Parallel Serial Pipeline Processing via Micro-threading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems fail to effectively parallelize serial pipeline processing, leading to inefficiencies in latency and throughput, particularly in network protocol processing, where stages are processed serially without concurrent execution.
Innovation Solution
A system and method employing lightweight micro-threading and synchronization mechanisms to enable concurrent processing of multiple stages in a serial pipeline through horizontal and vertical parallelism, utilizing a threading and dependency model that allows for hybrid parallelization, synchronization, and hardware acceleration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If serial processing is used for pipeline stages, then processing simplicity is maintained, but throughput and latency performance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The processing pipeline is segmented into multiple independent stages (e.g., packet reception, parsing, routing, forwarding) that can be executed concurrently. Each stage is handled by dedicated processing elements that operate independently, enabling parallel processing and improving throughput while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from sequential time-based processing to spatial parallelism by introducing multiple processing dimensions. Different pipeline stages are executed simultaneously across different processing elements, adding a dimensional aspect to processing that enables concurrent operations and improves both throughput and latency performance
2Loss of time
If vertical parallelism is applied to process different protocol layers concurrently, then latency is reduced, but synchronization complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Synchronization primitives and coordination mechanisms serve as intermediaries between concurrent processing stages. These primitives enable threads to wait for each other, signal completion, and coordinate resource access without requiring complex manual synchronization logic, thereby reducing latency while managing synchronization complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces complex manual synchronization mechanisms with automated synchronization primitives and dependency tracking systems. These abstracted mechanisms handle coordination between concurrent stages automatically, reducing the burden on developers and enabling concurrent protocol layer processing with minimal complexity overhead
3Productivity
If horizontal parallelism is used to process multiple packets concurrently, then CPU utilization improves, but dependency management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces parameterized dependency tracking where each packet or data object carries metadata about its processing state and dependencies. This parameterization enables the system to automatically manage dependencies across horizontally parallelized packets, improving CPU utilization while simplifying dependency management through standardized parameters rather than complex dynamic tracking
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method that provides fine grained parallelization to serial pipelines and serial data processing with one or more threading and synchronization models whereby data object or packet processing is orchestrated by a parser identifying the various layers of the input data object and dispatching worker threads to perform the processing of the various layers of the data object, wherein the worker threads may execute in parallel.