Passing work between threads

• US 20070124728A1
• Filed: 11/28/2005
• Published: 05/31/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Rosenbluth, Mark, Wilde, Myles, Krueger, Jon
• Application Number:
  US11/288,819
• Publication Number:
  US 20070124728A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/526 Mutual exclusion algorithms

Abstract

In general, in one aspect, the disclosure describes passing work, such as a packet, between threads of a multi-threaded system.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

at a first thread of a set of threads provided by a processor comprising multiple multi-threaded processing units integrated in a single die;

receiving identification of a network packet;

issuing a request for a lock;

if the lock is granted;

performing at least one operation for the network packet;

determining if another thread has passed identification of a second network packet belonging to the same flow as the first thread to the first thread;

performing at least one operation for the network packet; and

if the lock is not granted;

determining a thread owning the lock; and

passing identification of the network packet to the determined thread owning the lock.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the determining if another thread has passed identification of the second network packet comprises:

issuing a request to unlock the lock; and

in response to issuing the request, receiving an indication that at least one other thread attempted to acquire the lock.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein the receiving the indication comprises a count of at least one thread attempting to acquire the lock.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the determining the thread owning the lock comprises receiving a response to the request for the lock data identifying the thread owning the lock.

5. A processor, comprising:

multiple multi-threaded processing units integrated on a single die;

circuitry coupled to the multiple multi-threaded processing units integrated on the single die, the circuitry to;

receive lock requests from threads executing on the multiple multi-threaded processing units;

respond to lock requests with an identification of a thread currently owning the lock if the requested lock owned by a thread;

receive requests to release locks from threads executing on the multiple multi-threaded processing units; and

respond to the request to release locks based on requests for the lock received while the lock is owned by a thread.

6. The processor of claim 5,

wherein the circuitry increments a lock counter based on a lock request for a lock owned by another thread.

7. The processor of claim 6,

wherein the circuitry to respond to the request to release locks comprises circuitry to respond to the request with an unlock denial based on the lock counter.

8. The processor of claim 6, wherein the circuitry to respond to the request to release locks comprises circuitry to respond with the lock counter'"'"'s value.

9. A computer program product, disposed on a computer readable medium, the product comprising instructions for causing a processing having multiple multi-threaded processing units integrated in a single die to:

at a first thread of a set of threads provided by the;

receiving identification of a network packet;

issuing a request for a lock;

if the lock is granted;

performing at least one operation for the network packet;

determining if another thread has passed identification of a second network packet belonging to the same flow as the first thread to the first thread;

performing at least one operation for the network packet; and

if the lock is not granted;

determining a thread owning the lock; and

passing identification of the network packet to the determined thread owning the lock.

10. The program of claim 9,

wherein the determining if another thread has passed identification of the second network packet comprises:

issuing a request to unlock the lock; and

in response to issuing the request, receiving an indication that at least one other thread attempted to acquire the lock.

11. The program of claim 10,

wherein the receiving the indication comprises a count of at least one thread attempting to acquire the lock.

12. The program of claim 9,

wherein the determining the thread owning the lock comprises receiving a response to the request for the lock data identifying the thread owning the lock.

13. A method, comprising:

assigning a work item to a first of multiple peer threads provided by a multi-threaded processor, the work item being part of a flow of work items; and

reassigning, by the first of the multiple peer threads, the work item to a different one of the multiple peer threads.

14. The method of claim 13,

wherein the reassigning comprises enqueueing the work item to the different one of the multiple peer threads.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the work item comprises a network packet.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

determining whether to perform the reassigning based on at least one work load metric.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising reassigning each of multiple work items belonging to the same work flow to the different one of the multiple peer threads.