Method to switch the lock-bits combination used to lock a page table entry upon receiving system reset exceptions
First Claim
1. A method in a data processing system for changing a lock-bits combination in a software lock to resolve a deadlock, comprising:
- receiving a system reset exception;
identifying a lock-bits combination to use in the software lock, wherein the lock-bits combination is identified based on a value of system reset exception occurrence bits; and
updating the software lock with the identified lock-bits combination, wherein updating the software lock allows the data processing system to resolve the deadlock.
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Abstract
A method, system, and computer instructions for changing the lock-bits combination used to lock a resource upon receiving a system reset exception. The present invention forces the software to use different lock-bits combinations based on the number of occurrences of system reset exceptions. When a system reset exception is received, a system reset exception bit value in a special purpose register is updated based on the history of system reset exception occurrences. Based on the updated value in the system reset exception bit, the lock-bits combination for locking a resource is changed to allow the data processing system to reuse the resource with bad lock-bits. In this manner, the deadlocked resource is resolved, and a processor is not able to obtain an indefinitely held lock on system resources caused by system reset exceptions.
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Citations
36 Claims
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1. A method in a data processing system for changing a lock-bits combination in a software lock to resolve a deadlock, comprising:
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receiving a system reset exception;
identifying a lock-bits combination to use in the software lock, wherein the lock-bits combination is identified based on a value of system reset exception occurrence bits; and
updating the software lock with the identified lock-bits combination, wherein updating the software lock allows the data processing system to resolve the deadlock. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A data processing system for changing a lock-bits combination in a software lock to resolve a deadlock, comprising:
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receiving means for receiving a system reset exception;
identifying means for identifying a lock-bits combination to use in the software lock, wherein the lock-bits combination is identified based on a value of system reset exception occurrence bits; and
updating means for updating the software lock with the identified lock-bits combination, wherein updating the software lock allows the data processing system to resolve the deadlock. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A computer program product in a computer readable medium for changing a lock-bits combination in a software lock to resolve a deadlock, comprising:
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first instructions for receiving a system reset exception;
second instructions for identifying a lock-bits combination to use in the software lock, wherein the lock-bits combination is identified based on a value of system reset exception occurrence bits; and
third instructions for updating the software lock with the identified lock-bits combination, wherein updating the software lock allows the data processing system to resolve the deadlock. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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Specification