Multi-Processor Cache Regions to Reduce AI Data Movement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data centers face challenges in managing cache resources efficiently for AI workloads with substantial data copying and calculation operations, leading to increased power consumption and bandwidth utilization due to the large size of weight parameters exceeding cache capacities.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves dividing cache devices into multiple regions and using multicast instructions to allocate specific cache regions for data storage, ensuring data availability and reducing overwriting, while utilizing address-based synchronization for efficient data distribution among processors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If weight parameters are streamed from memory and stored in cache for AI workloads, then data availability for processing is improved, but power consumption and bandwidth utilization increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cache is divided into multiple separate cache spaces, each dedicated to storing specific types of data (e.g., weight parameters, activation values, intermediate results). This segmentation allows the system to optimize data placement and reduce unnecessary data movement, thereby improving data availability while reducing power consumption compared to a unified cache approach.
Solution Approach 2:
Data is pre-loaded into the appropriate cache space before it is needed for processing. By anticipating data requirements and loading data in advance into the correct cache segment, the system reduces the need for repeated data access operations, thereby reducing bandwidth utilization and power consumption while ensuring data is available when needed.
2Quantity of substance
If weight parameters exceed cache capacity, then more data can be stored, but data overwriting occurs and processing efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The cache is segmented into multiple independent cache spaces, each with its own capacity. This allows the system to allocate specific cache spaces for different data types and sizes, effectively increasing the total usable storage capacity while preventing data overwriting by ensuring each data type has its designated space.
Solution Approach 2:
Each cache space is optimized for specific data characteristics (e.g., size, access pattern, data type). By matching data placement to cache space characteristics, the system maximizes the effective storage capacity of each segment and ensures that data is retained without overwriting, thereby maintaining high processing efficiency even when total data volume exceeds traditional cache capacity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If cache regions are allocated for management and debug tasks, then system functionality is improved, but available cache space for data processing is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The cache is divided into multiple functional segments: data cache spaces for storing processing data, and separate management/debug cache spaces for system operations. This segmentation allows the system to provide full management and debug functionality while ensuring that data processing has dedicated cache space that cannot be overwritten by management tasks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a cache management unit that acts as an intermediary between data processing operations and management/debug operations. This unit allocates and manages cache resources, ensuring that management and debug activities do not interfere with data processing cache space, thereby maintaining both system functionality and available cache space for processing.
Data Source
AI summary
Examples described herein relate to a processor that includes a core and a cache, coupled to the core. In some examples, the core is to perform an instruction of a process to specify loads of data from a source to destination regions of caches of a group of target cores. In some examples, the destination regions includes multiple different cache regions and wherein cores of the group of target cores have at least one respective cache.