Apparatuses, methods, and systems for conditional operations in a configurable spatial accelerator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10853073-B2
Application number	US-201816024849-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2018
Priority date	Jun 30, 2018
Publication date	Dec 1, 2020
Grant date	Dec 1, 2020

Abstract

Systems, methods, and apparatuses relating to conditional operations in a configurable spatial accelerator are described. In one embodiment, a hardware accelerator includes an output buffer of a first processing element coupled to an input buffer of a second processing element via a first data path that is to send a first dataflow token from the output buffer of the first processing element to the input buffer of the second processing element when the first dataflow token is received in the output buffer of the first processing element; an output buffer of a third processing element coupled to the input buffer of the second processing element via a second data path that is to send a second dataflow token from the output buffer of the third processing element to the input buffer of the second processing element when the second dataflow token is received in the output buffer of the third processing element; a first backpressure path from the input buffer of the second processing element to the first processing element to indicate to the first processing element when storage is not available in the input buffer of the second processing element; a second backpressure path from the input buffer of the second processing element to the third processing element to indicate to the third processing element when storage is not available in the input buffer of the second processing element; and a scheduler of the second processing element to cause storage of the first dataflow token from the first data path into the input buffer of the second processing element when both the first backpressure path indicates storage is available in the input buffer of the second processing element and a conditional token received in a conditional queue of the second processing element from another processing element is a first value.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
an output buffer of a first processing element coupled to an input buffer of a second processing element via a first data path that is to send a first dataflow token from the output buffer of the first processing element to the input buffer of the second processing element when the first dataflow token is received in the output buffer of the first processing element;
an output buffer of a third processing element coupled to the input buffer of the second processing element via a second data path that is to send a second dataflow token from the output buffer of the third processing element to the input buffer of the second processing element when the second dataflow token is received in the output buffer of the third processing element;
a first backpressure path from the input buffer of the second processing element to the first processing element to indicate to the first processing element when storage is not available in the input buffer of the second processing element;
a second backpressure path from the input buffer of the second processing element to the third processing element to indicate to the third processing element when storage is not available in the input buffer of the second processing element; and
a scheduler of the second processing element to cause storage of the first dataflow token from the first data path into the input buffer of the second processing element when both the first backpressure path indicates storage is available in the input buffer of the second processing element and a conditional token received in a conditional queue of the second processing element from another processing element is a first value.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scheduler of the second processing element is to cause storage of the second dataflow token from the second data path into the input buffer of the second processing element when both the second backpressure path indicates storage is available in the input buffer of the second processing element and the conditional token received in the conditional queue of the second processing element from the another processing element is a second value.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising a scheduler of the third processing element to clear the second dataflow token from the output buffer of the third processing element after both the conditional queue of the second processing element receives the conditional token having the second value and the second dataflow token is stored in the input buffer of the second processing element.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising a scheduler of the first processing element to clear the first dataflow token from the output buffer of the first processing element after both the conditional queue of the second processing element receives the conditional token having the first value and the first dataflow token is stored in the input buffer of the second processing element.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the scheduler of the second processing element is to cause the first backpressure path to indicate that storage is not available in the input buffer of the second processing element even when storage is actually available in the input buffer of the second processing element when the conditional token received in the conditional queue of the second processing element from another processing element is the second value.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a scheduler of the first processing element to clear the first dataflow token from the output buffer of the first processing element after both the conditional queue of the second processing element receives the conditional token having the first value and the first dataflow token is stored in the input buffer of the second processing element.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scheduler of the second processing element is to cause the second backpressure path to indicate that storage is not available in the input buffer of the second processing element even when storage is actually available in the input buffer of the second processing element when the conditional token received in the conditional queue of the second processing element from another processing element is the first value.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the scheduler of the second processing element is to, when no conditional token is in the conditional queue, cause the first backpressure path to indicate that storage is not available in the input buffer of the second processing element even when storage is actually available in the input buffer of the second processing element, and the second backpressure path to indicate that storage is not available in the input buffer of the second processing element even when storage is actually available in the input buffer of the second processing element.

9. A method comprising:
coupling an output buffer of a first processing element to an input buffer of a second processing element via a first data path that is to send a first dataflow token from the output buffer of the first processing element to the input buffer of the second processing element when the first dataflow token is received in the output buffer of the first processing element;
coupling an output buffer of a third processing element to the input buffer of the second processing element via a second data path that is to send a second dataflow token from the output buffer of the third processing element to the input buffer of the second processing element when the second dataflow token is received in the output buffer of the third processing element;
coupling a first backpressure path from the input buffer of the second processing element to the first processing element to indicate to the first processing element when storage is not available in the input buffer of the second processing element;
coupling a second backpressure path from the input buffer of the second processing element to the third processing element to indicate to the third processing element when storage is not available in the input buffer of the second processing element; and
storing, by a scheduler of the second processing element, the first dataflow token from the first data path into the input buffer of the second processing element when both the first backpressure path indicates storage is available in the input buffer of the second processing element and a conditional token received in a conditional queue of the second processing element from another processing element is a first value.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising storing, by the scheduler of the second processing element, the second dataflow token from the second data path into the input buffer of the second processing element when both the second backpressure path indicates storage is available in the input buffer of the second processing element and the conditional token received in the conditional queue of the second processing element from the another processing element is a second value.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising a scheduler of the third processing element clearing the second dataflow token from the output buffer of the third processing element after both the conditional queue of the second processing element receives the conditional token having the second value and the second dataflow token is stored in the input buffer of the second processing element.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising a scheduler of the first processing element clearing the first dataflow token from the output buffer of the first processing element after both the conditional queue of the second processing element receiv

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Fleming Jr Kermin E
• Zou Ping
• Diamond Mitchell
• Keen Benjamin

Classifications

• G06F15/17325 Primary

  Synchronisation; Hardware support therefor (intertask synchronisation G06F9/52) · CPC title

• G06F15/825

  Dataflow computers · CPC title

• G06F9/30072 Primary

  to perform conditional operations, e.g. using predicates or guards · CPC title

• G06F9/3836

  Instruction issuing, e.g. dynamic instruction scheduling or out of order instruction execution · CPC title

• G06F9/5027

  the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals · CPC title