System interconnect dynamic scaling by predicting I/O requirements
First Claim
1. A controller for controlling a dynamically adjustable bandwidth of a physical link layer of an external interface for interconnecting processing units, the controller comprising:
- an event detector for detecting multiple events other than I/O requests and bandwidth allocation requests occurring within a first one of the processing units that are indicative of potential future transactions on the interface;
a traffic predictor that predicts, from the detected events, that future transactions will likely occur on the external interface, wherein the prediction of the traffic predictor is independent of observations of actual traffic on the external interface and requests for allocation of bandwidth on the external interface; and
a control unit responsive to an output of the traffic predictor that controls the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer to accommodate the future transactions by increasing the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer, and subsequent to the future transactions occurring, restores the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer to a lower value.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Interface management techniques provide reduced power consumption along with reducing heat and EMI generation in a computer system having multiple interconnected processing units. Physical link layers of external interfaces that interconnect the processing units of have dynamically adjustable bandwidth and the bandwidths are dynamically adjusted by predicting interface bandwidth requirements. An interface controller detects events other than I/O requests that occur in a processing unit that are indicators of potential future transactions on one of the external interfaces connected to the processing unit. The interface controller predicts, from the detected events, that future transactions will likely occur on the interface, and in response, controls the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of physical link layer of the interface to accommodate the future transactions.
16 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A controller for controlling a dynamically adjustable bandwidth of a physical link layer of an external interface for interconnecting processing units, the controller comprising:
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an event detector for detecting multiple events other than I/O requests and bandwidth allocation requests occurring within a first one of the processing units that are indicative of potential future transactions on the interface; a traffic predictor that predicts, from the detected events, that future transactions will likely occur on the external interface, wherein the prediction of the traffic predictor is independent of observations of actual traffic on the external interface and requests for allocation of bandwidth on the external interface; and a control unit responsive to an output of the traffic predictor that controls the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer to accommodate the future transactions by increasing the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer, and subsequent to the future transactions occurring, restores the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer to a lower value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A computer system comprising:
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a plurality of processing units; a plurality of interfaces having corresponding physical link layers with dynamically adjustable bandwidth that interconnect the processing units; and a controller within at least a first one of the processing units for controlling the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of a first physical link layer of a first one of the interfaces, wherein the controller comprises an event detector for detecting multiple events other than I/O requests and bandwidth allocation requests occurring within the first one of the processing units that are indicative of potential future transactions on the first interface, a traffic predictor that predicts, from the detected events, that future transactions will likely occur on the first interface, wherein the prediction of the traffic predictor is independent of observations of actual traffic on the external interface and requests for allocation of bandwidth on the external interface, responsive to predicting that the future transactions will likely occur, and a control unit responsive to an output of the traffic predictor that controls the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer to accommodate the future transactions by increasing the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer, and subsequent to the future transactions occurring, restores the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer to a lower value. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing program instructions for execution by a computer system comprising a plurality of processing units coupled by external interfaces, the program instructions comprising program instructions for:
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detecting multiple events other than I/O requests and bandwidth allocation requests occurring within a first one of the processing units that are indicative of potential future transactions on a first one of the external interfaces connected to the first processing unit that connects the first processing unit to another processing unit; predicting, from the detected events, that future transactions will likely occur on the first external interface, wherein the predicting is independent of observations of actual traffic on the external interface and requests for allocation of bandwidth on the external interface; responsive to predicting that the future transactions will likely occur, controlling the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of a first physical link layer corresponding to the first external interface to accommodate the future transactions by directly signaling a controller that controls the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the physical link layer to increase increasing the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer; and subsequent to the future transactions occurring, restoring the dynamically adjustable bandwidth of the first physical link layer to a lower value. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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Specification