Automatic suspend atomic hardware transactional memory in response to detecting an implicit suspend condition and resume thereof

US8739164B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. · US

Inventors

• Jaewoong Chung · Suwon-si, KR
• David S. Christie · Austin, US
• Michael P. Hohmuth · Dresden, DE
• Stephan Diestelhorst · Dresden, DE
• Martin T. Pohlack · Dresden, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Feb 24, 2010
• Grant date: May 27, 2014
• Expiry date: May 12, 2032

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F9/3834
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

An apparatus and method is disclosed for a computer processor configured to access a memory shared by a plurality of processing cores and to execute a plurality of memory access operations in a transactional mode as a single atomic transaction and to suspend the transactional mode in response to determining an implicit suspend condition, such as a program control transfer. As part of executing the transaction, the processor marks data accessed by the speculative memory access operations as being speculative data. In response to determining a suspend condition (including by detecting a control transfer in an executing thread) the processor suspends the transactional mode of execution, which includes setting a suspend flag and suspending marking speculative data. If the processor later detects a resumption condition (e.g., a return control transfer corresponding to a return from the control transfer), the processor is configured to resume the marking of speculative data.