Abort Prioritization in Trace-Based Processors
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Solution Overview
Problem
Trace-based processor architectures face challenges in efficiently managing aborts due to the lack of clear instruction boundaries and operation ordering, leading to suboptimal performance and handling of multiple abort triggers within a trace.
Innovation Solution
A method and structure for a graceful degradation protocol that prioritizes abort triggers based on their priority levels, independent of operation-instruction correspondence, allowing for efficient handling of aborts in trace-based processors by selecting the highest priority abort reason and minimizing performance impact.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If trace-based architecture is used to optimize execution, then processing efficiency is improved, but abort management complexity increases due to lack of clear instruction boundaries
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the trace into basic blocks with clear boundaries, allowing independent abort management for each segment. This segmentation provides explicit instruction boundaries within the trace structure, enabling the abort prioritization logic to identify and handle aborts at specific locations without ambiguity about which operations belong to which instructions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary abort prioritization logic layer between the trace execution unit and the abort handling mechanism. This intermediary component receives multiple abort triggers, applies priority levels to them, and selects the highest priority abort for handling, thereby mediating the complexity of managing multiple concurrent aborts in trace-based architecture.
2Reliability
If multiple abort triggers are allowed in a trace, then comprehensive error handling is improved, but performance impact increases due to repeated re-execution
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-establishing priority levels for different types of abort triggers before execution occurs. When multiple abort triggers are detected, the system immediately identifies the highest priority abort based on pre-defined criteria and handles it first, preventing unnecessary re-execution of lower priority aborts and minimizing performance impact while maintaining comprehensive error handling.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the potentially harmful effect of multiple abort triggers into a beneficial selective handling mechanism. Instead of treating all aborts equally which would cause repeated re-execution and performance degradation, the system uses the presence of multiple abort triggers to identify and prioritize the most critical ones, transforming the complexity into an optimized abort management strategy that maintains reliability while minimizing performance loss.
3Ease of operation
If relative age of operation is used for abort rollback, then simplicity of handling is improved, but accuracy of rollback decreases when operations do not correspond to instructions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning specific priority levels to different types of abort triggers based on their nature and impact. Instead of using a uniform rollback approach based solely on relative age, the system evaluates each abort trigger locally to determine its priority, ensuring that rollback accuracy is maintained even when operation-instruction correspondence is unclear. This localized evaluation preserves simplicity while improving precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of determining a reason for a trace to be aborted includes receiving at least two incoming indications of occurrences of abort triggers stemming from the execution of at least two of the operations that are different from each other, where each of the abort triggers has an associated abort priority level, and where the trace represents multiple instructions. The method further includes prioritizing among the abort triggers for the trace based on the abort priority level of each abort trigger, where the prioritizing does not take into account a correspondence between operations and instructions and where the prioritizing selects as a pending abort reason one or more of the abort triggers that have the same abort priority level, and where that abort priority level is the highest among the abort priority levels of the abort triggers for the trace.