Patent · US Active

System and method for NUMA-aware locking using lock cohorts

US8694706B2 · kind B2 · utility

24Cited by
9References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateApr 27, 2012
Grant dateApr 8, 2014
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 21, 2032

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/526
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The system and methods described herein may be used to implement NUMA-aware locks that employ lock cohorting. These lock cohorting techniques may reduce the rate of lock migration by relaxing the order in which the lock schedules the execution of critical code sections by various threads, allowing lock ownership to remain resident on a single NUMA node longer than under strict FIFO ordering, thus reducing coherence traffic and improving aggregate performance. A NUMA-aware cohort lock may include a global shared lock that is thread-oblivious, and multiple node-level locks that provide cohort detection. The lock may be constructed from non-NUMA-aware components (e.g., spin-locks or queue locks) that are modified to provide thread-obliviousness and/or cohort detection. Lock ownership may be passed from one thread that holds the lock to another thread executing on the same NUMA node without releasing the global shared lock.

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