Processor Coherency Manager for Transparent Atomicity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Modern programmers, trained in high-level interpreted languages, lack the foundational knowledge of low-level programming constructs and synchronization techniques necessary to handle at-scale performance challenges, leading to issues like livelocks and deadlocks in software architectures.
Innovation Solution
A processor architecture with hardware extensions and a map table that provides transparent atomicity for extended instruction sequences, enabling compilers to manage concurrency without explicit scheduling, thus closing the gap between historical and future programming paradigms.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If high-level interpreted languages are used to simplify programming, then ease of operation is improved, but reliability deteriorates due to inability to handle concurrency conflicts
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a hardware intermediary layer (coherency manager and map table) between the programmer and the concurrent system. This intermediary automatically handles coherency checking and conflict resolution, allowing programmers to use high-level languages without manually managing low-level synchronization details, thus maintaining both simplicity and reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements self-service coherency management where the hardware automatically monitors and resolves conflicts between concurrent operations. The coherency manager autonomously checks object coherency, manages locks, and ensures atomicity without requiring explicit programmer intervention, bridging the gap between high-level programming and low-level concurrency control
2Reliability
If explicit synchronization constructs are used to ensure reliability, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the complex synchronization logic from the software domain and relocates it to hardware. By implementing coherency checking, locking, and atomicity guarantees in the hardware layer (coherency manager and map table), the system provides reliable concurrency control without burdening programmers with complex synchronization constructs
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces software-based synchronization mechanisms with hardware-based mechanisms. Instead of using software locks and synchronization primitives that require complex programming, the system uses hardware-enforced coherency protocols and atomic operations that automatically ensure reliability while simplifying the programming model
3Reliability
If hardware-based coherency management is implemented, then reliability is improved, but use of energy increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary coherency checking through the map table, which pre-establishes the coherency state of objects before operations are executed. By maintaining up-to-date coherency information in advance, the system avoids expensive rollback and re-execution of operations, thereby reducing overall energy consumption while ensuring reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically manages coherency tracking based on actual execution needs. The coherency manager selectively monitors and updates object states only when necessary, adapting its behavior to the specific workload characteristics. This dynamic approach prevents unnecessary energy expenditure on coherency management while maintaining system reliability
Data Source
AI summary
In an embodiment, a processor comprises: an execution circuit to execute instructions; at least one cache memory coupled to the execution circuit; and a table storage element coupled to the at least one cache memory, the table storage element to store a plurality of entries each to store object metadata of an object used in a code sequence. The processor is to use the object metadata to provide user space multi-object transactional atomic operation of the code sequence. Other embodiments are described and claimed.