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System and method to reduce overhead of reference counting

A technology of reference counting and counters, applied in memory systems, calculations, electrical digital data processing, etc., can solve problems such as reduced processing efficiency, reduced system performance, and increased delays

Inactive Publication Date: 2019-09-17
HUAWEI TECH CO LTD
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

When multiple threads execute on different processors and access or share a common memory object, the object's reference count often needs to be transferred from one memory to another, which can lead to increased latency and less efficient processing
As the size of the computing system increases with the number of threads executing in parallel, the memory management can cause an increase in the number of reference counted instructions issued while overall system performance decreases

Method used

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  • System and method to reduce overhead of reference counting
  • System and method to reduce overhead of reference counting
  • System and method to reduce overhead of reference counting

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Embodiment Construction

[0028] The present invention relates to techniques for memory management using reference counters.

[0029] Reference counters have long been used in memory management to track the number of threads referencing (pointing to) data (objects) stored in memory. As noted above, as the number of threads in a computing system increases, the memory management may result in an increase in the number of reference counting instructions issued (increased overhead), and a decrease in overall system performance.

[0030] In order to ensure that an object referenced by one thread is not accessed by another thread at the same time, a locking mechanism (for example, a semaphore) is usually introduced to prevent access to the referenced object. The locking mechanism is implemented through instructions of the system when referencing an object. The system introduces additional overhead when using each instruction that locks a referenced object.

[0031] In one embodiment, in order to reduce the...

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PUM

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Abstract

The disclosure relates to technology for reference counting. A global reference counter associated with a lock to count one or more threads of a process referencing an object allocated in the memory is established. Each reference to the object by a thread is then tracked using a corresponding local reference counter. The global reference counter is updated whenever a reference to the object by each of the one or more threads is an initial reference or a final reference. Otherwise, local counters are used to track a local reference count of the object.

Description

[0001] Related Applications Cross Application [0002] The invention claims U.S. Nonprovisional Patent Application No. 15 / 434,270, filed February 16, 2017, entitled "System and Method for Reducing Citation Counting Overhead," and filed February 7, 2018, entitled "System and Method for Reducing Citation Counting Overhead", International Patent Application No. PCT / CN2018 / 075613, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference. Background technique [0003] A memory management system typically keeps track of memory objects after creation and deletes them when they are no longer needed, thereby making memory in use available again. These systems, also known as garbage collectors, typically work by maintaining a reference count associated with each memory object. For example, reference counting is used to track objects in memory that are being created or allocated and subsequently deleted. The reference count is incremented when a thread (or process or other entity) acce...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(China)
IPC IPC(8): G06F9/38
CPCG06F12/0261G06F2212/1016G06F12/0292
Inventor 王海川马林郑若黄杨学军
Owner HUAWEI TECH CO LTD