9  EP 1 499 941 B1 10  ues and outputs corresponding operating fre- quency values. the voltage responder (14) is further coupled to the voltage sensor (64) and the voltage identifi- cation control signal (VID) is generated further in response to the present operating voltage (Vnow). sensing the present operating voltage (Vnow); sensing an operating temperature (T) of the load circuit (16); generating a voltage identification control signal (VID) in response to the detected operating tem- perature (T); providing the voltage identification control signal (VID) to the voltage regulator (14) to tell the volt- age regulator (14) what operating voltage (Vcc) to provide to the load circuit; and setting the clock frequency (CLK) as a function of the sensed present operating voltage (Vnow) and the sensed operating temperature (T) by setting the clock frequency higher than a maxi- mum specified operating frequency (Flimit), said maximum specified operating frequency (Flimit) being dictated by a combination of a maximum einen Lastkreis (16), der eine maximale Betrieb- stemperatur (Ttest), eine minimale Betriebs- spannung (V1) und eine maximale festgelegte Betriebsfrequenz (Flimit) hat, wobei die maxi- male festgelegte Betriebsfrequenz (Flimit) von einer Kombination aus der maximalen Betrieb- stemperatur (Ttest) und der minimalen Betriebs- spannung (V1) bestimmt wird; einen Taktgenerator (22), der zum Bereitstellen eines Taktsignals (CLK) für den Lastkreis (16) angeschlossen ist; einen Temperatursensor (62), der zum Feststel- as the operating temperature (T) approaches the maximum operating temperature (Ttest), re- ducing the clock frequency (CLK) to keep the clock frequency (CLK) below a predetermined reliability threshold. operating temperature (Ttest) and a minimum operating voltage (V1), but not exceeding a limit imposed by a present operating voltage (Vnow) / operating temperature (T) combination if the operating temperature (T) is below a maximum operating temperature (Ttest), using a lookup table using the operating voltage und operating temperature values as addressing or index val- ues and outputting corresponding operating fre- quency values. 2. The apparatus of claim 1,  characterized in that the frequency responder (66) is further to reduce the frequency of the clock signal (CLK) as the operating temperature (T) approaches the maximum operating temperature. 3. The apparatus of claim 1,  characterized in that the lookup table is addressed by a digital value from the temperature sensor (62) representing the oper- ating temperature (T). 4. The apparatus of claim 3,  characterized in that the lookup table is further addressed by a digital val- ue representing a present operating voltage (Vnow) that is supplied to the load circuit (16). 5. The apparatus of claim 1,  characterized in that : 6. The apparatus of claim 1,  characterized in that the load circuit (16) comprises a microprocessor. 7. The apparatus of claim 1,  characterized in that the frequency responder (66) comprises an analog circuit. 8. A method of operating a load circuit (16) which is coupled to receive an operating a voltage (Vcc) from a voltage regulator (14) and a clock signal (CLK) from a clock generator (22), the clock signal (CLK) having a clock frequency, wherein the method com- prises: GLYPH<3> 9. The method of claim 8,  characterized in that setting the clock frequency (CLK) further comprises: 10. An article of manufacture comprising: a machine- GLYPH<3> accessible medium including data that, when accessed by a semiconductor fabri- cation factory, cause the semiconductor fabri- cation facility to construct the apparatus of claim 1. 11. The article of manufacture of claim 10, wherein the machine- GLYPH<3> accessible medium further includes data that cause the semiconductor fabrication factory to construct the apparatus of claim 6. 12. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the machine- GLYPH<3> accessible medium comprises a recording medium bearing data. 13. The article of manufacture of claim 11, wherein the machine- GLYPH<3> accessible medium comprises a carrier wave bearing the data. 1. Vorrichtung, umfassend: Patentansprüche 6