Patent · US Active

Efficient and consistent software transactional memory

US8060482B2 · kind B2 · utility

6Cited by
7References
27Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 28, 2006
Grant dateNov 15, 2011
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 12, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/467
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method and apparatus for efficient and consistent validation/conflict detection in a Software Transactional Memory (STM) system is herein described. A version check barrier is inserted after a load to compare versions of loaded values before and after the load. In addition, a global timestamp (GTS) is utilized to track a latest committed transaction. Each transaction is associated with a local timestamp (LTS) initialized to the GTS value at the start of a transaction. As a transaction commits it updates the GTS to a new value and sets versions of modified locations to the new value. Pending transactions compare versions determined in read barriers to their LTS. If the version is greater than their LTS indicating another transaction has committed after the pending transaction started and initialized the LTS, then the pending transaction validates its read set to maintain efficient and consistent transactional execution.

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