Scatter-Gather Memory Templates for Cross-Point Architecture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Scatter-gather operations in high-capacity memory systems are time and energy intensive due to the need to specify each non-contiguous memory location separately, which limits the speed of applications like machine learning and graphics processing.
Innovation Solution
A compute device with a memory system that stores templates of memory locations, allowing applications to specify a template identifier instead of individual memory locations, enabling efficient scatter and gather operations through a cross-point architecture that supports bit-level addressability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If each non-contiguous memory location is specified separately in scatter-gather operations, then the memory operations can be performed with high precision addressing, but the time and energy overhead increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the memory addressing task by dividing non-contiguous memory locations into multiple contiguous segments. Each segment can be addressed with a single base address and length parameter, eliminating the need to specify each memory location individually. This segmentation approach maintains precise addressing capability while significantly reducing the number of address specifications required.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs preliminary action by pre-configuring memory segments and their metadata (such as segment descriptors containing base addresses, lengths, and other attributes) before the actual scatter-gather operation. This pre-processing allows the memory controller to efficiently manage non-contiguous accesses without requiring detailed address specifications during the operation itself, thereby reducing time overhead.
2Measurement precision
If each non-contiguous memory location is specified separately, then accurate memory access is achieved, but the energy consumption increases due to parsing and managing numerous addresses
Solution Approach 1:
By segmenting memory locations into contiguous blocks with single base address and length specifications, the patent dramatically reduces the number of address parameters that need to be parsed and managed. This segmentation maintains accurate memory access capability while reducing energy consumption associated with address processing in the I/O subsystem and memory controller.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses segment descriptors as simplified copies or representations of the actual memory location patterns. Instead of processing numerous individual address specifications, the system processes a small number of segment descriptor structures that encode the same addressing information more compactly, thereby reducing the computational energy required for address management.
3Productivity
If template identifiers are used to specify memory locations, then the overhead is reduced significantly, but the device complexity increases due to template storage and management
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces template identifiers as intermediary structures that mediate between the application's high-level memory access patterns and the detailed physical memory addressing. These templates serve as a compact representation layer that the memory controller can interpret to generate the actual address sequences, thereby improving productivity without requiring fundamental changes to the memory hardware architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The template identifier mechanism is designed to be universal and multi-functional, supporting various scatter-gather operation patterns through a single unified interface. The same template structure can represent different memory access patterns (contiguous, non-contiguous, strided, etc.), reducing the need for multiple specialized addressing mechanisms and thereby limiting the increase in device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Technologies for efficiently performing scatter-gather operations include a device with circuitry configured to associate, with a template identifier, a set of non-contiguous memory locations of a memory having a cross point architecture. The circuitry is additionally configured to access, in response to a request that identifies the non-contiguous memory locations by the template identifier, the memory locations.