System interconnect dynamic scaling by predicting I/O requirements
First Claim
1. A method of operating a computer system comprising a plurality of processing units interconnected by external interfaces having corresponding physical link layers with dynamically adjustable bandwidth, the method comprising:
- 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 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.
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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 control method 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 method 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
11 Claims
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1. A method of operating a computer system comprising a plurality of processing units interconnected by external interfaces having corresponding physical link layers with dynamically adjustable bandwidth, the method comprising:
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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 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 (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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Specification