Hardware Compression Buffering for High-Frequency Instrumentation Data

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current hardware instrumentation data recording is limited to short timeframes with high sample frequencies or longer timeframes with reduced frequencies, leading to diagnostic resolution loss and interference with workload during benchmark runs, as writing sampled data to disk is inefficient.

Innovation Solution

Implementing hardware accelerated compression in an intermediate buffer before writing instrumentation data to disk, allowing for longer term sampling with higher frequencies using a hardware compression engine and intermediate buffer management, such as ring or double buffers, to store and compress data efficiently.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If instrumentation data is recorded with high sample frequencies for long timeframes, then diagnostic resolution is improved, but system performance is interfered with due to inefficient disk writing

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvediagnostic resolutionVSAvoidsystem performance

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the compression function from the main data collection system by implementing a separate hardware compression engine that operates independently on instrumentation data in an intermediate buffer, allowing high-frequency data collection to continue without blocking disk write operations

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent performs compression as a preliminary action before data is written to disk. The hardware compression engine compresses instrumentation data in advance while it resides in the intermediate buffer, so that when data needs to be written to disk, it is already in compressed form, eliminating the performance bottleneck

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Loss of substance

If instrumentation data is compressed using software-based methods, then compression capability is achieved, but processing time is excessive and interferes with workload execution

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata sizeVSAvoidprocessing time

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of substanceVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces the software-based compression mechanism with a hardware compression engine that is specifically designed for this purpose. This hardware engine operates in parallel with the main workload and processes data at hardware speeds, eliminating the time penalty associated with software compression while still achieving the desired data size reduction

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Measurement precision

If data is written to disk at high frequency, then diagnostic resolution is maintained, but disk I/O becomes a bottleneck and slows down overall system performance

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvediagnostic resolutionVSAvoiddata writing speed

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSSpeed

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the parameter of data representation by compressing the instrumentation data before writing to disk. This parameter change (from uncompressed to compressed format) allows the same amount of diagnostic information to be stored in less space, reducing the frequency and volume of disk I/O operations while maintaining diagnostic resolution

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

Data Source

PatentUS11303296B2Hardware accelerated compression of instrumentation data

Publication Date: 2022.04.12 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINE CORPORATION

AI summary

Embodiments include method, systems and computer program products for compressing instrumentation data. Aspects include defining an intermediate region of memory. Instrumentation data associated with a processing device is received and stored in the intermediate region of the memory. The instrumentation data is compressed in the intermediate region of memory and stored in a sample region of memory.