Agent-Based SoC Orchestration for Dynamic Core Configuration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current integrated circuit design and development technologies struggle to handle complexity and scale simultaneously, leading to increased costs, longer time to market, and inefficiencies in optimizing performance, power, and thermal management, especially as the number of cores in System on a Chip (SoC) increases, causing bottlenecks in bus architectures and requiring manual, labor-intensive orchestration.
Innovation Solution
Automated orchestration techniques using a centralized or distributed agent-based system that abstracts all devices as cores with objectives, rules, and algorithms, allowing for dynamic reconfiguration and negotiation to achieve optimal performance across multiple perspectives, enabling the SoC to support multiple applications and adapt to changing environments, thereby reducing costs and time to market.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the number of cores in SoC is increased to handle larger markets and more applications, then the versatility and market coverage are improved, but the device complexity and orchestration difficulty increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the SoC into multiple independent cores, each with its own agent, that can be independently configured and managed. This segmentation allows the system to handle increased versatility by adding more cores without proportionally increasing overall system complexity, as each core operates semi-autonomously with its own configuration agent.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces agents as intermediary components that mediate between the configuration objectives and the cores. These agents automatically negotiate and determine optimal configurations for multiple cores simultaneously, reducing the complexity of manual orchestration while enabling the system to support more applications through increased core count.
2Ease of operation
If automated orchestration is implemented to manage multiple cores with different standards and vendors, then the ease of operation and configuration time are improved, but the device complexity and development cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal agent architecture that can handle multiple core standards and vendors through a common interface. The agents use standardized meta-language descriptions to interface with diverse cores, enabling automated orchestration across heterogeneous components without requiring separate manual configuration processes for each vendor or standard.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the orchestration approach from manual parameter setting to automated parameter negotiation. Configuration objectives are translated into negotiable parameters that agents can automatically adjust and optimize, transforming the complex task of manual multi-core configuration into an automated parameter optimization process.
3Manufacturing precision
If manual orchestration is used to optimize core configurations for specific applications, then the manufacturing precision and performance optimization are improved, but the productivity and time to market worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary configuration actions by pre-defining configuration objectives and using agents to automatically determine optimal core configurations before the SoC is manufactured. This preliminary automated orchestration eliminates the need for time-consuming manual configuration optimization during the manufacturing process, maintaining precision while accelerating time to market.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the configuration system to serve itself through automated agents that independently negotiate and determine optimal configurations without requiring manual intervention. This self-service orchestration maintains the precision of optimized configurations while dramatically improving productivity by eliminating manual configuration tasks.
4Ease of operation
If a centralized conductor is used to manage all core configurations, then the ease of operation and configuration simplicity are improved, but the device complexity and single point of failure risk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the centralized conductor concept into multiple distributed agents, each responsible for managing configuration negotiations for specific cores or groups of cores. This segmentation maintains the ease of operation through automated management while improving reliability by eliminating the single point of failure inherent in a truly centralized system.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a single-dimensional centralized conductor model to a multi-dimensional distributed agent architecture. Multiple agents operate in parallel across different dimensions of the configuration space, providing both the operational simplicity of centralized management and the reliability of distributed redundancy.
Data Source
AI summary
An indication of an application-related objective is received at a first agent associated with a first device. One or more meta-language based descriptions comprising device data stored in a data store are used to identify a second device from a plurality of devices to help the first device to achieve the application-related objective. At least in part by exchanging with a second agent associated with the second device one or more programmatically determined bids and responses to bids, a mutually compatible set of configurations for the first device and the second device to cooperate with each other are determined to help achieve the application-related objective. The mutually compatible set of configurations comprising parameters are agreed upon by the first device and the second device. The first device and the second device are configured based at least in part on the mutually compatible set of configurations.