Patent · US Expired

Method using a dispatch flush in a simultaneous multithread processor to resolve exception conditions

US7213135B2 · kind B2 · utility

7Cited by
5References
15Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 24, 2003
Grant dateMay 1, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 2, 2024

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/3867
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The processing of instructions from multiple threads using a shared dispatch pipeline is controlled by invoking a dispatch flush operation wherein instructions of a selected thread in the shared dispatch pipeline are flushed in response to resource requirements. An exception condition detected in one thread can be resolved by issuing a following instruction for that thread. Until the exception condition is resolved, resources are not released that allow the second thread to dispatch which in turn prevents dispatch from the first thread to resolve the exception condition. A flush of the first thread is not issued to resolve the stall. Instead, a dispatch flush of the second thread is issued. If a second thread instruction has long latency resource requirements that prevent the first thread from dispatching to resolve the exception, then a hold is issued controlling when the second thread instruction is refetched.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.