Patent · US Active

Deadlock/livelock resolution using service processor

US9575816B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by
5References
18Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateFeb 4, 2013
Grant dateFeb 21, 2017
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 24, 2033

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F11/0793
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A microprocessor includes a main processor and a service processor. The service processor is configured to detect and break a deadlock/livelock condition in the main processor. The service processor detects the deadlock/livelock condition by detecting the main processor has not retired an instruction or completed a processor bus transaction for a predetermined number of clock cycles. In response to detecting the deadlock/livelock condition in the main processor, the service processor causes arbitration requests to a cache memory to be captured in a buffer, analyzes the captured requests to detect a pattern that may indicate a bug causing the condition and performs actions associated with the pattern to break the deadlock/livelock. The actions include suppression of arbitration requests to the cache, suppression of comparisons cache request addresses and killing requests to access the cache.

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