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APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING THREADS REQUIRING RESOURCES

  • US 20130247060A1
  • Filed: 03/16/2012
  • Published: 09/19/2013
  • Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2012
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A data processing apparatus comprising:

  • processing circuitry configured to process processing threads using resources accessible to said processing circuitry;

    thread handling circuitry configured to handle pending threads awaiting resources required for processing; and

    resource checking circuitry configured to check whether at least one resource required by a pending thread from said thread handling circuitry is available, to forward said pending thread to said processing circuitry for processing if said at least one resource is available, and to request access to said at least one resource and retain said pending thread in said thread handling circuitry if said at least one resource is not available;

    wherein;

    said resource checking circuitry is configured to set a lock for an unavailable resource if said unavailable resource is requested for a pending thread and said unavailable resource is not already locked, and to set the pending thread for which the unavailable resource is requested as a lock owning thread for said unavailable resource, wherein a locked resource which becomes available remains available until the lock associated with the locked resource is removed;

    on determining that a locked resource is unavailable for a subsequent pending thread which requires said locked resource and is not the current lock owning thread for said locked resource, said resource checking circuitry is configured to set said subsequent pending thread as the lock owning thread for said locked resource; and

    said resource checking circuitry is configured to remove the lock associated with an available locked resource if the current lock owning thread for said available locked resource is forwarded to said processing circuitry for processing.

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