Skjerven Morrill MacPherson LLP
Thread switch logic in a multiple-thread processor
A processor includes a thread switching control logic that performs a fast thread-switching operation in response to an L1 cache miss stall. The fast thread-switching operation implements one or more of several thread-switching methods. A first thread-switching operation is &#8220;oblivious&#8221; thread-switching for every N cycle in which the individual flip-flops locally determine a thread-switch without notification of stalling. The oblivious technique avoids usage of an extra global interconnection between threads for thread selection. A second thread-switching operation is &#8220;semi-oblivious&#8221; thread-switching for use with an existing &#8220;pipeline stall&#8221; signal (if any). The pipeline stall signal operates in two capacities, first as a notification of a pipeline stall, and second as a thread select signal between threads so that, again, usage of an extra global interconnection between threads for thread selection is avoided. A third thread-switching operation is an &#8220;intelligent global scheduler&#8221; thread-switching in which a thread switch decision is based on a plurality of signals including: (1) an L1 data cache miss stall signal, (2) an instruction buffer empty signal, (3) an L2 cache miss signal, (4) a thread priority signal, (5) a thread timer signal, (6) an interrupt signal, or other sources of triggering. In some embodiments, the thread select signal is broadcast as fast as possible, similar to a clock tree distribution. In some systems, a processor derives a thread select signal that is applied to the flip-flops by overloading a scan enable (SE) signal of a scannable flip-flop.
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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inventional inventional inventional
Gary William N. Marc Joseph I.
Lauterbach Joy Tremblay Chamdani