Hardware Wake-and-Go Mechanism with Look-Ahead Polling

• US 20110173632A1
• Filed: 02/01/2008
• Published: 07/14/2011
• 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 8,341,635 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/108
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/52 Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores
• 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 looks ahead in a thread for programming idioms that indicates that the thread is waiting for an event. The wake-and-go mechanism performs a look-ahead polling operation for each of the programming idioms. If each of the look-ahead polling operations fails, then the wake-and-go mechanism updates a wake-and-go array with a target address associated with the event for each recognized programming idiom.

Claims

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

examining an instruction stream of a thread for a programming idiom that causes the thread to wait for an event that modifies a data value at a target address;

in response to detecting the programming idiom in the thread, performing a look-ahead polling operation to determine whether the event has occurred;

in response to the look-ahead polling operation resulting in a determination that the event has not occurred, populating a wake-and-go storage array with the target address;

responsive to detecting the programming idiom during execution of the thread, storing thread state information for the thread and placing the thread in a sleep state; and

in response to occurrence of the event, placing the thread in a non-sleep state.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the event that modifies the target address, determining whether to wake the thread.

3. The method of claim 2, 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 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 occurrence of the event that modifies the data value at 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 examining the instruction stream of the thread for the programming idiom comprises examining instructions being pre-fetched for the thread.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the programming idiom comprises an instruction sequence comprising a load command, a compare command, and a branch command.

9. 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;

examine an instruction stream of a thread for a programming idiom that causes the thread to wait for an event that modifies a data value at a target address;

in response to detecting the programming idiom in the thread, perform a look-ahead polling operation to determine whether the event has occurred;

in response to the look-ahead polling operation resulting in a determination that the event has not occurred, populate the wake-and-go storage array with the target address;

responsive to detecting the programming idiom during execution of the thread, store thread state information for the thread and place the thread in a sleep state; and

in response to occurrence of the event, place the thread in a non-sleep state.

10. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the hardware wake-and-go mechanism is configured to determine whether to wake the thread responsive to the event that modifies the data value at the target address.

11. The data processing system of claim 10, 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.

12. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the event is an asynchronous event caused by a device outside running the thread.

13. The data processing system of claim 9, 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.

14. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein responsive to the event that modifies the data value at the target address, the content addressable memory returns a storage address at which the target address is stored within the content addressable memory.

15. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein examining the instruction stream of the thread for the programming idiom comprises examining instructions being pre-fetched for the thread.

16. The data processing system of claim 9, wherein the programming idiom comprises an instruction sequence comprising a load command, a compare command, and a branch command.

17. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program, when executed on a computing device, causes the computing device to:

examine an instruction stream of a thread for a programming idiom that causes the thread to wait for an event that modifies a data value at a target address;

in response to detecting the programming idiom in the thread, perform a look-ahead polling operation to determine whether the event has occurred;

in response to the look-ahead polling operation resulting in a determination that the event has not occurred, populate a wake-and-go storage array with the target address;

responsive to detecting the programming idiom during execution of the thread, store thread state information for the thread and place the thread in a sleep state; and

in response to occurrence of the event, place the thread in a non-sleep state.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the event is an asynchronous event caused by a device outside running the thread.

19. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein examining the instruction stream of the thread for the programming idiom comprises examining instructions being pre-fetched for the thread.

20. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the programming idiom comprises an instruction sequence comprising a load command, a compare command, and a branch command.