVD- ROM, DVD- GLYPH<3> R, DVD- GLYPH<3> RW, Zip, floppy, cassette, reel- to- reel, or the like. They may alternatively include down- the- wire, broadcast, or other delivery mechanisms such as Internet, local area network, wide area network, wireless, cellular, cable, laser, satellite, microwave, or other suit- able carrier means, over which the instructions etc. may be delivered in the form of packets, serial data, parallel data, or other suitable format. The machine may include, by way of illustration only and not limitation: semiconduc- tor fabrication factory, microprocessor, embedded con- troller, PLA, PAL, FPGA, ASIC, computer, smart card, networking equipment, or any other machine, apparatus, system, or the like which is adapted to perform function- ality defined by such instructions or the like. Such draw- ings, written descriptions, and corresponding claims may variously be understood as representing the instructions etc. taken alone, the instructions etc. as organized in their particular packet/ serial/ parallel/etc. form, and/or the in- structions etc. together with their storage or carrier me- dia. The reader will further appreciate that such instruc- tions etc. may be recorded or carried in compressed, encrypted, or otherwise encoded format without depart- ing from the scope of this patent, even if the instructions etc. must be decrypted, decompressed, compiled, inter- preted, or otherwise manipulated prior to their execution or other utilization by the machine. [0030] Reference in the specification to "an embodi- ment," "one embodiment," "some embodiments," or "oth- er embodiments" means that a particular feature, struc- ture, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but not necessarily all embodiments, of the invention. The various appearances "an embodiment," "one em- bodiment," or "some embodiments" are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiments. [0031] If the specification states a component, feature, structure, or characteristic "may", "might", or "could" be included, that particular component, feature, structure, or characteristic is not required to be included. If the spec- ification or claim refers to "a" or "an" element, that does not mean there is only one of the element. If the specifi- cation or claims refer to "an additional" element, that does not preclude there being more than one of the additional element. 5 GLYPH<3> [0032] Those skilled in the art having the benefit of this disclosure will appreciate that many other variations from the foregoing description and drawings may be made within the scope of the present invention. Indeed, the invention is not limited to the details described above. Rather, it is the following claims including any amend- ments thereto that define the scope of the invention. a load circuit (16) having a maximum operating temperature (Ttest), a minimum operating volt- age (V1) and a maximum specified operating frequency (Flimit), said maximum specified op- erating frequency (Flimit) being dictated by a combination of the maximum operating temper- ature (Ttest) and the minimum operating voltage (V1); a clock generator (22) coupled to provide a clock signal (CLK) to the load circuit (16); a tempera- ture sensor (62) coupled to detect an operating temperature (T) of the load circuit (16); a frequency responder (66) coupled to the tem- perature sensor (62) and to the clock generator (22) to control a frequency of the clock signal (CLK), the apparatus is adapted for use with a voltage regulator (14), the apparatus further comprising: a voltage sensor (64) is coupled to detect a present operating voltage (Vnow) supplied to the load circuit (16), the voltage sensor (64) be- ing coupled to the frequency responder (66); a voltage responder (68) coupled to the temper- ature sensor (62) to provide a voltage identifica- tion control signal (VID) to the voltage regulator (14) to tell the voltage regulator (14) what oper- ating voltage (Vcc) to provide to the load circuit (16), wherein the voltage identification control signal (VID) is generated in response to the de- tected operating temperature (T). the frequency responder (66) comprises a lookup table, and the frequency responder (66) controls the fre- quency of the clock signal (CLK) to be above the maximum specified operating frequency (Flimit), but not exceeding a limit imposed by a present operating voltage (Vnow) / operating temperature (T) combination if the operating temperature (T) is below the maximum operat- ing temperature (Ttest), wherein the lookup ta- ble uses the operating voltage und operating temperature values as addressing or index val- characterised by 5 1. An apparatus comprising: Claims