Memory shared between processing threads

• US 6,631,462 B1
• Filed: 01/05/2000
• Issued: 10/07/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 01/05/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Adiletta, Matthew J., Bernstein, Debra, Wolrich, Gilbert, Cutter, Daniel, Wheeler, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Pan, Daniel H.
• Application Number:
  US09/479,377
• Time in Patent Office: 1,371 Days
• Field of Search: 712/228, 712/202, 712/217, 712/225, 712/201, 712/23, 711/123, 711/132, 703/20, 703/13, 709/104, 709/105, 709/108, 709/400, 709/315, 709/106, 709/107, 710/113, 717/148, 717/149, 717/163, 717/166, 717/172, 717/165
• US Class Current: 712/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3004 to perform operations on memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory

Abstract

A method includes pushing a datum onto a stack by a first processor and popping the datum off the stack by a second processor.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

pushing a datum onto a stack by a first processing thread; and

popping the datum off the stack by a second processing thread, wherein pushing comprises;

executing a push command on the first processing thread, the push command having at least one argument,

determining a pointer to a current stack datum,

determining a memory location associated with an argument of the push command, and

storing the determined pointer at the determined location.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein pushing further comprises:

producing a pointer associated with the determined location the pointer to the current stack datum.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein determining a location comprises:

decoding the push command.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein determining a location comprises:

storing an argument of the pop command in a location associated with the argument of the push command.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein said push command is at least one of a processor instruction, and an operating system call.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein popping comprises:

executing a pop command by the second processing thread,

determining a pointer to a current stack datum,

returning the determined pointer to the second processing thread,

retrieving a pointer to a previous stack datum from a location associated with the pointer to the current stack datum, and

assigning the retrieved pointer the pointer to the current stack datum.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the location associated with the pointer to the current stack datum is the location that has an address equal to the value of the pointer to the current stack datum.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the location associated with the pointer to the current stack datum is the location that has an address equal to the sum of an offset and the value of the pointer to the current stack datum.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the pop command is at least one of a processor instruction or an operating system call.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing data in a memory buffer that is accessible using a buffer pointer having the datum that is pushed onto the stack.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

using the popped datum as a buffer pointer to access information stored in a memory buffer.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

a third processing thread pushing a second datum onto the stack.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

a third processing thread popping a second datum of the stack.

14. A system comprising:

a stack module that stores data by pushing it onto the stack and processing threads can retrieve information by popping the information off the stack,

a first processing thread having a first command set, including at least one command for pushing data onto the stack,

a second processing thread having a second command set, including at least one command for popping the data off the stack, and

a memory location associated with a first datum on the stack, the memory location including a pointer associated with a second datum which was stored on the stack prior to said first datum.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the first and second processing threads are executed on a single microengine.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the first and second processing threads are executed on separate microengines.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the separate microengines are implemented on the same integrated circuit.

18. The system of claim 14 wherein the stack module and the processing threads are on the same integrated circuit.

19. The system of claim 14 where the first and second command sets are at least one of a processor instruction set and an operating system instruction set.

20. The system of claim 14 further comprising a bus interface for communicating between at least one of the processing threads and the stack module.

21. A stack module comprising:

control logic that responds to commands from at least two processing threads, the control logic storing a first datum on a stack structure in response to a push command and retrieving datum from the stack in response to a pop command, and

a memory location associated with a first datum on the stack, the memory location including a pointer associated with a second datum which was stored on the stack prior to said first datum.

22. The stack module of claim 21 further comprising a stack pointer associated with the most recently stored datum on the stack.

23. The stack module of claim 22 further comprising a second stack pointer associated with the most recently stored datum on a second stack.

24. The stack module of claim 22 wherein the stack pointer is a register on a processor.

25. The stack module of claim 22 wherein said memory location includes SRAM memory.

26. The stack module of claim 21 wherein the commands are processor instructions.

27. The stack module of claim 21 wherein the commands are operating system instructions.

28. An article comprising a computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that when executed by a machine results in the following:

push a datum onto a stack by a first processing thread; and

pop the datum off the stack by a second processing thread, wherein pushing comprises instructions having at least one argument that when executed by a machine results in the following;

determine a pointer to a current stack datum,

determine a memory location associated with an argument of the push command, and

store the determined pointer at the determined location.

29. The article of claim 28 further comprising instructions that when executed by a machine results in the following:

produce a pointer associated with determined location the pointer to the current stack datum.