Method and system for dynamic resource allocation

• US 20050141554A1
• Filed: 12/29/2003
• Published: 06/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Ozgul, Melih, Hammarlund, Per H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,688,746 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/468
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a dynamic resource allocator to allocate resources performance optimization in, for example, a computer system. The dynamic resource allocator to allocate a resource to one or more threads associated with an application based on a performance rate. Embodiments of the present invention may further include a performance monitor to monitor the performance rate of the one or more threads. The dynamic resource allocator to allocate an additional resource to the one or more threads, if the thread is performing above a performance threshold. In embodiments of the present invention, the dynamic resource allocation strategy may be decided based on, for example, optimizing the overall system throughput, minimizing power consumption, meeting system performance goals (e.g., real time requirements), user specified performance priorities and/or application specified performance priorities.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a dynamic resource allocator to allocate a resource to one or more threads associated with an application based on a performance rate.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a performance monitor to monitor the performance rate of the one or more threads, wherein the dynamic resource allocator is to allocate an additional resource to the one or more threads if the thread is performing above a performance threshold.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the dynamic resource allocator is to allocate the additional resource to the one or more threads if the thread is performing at the performance threshold.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the dynamic resource allocator is to remove the resource from the one or more threads if the thread is performing below the performance thresholds.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a re-order buffer coupled to the dynamic resource allocator, wherein the resource is a re-order buffer resource and the re-order buffer is to process the one or more threads.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a memory ordering buffer coupled to the dynamic resource allocator, wherein the resource is a memory ordering buffer resource and the memory ordering buffer is to process the one or more threads.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a translation lookaside buffer coupled to the dynamic resource allocator, wherein the resource is a translation lookaside buffer resource and the translation lookaside buffer is to process the one or more threads.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an instruction streaming buffer coupled to the dynamic resource allocator, wherein the resource is a instruction streaming buffer resource and the instruction streaming buffer is to process the one or more threads.

9. A method for dynamically allocating resources in a computer system, comprising:

sampling a performance rate of an application thread being processed by a resource;

if the application thread is being processed at a rate above a threshold rate, allocating additional resources to the application thread.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

if the application thread is being processed at a rate below the threshold rate, blocking additional resources from the application thread.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the performance rate is a micro-operation instruction retirement rate.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the performance rate a throughput of the computer system.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the performance rate is a user defined performance rate.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the performance rate is an application dependent performance rate.

15. A method comprising:

monitoring performance of a resource in a computer system; and

allocating additional application threads to the resource, if the resource is performing above a performance threshold.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

blocking an application thread from being allocated to the resource, if the resource is performing below the performance threshold.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

removing an application thread from the resource, if the resource is performing below the performance threshold.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

allocating additional application threads to the resource, if the resource is performing at the performance threshold.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

blocking an application thread from being allocated to the resource, if the resource is performing at the performance threshold.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein performance of the resource is measured by a number of instruction per cycle that are processed by the resource.

21. A system comprising:

a processor;

a bus;

a dynamic resource allocator coupled to the processor via the bus, wherein the dynamic resource allocator to allocate the processor'"'"'s resource to one or more threads associated with an application based on a performance rate.

22. The system of claim 21, further comprising:

a performance monitor coupled to the processor and the dynamic resource allocator, wherein the performance monitor is to monitor the performance rate of the processor and is to allocate an additional resource to the one or more threads if the thread is performing above the performance threshold.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the dynamic resource allocator is to allocate the additional resource to the one or more threads if the thread is performing at the performance threshold.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein the dynamic resource allocator is to remove the resource to the one or more threads if the thread is performing below the performance thresholds.

25. The system of claim 21, wherein the performance rate is a throughput rate of the processor.

26. A system comprising:

a bus;

an external memory coupled to the bus, wherein the external memory is to store a plurality of instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory via the bus, the processor including;

a dynamic resource allocator, wherein the dynamic resource allocator is to allocate the processor'"'"'s resource to one or more threads associated with an instruction from the plurality of instructions based on a performance rate.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the dynamic resource allocator is to monitor the performance rate of the processor and is to allocate an additional resource to the one or more threads if the thread is performing above the performance threshold.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein the dynamic resource allocator is to allocate the additional resource to the one or more threads if the thread is performing at the performance threshold.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein the dynamic resource allocator is to remove the resource to the one or more threads if the thread is performing below the performance thresholds.

30. The system of claim 26, wherein the performance rate is a throughput rate of the processor.