Virtualization in a multi-core processor (MCP)

• US 8,775,840 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2012
• Issued: 07/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Duvalsaint, Karl J., Hofstee, Harm P., Kim, Daeik, Kim, Moon J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas
• Assistant Examiner(s): Prifti, Aurel
• Application Number:
  US13/563,160
• Publication Number:
  US 20120297164A1
• Time in Patent Office: 707 Days
• Field of Search: 711/153, 700/44, 713/320, 713/322, 713/324, 713/375, 718/104, 716/6, 716/133, 712/227, 712/30, 712/11, 710/260
• US Class Current: 713/322
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

This invention describes an apparatus, computer architecture, method, operating system, compiler, and application program products for MPEs as well as virtualization in a symmetric MCP. The disclosure is applied to a generic microprocessor architecture with a set (e.g., one or more) of controlling elements (e.g., MPEs) and a set of groups of sub-processing elements (e.g., SPEs). Under this arrangement, MPEs and SPEs are organized in a way that a smaller number MPEs control the behavior of a group of SPEs. The apparatus enables virtualized control threads within MPEs to be assigned to different groups of SPEs for controlling the same. The apparatus further includes a MCP coupled to a power supply coupled with cores to provide a supply voltage to each core (or core group) and controlling-digital elements and multiple instances of sub-processing elements.

Claims

1. A multi-core processor, comprising:

a set of main processing elements each comprising a set of virtualized control threads; and

a plurality of groups of sub-processing elements associated with each of the set of main processing elements, each group of sub-processing elements of the plurality of groups of sub-processing elements receiving an independent supply voltage and an independent virtualized control thread to independently adjust the independent supply voltage and a clock frequency of the group of sub-processing elements based on computational requirements of a workload forwarded from a main processing element of the set of main processing elements to the group of sub-processing elements and receiving a second independent supply voltage and a second independent virtualized control thread to independently readjust the independent supply voltage and the clock frequency of the group of sub-processing elements based on different computational requirements of a second workload forwarded from the main processing element to the group of sub-processing elements.

2. The multi-core processor of claim 1, each of the plurality of groups of sub-processing elements comprising a plurality of sub-processing elements.

3. The multi-core processor of claim 1, the set of virtualized control threads being configured to send program code and data to the plurality of groups of sub-processing elements.

4. The multi-core processor of claim 3, the set of virtualized control threads being further configured to collect computation results from the plurality of groups of sub-processing elements.

5. The multi-core processor of claim 1, the set of virtualized control threads controlling a clock speed, power consumption and computation loading of the plurality of groups of sub-processing elements.

6. The multi-core processor of claim 1, the set of virtualized control threads being configured to send and receive power control requests between the set of main processing elements and the plurality of groups of sub-processing elements.

7. The multi-core processor of claim 1, the set of main processing elements comprising a plurality of main processing elements.

8. The multi-core processor of claim 1, each independent virtualized control thread being associated with a single group of sub-processing elements.

9. A processing system, comprising:

a main processing element;

a group of sub-processing elements; and

a virtualized control thread associating each of the main processing elements with the associated group of sub-processing elements, the virtualized control thread being independent from any other virtualized control thread to enable independent controlling of the group of sub-processing elements, wherein each group of sub-processing elements of the plurality of groups of sub-processing elements receives an independent supply voltage, which is controlled by an associated control thread, by adjusting a power supply and a clock frequency to the group of sub-processing elements based on computational requirements of a workload forwarded from a main processing element of the set of main processing elements to the group of sub-processing elements and receiving a second independent supply voltage and a second independent virtualized control thread to independently readjust the independent supply voltage and the clock frequency of the group of sub-processing elements based on different computational requirements of a second workload forwarded from the main processing element to the group of sub-processing elements.

10. The processing system of claim 9, the virtualized control thread being embodied within the set of main processing elements.

11. The processing system of claim 9, the virtualized control thread being configured to send program code and data to the group of sub-processing elements.

12. The processing system of claim 9, the virtualized control thread being further configured to collect computation results from the group of sub-processing elements.

13. The processing system of claim 9, the virtualized control thread controlling a clock speed, power consumption and computation loading of the group of sub-processing elements.

14. A processing method, comprising:

associating a set of main processing elements with a set of groups of sub-processing elements using a set of independent virtualized control threads, wherein each group of sub-processing elements of the plurality of groups of sub-processing elements receives an independent supply voltage, which is controlled by an associated control thread, by adjusting a power supply and a clock frequency to the group of sub-processing elements based on computational requirements of a workload forwarded from a main processing element of the set of main processing elements to the group of sub-processing elements and receiving a second independent supply voltage and a second independent virtualized control thread to independently readjust the independent supply voltage and the clock frequency of the group of sub-processing elements based on different computational requirements of a second workload forwarded from the main processing element to the group of sub-processing elements; and

independently controlling each of the set of groups of sub-processing elements using the set of independent virtualized control threads.

15. The processing method of claim 14, further comprising sending program code and data to the set of groups of sub-processing elements via the set of virtualized control threads.

16. The processing method of claim 14, further comprising receiving computation results from the set of groups of sub-processing elements via the set of virtualized control threads.

17. The processing method of claim 14, the controlling comprising controlling a clock speed, a power consumption and a computation loading of the set of groups of sub-processing elements.

18. The processing method of claim 14, the set of virtualized control threads being embodied as program code within the set of main processing elements.

19. The processing method of claim 14, the set of main processing elements, the set of groups of sub-processing elements, and the set of virtualized control threads comprising a multi-core processor.

20. A method for deploying a processing system, comprising:

providing a multi-core processor comprising;

a set of main processing elements each comprising a set of virtualized control threads; and

a plurality of groups of sub-processing elements associated with each of the set of main processing elements, each group of sub-processing elements of the plurality of groups of sub-processing elements receiving an independent supply voltage and an independent virtualized control thread to independently adjust the independent supply voltage and a clock frequency of the group of sub-processing elements based on computational requirements of a workload forwarded from a main processing element of the set of main processing elements to the group of sub-processing elements and receiving a second independent supply voltage and a second independent virtualized control thread to independently readjust the independent supply voltage and the clock frequency of the group of sub-processing elements based on different computational requirements of a second workload forwarded from the main processing element to the group of sub-processing elements.