Hardware Wake-and-Go Mechanism for a Data Processing System

• US 20090199030A1
• Filed: 02/01/2008
• Published: 08/06/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Arimilli, Ravi K., Sharma, Satya P., Swanberg, Randal C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,250,396 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/323
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/544 Remote
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/485 Task life-cycle, e.g. stopping, restarting, resuming execution G06F9/4881 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications

Abstract

A hardware wake-and-go mechanism is provided for a data processing system. The wake-and-go mechanism recognizes a programming idiom that indicates that a thread is waiting for an event. The wake-and-go mechanism updates a wake-and-go array with a target address associated with the event. The thread then goes to sleep until the event occurs. The wake-and-go array may be a content addressable memory (CAM). When a transaction appears on the symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) fabric that modifies the value at a target address in the CAM, the CAM returns a list of storage addresses at which the target address is stored. The wake-and-go mechanism associates these storage addresses with the threads waiting for an even at the target addresses, and may wake the one or more threads waiting for the event.

Claims

1. A method, in a data processing system, for performing a wake-and-go operation, the method comprising:

detecting, by a hardware wake-and-go mechanism within a processor, a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address;

populating, by the hardware wake-and-go mechanism, a wake-and-go storage array with the target address;

placing the thread in a sleep state;

responsive to the event that modifies the data value associated with the target address, determining whether to wake the thread; and

in response to a determination that the thread is to be awoken, placing the thread in a non-sleep state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address comprises recognizing a programming idiom that indicates that the thread is waiting for a data value to be written to the target address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether to wake the thread comprises determining whether a data value being written to the target address is a data value for which the thread is waiting.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is an asynchronous event caused by a device outside a processor running the thread.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the wake-and-go storage array is a content addressable memory and an address appearing on an address bus is used to address the content addressable memory.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein responsive to the event that modifies the data value associated with the target address, the content addressable memory returns a storage address at which the target address is stored within the content addressable memory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address comprises:

detecting that the thread executes a specialized processor instruction to update the wake-and-go storage array.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address comprises:

detecting that the thread makes a call to an operating system to update the wake-and-go storage array.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the operating system performs the step of determining whether to wake the thread.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address comprises:

detecting that the thread makes a call to a background sleeper thread to update the wake-and-go storage array.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the background sleeper thread performs the step of determining whether to wake the thread.

12. A data processing system, comprising:

a hardware wake-and-go mechanism; and

a wake-and-go array,

wherein the hardware wake-and-go mechanism is configured to;

detect a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address;

populate the wake-and-go storage array with the target address;

place the thread in a sleep state;

responsive to the event that modifies the data value associated with the target address, determine whether to wake the thread; and

in response to a determination that the thread is to be awoken, place the thread in a non-sleep state.

13. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein detecting a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address comprises recognizing a programming idiom that indicates that the thread is waiting for a data value to be written to the target address.

14. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein determining whether to wake the thread comprises determining whether a data value being written to the target address is a data value for which the thread is waiting.

15. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the wake-and-go array is a content addressable memory and an address appearing on an address bus is used to address the content addressable memory.

16. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein responsive to the event that modifies the data value associated with the target address, the content addressable memory returns a storage address at which the target address is stored within the content addressable memory.

17. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein detecting a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address comprises:

detecting that the thread executes a specialized processor instruction to update the wake-and-go storage array.

18. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein detecting a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address comprises:

detecting that the thread makes a call to an operating system to update the wake-and-go storage array.

19. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein detecting a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address comprises:

detecting that the thread makes a call to a background sleeper thread to update the wake-and-go storage array.

20. A hardware wake-and-go mechanism, comprising:

a wake-and-go storage array; and

wake-and-go logic, wherein the wake-and-go logic is configured to;

detect a thread that is waiting for an event that modifies a data value associated with a target address;

populate the wake-and-go storage array with the target address;

place the thread in a sleep state;

responsive to the event that modifies the data value associated with the target address, determine whether to wake the thread; and

in response to a determination that the thread is to be awoken, place the thread in a non-sleep state.