Hardware Accelerator Memory Translation Synchronization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Hardware accelerators face inefficiencies when operating on large data sets due to complex data access management, memory translation issues, and cache pollution, leading to performance degradation and increased software overhead.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced to synchronize memory address translations between a multi-threaded processing core and a hardware accelerator, ensuring seamless operation by copying and updating translations, maintaining consistency, and handling exceptions through system software intervention, while allowing independent operation of the accelerator without affecting the core's resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If hardware accelerators share memory management hardware with processing cores, then resource utilization is improved, but cache and TLB pollution occurs degrading performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the memory management hardware into separate components: one set of caches and TLBs for processing cores, and another set for hardware accelerators. This segmentation prevents accelerators from polluting core resources while maintaining efficient memory access for both cores and accelerators independently.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a translation buffer as an intermediary structure between the accelerator's address space and the core's memory management system. This buffer stores address translations specifically for accelerator use, acting as a mediator that prevents direct pollution of core caches and TLBs while enabling efficient address translation for accelerators.
2Reliability
If accelerators access data from memory with proper address translations, then data access correctness is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs address translations in advance and stores them in a translation buffer before the accelerator needs them. This preliminary action ensures that when the accelerator accesses memory, the translations are already available, maintaining correctness while reducing the complexity of real-time translation management during accelerator operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent copies address translations from the core's memory management structures into a dedicated translation buffer for the accelerator. This copying mechanism ensures the accelerator has accurate translations without requiring direct access to or modification of the core's memory management hardware, thereby maintaining correctness while managing complexity.
3Reliability
If software manages accelerator access at the lowest privileged layer, then security and fairness are improved, but software overhead increases to tens of thousands of clock cycles
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables hardware accelerators to autonomously manage their own address translations using dedicated caches and TLBs, without requiring software intervention for each translation operation. This self-service capability dramatically reduces software overhead from tens of thousands of clock cycles to minimal hardware-managed operations, while security and fairness are maintained through the architectural design that prevents accelerator access to unauthorized memory regions.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, system and computer program product are disclosed for interfacing between a multi-threaded processing core and an accelerator. In one embodiment, the method comprises copying from the processing core to the hardware accelerator memory address translations for each of multiple threads operating on the processing core, and simultaneously storing on the hardware accelerator one or more of the memory address translations for each of the threads. Whenever any one of the multiple threads operating on the processing core instructs the hardware accelerator to perform a specified operation, the hardware accelerator has stored thereon one or more of the memory address translations for the any one of the threads. This facilitates starting that specified operation without memory translation faults. In an embodiment, the copying includes, each time one of the memory address translations is updated on the processing core, copying the updated one of the memory address translations to the hardware accelerator.