Cache-line based notification

• US 8,719,499 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2009
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Auernhammer, Florian Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Bragdon, Reginald
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ruiz, Aracelis
• Application Number:
  US12/368,350
• Publication Number:
  US 20100205379A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,911 Days
• Field of Search: 711/118, 711/146
• US Class Current: 711/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0842 for multiprocessing or multitasking
• 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

Embodiments of the invention provide a method, system, and computer program product for cache-line based notification. An embodiment of the method comprises injecting a cache-line including notification information into a cache of a processing unit, marking the cache-line as having the notification information, and using the notification information to notify a processing thread of the presence of the cache-line in the cache. In an embodiment, the cache-line identifies a thread affiliation. In an embodiment, a multitude of threads operate in the processing unit, and the using includes notifying a plurality of these threads of the presence of the cache-line in the cache, and analyzing the cache-line to identify this plurality of threads. The cache may include a plurality of cache-lines, each of which includes a notification, and the processing unit thread uses these notifications to form a linked list of at least some of the cache-lines.

Claims

1. A method of cache-line based thread notification in a processing unit including a cache, and wherein a plurality of threads are operating on the processing unit, the method comprising:

injecting into the cache of the processing unit a cache-line including notification and thread identification information for identifying each of one or more of the threads operating on the processing unit as a destination thread for the cache-line;

marking the cache-line as having the notification information;

using the thread identification information in the cache-line to identify each of one or more of the threads operating in the processing unit as a destination thread for the cache-line, including each of the plurality of threads using the thread identification information in the cache-line to determine whether said each thread is a destination thread for the cache line; and

notifying each of said one or more of the threads identified as a destination thread of the presence of the marked cache-line in the cache.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cache-line identifies a thread affiliation.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein a multitude of threads operate on the processing unit, the thread affiliation identifies only one of said threads, and the notifying includes notifying only said one of the threads of the presence of the cache-line in the cache.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a multitude of threads operate in the processing unit, and the notifying includes notifying a plurality of said multitude of threads of the presence of the cache-line in the cache.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said marking is done while injecting the cache-line into the cache.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein said marking is done when the cache-line is in the processing unit.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising after notifying the processing thread of the marked cache line, unmarking said cache-line.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the injecting includes:

determining the processing unit for which the cache-line is destined; and

transferring the cache line to the cache of said processing unit.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

each of the plurality of threads is associated with a mask; and

the using the thread identification information in the cache-line to identify the one or more of the threads as the one or more destination threads includes

comparing the mask associated with each of the threads operating on the processing unit with the thread identification information in the cache-line to determine if said each of the threads is one of the one or more of the destination threads for the cache-line.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the using the thread identification information in the cache-line to identify each of one or more of the threads operating in the processing unit as a destination thread for the cache-line includes:

each thread of a defined group of the threads using the thread identification information to determine whether said each thread is a destination thread for the cache line.

11. A method of cache-line based notification, comprising:

injecting a cache-line including notification information into a cache of a processing unit;

marking the cache-line as having the notification information; and

notifying a processing thread operating on the process unit of the presence of the marked cache-line in the cache; and

wherein the cache includes a plurality of cache-lines, each of said cache-lines includes a notification, and

the method further comprising said processing unit thread using the notifications to form a linked list of at least some of the cache-lines in the cache.

12. A cache-line based thread notification system, comprising:

one or more processing units configured for;

operating a plurality of threads;

injecting into a cache of one of the processing units a cache-line including notification and thread identification information for identifying

each of one or more of the threads operating on the processing unit is as a destination thread for the cache-line;

marking the cache-line as having the notification information;

using the thread identification information in the cache-line to identify each of one or more of the threads operating in the processing unit as a destination thread for the cache-line, including each of the plurality of threads using the thread identification information in the cache-line to determine whether said each thread is a destination thread for the cache-line; and

notifying each of said one or more of the threads identified as a destination thread of the presence of the marked cache-line in the cache.

13. The cache-line based notification system according to claim 12, wherein the cache-line identifies a thread affiliation.

14. The cache-line based notification system according to claim 13, wherein a multitude of threads operate in the processing unit, and the notifying includes:

notifying a plurality of said multitude of threads of the presence of the cache-line in the cache; and

analyzing the cache-line to identify said plurality of threads.

15. The cache-line based notification system according to claim 12, wherein said marking is done while injecting the cache-line into the cache.

16. The cache-line based notification system according to claim 12, wherein the cache includes a plurality of cache-lines, each of said cache-lines includes a notification, and said processing unit thread uses the notifications to form a linked list of at least some of the cache-lines in the cache.

17. An article of manufacture comprising:

at least one computer usable device having computer readable program code logic tangibly embodied therein to execute a machine instruction in a processing unit for implementing cache-line based thread notification, in a specified processing unit, wherein said specified processing unit is configured for operating a plurality of processing threads said computer readable program code logic, when executing, performing the following;

injecting into a cache of a the specified processing unit a cache-line including notification and thread identification information for identifying

each of one or more of the threads operating on the specified processing unit is as a destination thread for the cache-line;

marking the cache-line as having the notification information;

using the thread identification information in the cache-line to identify each of one or more of the threads operating in the specified processing unit as a destination thread for the cache-line including each of the plurality of threads using the thread identification information in the cache-line to determine whether said each thread is a destination thread for the cache line; and

notifying each of said one or more of the threads identified as a destination thread of the presence of the marked cache-line in the cache.

18. The article of manufacture according to claim 17, wherein the cache-line identifies a thread affiliation.

19. The article of manufacture according to claim 18, wherein a multitude of threads operate in the processing unit, and the notifying includes:

notifying a plurality of said multitude of threads of the presence of the cache-line in the cache; and

analyzing the cache-line to identify said plurality of threads.

20. The article of manufacture according to claim 17, wherein the cache includes a plurality of cache-lines, each of said cache-lines includes a notification, and said processing unit thread uses the notifications to form a linked list of at least some of the cache-lines in the cache.