Generation of software thermal profiles executed on a set of processors using processor activity

• US 20070124101A1
• Filed: 11/29/2005
• Published: 05/31/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Aguilar, Maximino, Johns, Charles, Stafford, James, Nutter, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 7,698,089 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/130
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 3/005 Circuits arrangements for indicating a predetermined temperature fire detection G08B17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 7/015 using microstructures, e.g. made of silicon
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/206 comprising thermal management

Abstract

A computer implemented method, data processing system, computer usable code, and apparatus are provided for generation of software thermal profiles for applications executing on a set of processors. Sampling is performed of the hardware operations occurring in a set of processors during the execution of a set of workloads to create sampled information. A thermal index is then generated based on the sampled information.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for generating software thermal profiles for applications executed on a set of processors, the computer implemented method comprising:

sampling hardware operations occurring in a set of processors during execution of a set of workloads by the set of processors to create sampled information; and

generating a thermal index based on the sampled information.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the sampled information in a data structure, wherein the thermal index is generated using the sampled information in the data structure.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein sampling the hardware operations is performed through the use of instrumentation built into the set of processors.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sampled information is at least one of instruction activity, cache activity, bus activity, or memory accesses.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the thermal index is a thermal efficiency of the processor.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the hardware operation is sampled for a predetermined amount of time.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the thermal index is proportional to the workload being executed.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the analyzed information and thermal index are used by a compiler to optimize the thermal profile of an application.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the thermal index is a single number.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the thermal index is a weighted sum of the sampled information representing the intensity of at least one of the set of execution units or the set of data flow units.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 4, wherein the thermal index is a vector of values for at least one of the set of execution units or the set of data flow units.

12. A data processing system comprising:

a bus system;

a communications system connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes a set of instructions; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to sample hardware operations occurring in a set of processors during execution of a set of workloads by the set of processors to create sampled information; and

generating a thermal index based on the sampled information.

13. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the processing unit executes the set of instructions to store the sampled information in a data structure, wherein the thermal index is generated using the sampled information in the data structure.

14. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein sampling the hardware operations is performed through the use of instrumentation built into the set of processors.

15. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the sampled information is at least one of instruction activity, cache activity, bus activity, or memory accesses.

16. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the thermal index is a thermal efficiency of the processor.

17. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the hardware operation is sampled for a predetermined amount of time.

18. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the thermal index is proportional to the workload being executed.

19. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the analyzed information and thermal index are used by a compiler to optimize the thermal profile of an application.

20. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the thermal index is a single number.

21. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein the thermal index is a weighted sum of the sampled information representing the intensity of at least one of the set of execution units or the set of data flow units.

22. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein the thermal index is a vector of values for at least one of the set of execution units or the set of data flow units.

23. A computer program product comprising:

a computer usable medium including computer usable program code for generating software thermal profiles for applications executed on a set of processors, the computer program product including;

computer usable program code for sampling hardware operations occurring in a set of processors during execution of a set of workloads by the set of processors to create sampled information; and

computer usable program code for generating a thermal index based on the sampled information.

24. The computer program product of claim 23, further including:

computer usable program code for storing the sampled information in a data structure, wherein the thermal index is generated using the sampled information in the data structure.

25. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein sampling the hardware operations is performed through the use of instrumentation built into the set of processors.

26. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the sampled information is at least one of instruction activity, cache activity, bus activity, or memory accesses.

27. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the thermal index is a thermal efficiency of the processor.

28. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the hardware operation is sampled for a predetermined amount of time.

29. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the thermal index is proportional to the workload being executed.

30. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the analyzed information and thermal index are used by a compiler to optimize the thermal profile of an application.

31. The computer program product of claim 23, wherein the thermal index is a single number.

32. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the thermal index is a weighted sum of the sampled information representing the intensity of at least one of the set of execution units or the set of data flow units.

33. The computer program product of claim 26, wherein the thermal index is a vector of values for at least one of the set of execution units or the set of data flow units.

34. An apparatus for generating software thermal profiles for applications executed on a set of processors, the apparatus comprising:

sampling means for sampling hardware operations occurring in a set of processors during execution of a set of workloads by the set of processors to create sampled information; and

generating means for generating a thermal index based on the sampled information.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising:

storing means for storing the sampled information in a data structure, wherein the thermal index is generated using the sampled information in the data structure.