Thread synchronization mechanism

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12067428-B2
Application number	US-202017128525-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 21, 2020
Priority date	Dec 21, 2020
Publication date	Aug 20, 2024
Grant date	Aug 20, 2024

Abstract

An apparatus to facilitate thread synchronization is disclosed. The apparatus comprises one or more processors to execute a producer thread to generate a plurality of commands, execute a consumer thread to process the plurality of commands and synchronize the producer thread with the consumer thread, including updating a producer fence value upon generation of in-order commands, updating a consumer fence value upon processing of the in-order commands and performing a synchronization operation based on the consumer fence value, wherein the producer fence value and the consumer fence value each correspond to an order position of an in-order command.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus to facilitate thread synchronization, comprising:
one or more processors to execute a producer thread to generate a plurality of commands, execute a consumer thread to process the plurality of commands and synchronize the producer thread with the consumer thread, including updating a producer fence value upon generation of in-order commands, updating a consumer fence value upon processing of the in-order commands and performing a synchronization operation based on the consumer fence value, wherein the producer fence value and the consumer fence value each correspond to an order position of the in-order commands.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the synchronization operation synchronizes the producer thread and the consumer thread up to an in-order command associated with the consumer fence value.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the one or more processors initiate the synchronization operation receiving an application command.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein executing the producer thread comprises producing a first of the plurality of commands and determining whether the first command is the in-order command.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein executing the producer thread further comprises updating the producer fence value upon determining that the first command is the in-order command.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , further comprises inserting the first command into a command queue upon a determination that the first command is not the in-order command.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein executing the consumer thread comprises retrieving the first command from the command queue.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein executing the consumer thread further comprises determining whether the first command is the in-order command.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein executing the consumer thread further comprises updating the consumer fence value upon determining that the first command is the in-order command.

10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein executing the consumer thread further comprises executing the first command.

11. A method to facilitate thread synchronization, comprising:
executing a producer thread to generate a plurality of commands;
executing a consumer thread to process the plurality of commands; and
synchronizing the producer thread with the consumer thread, including:
updating a producer fence value upon generation of in-order commands;
updating a consumer fence value upon processing of the in-order commands; and
performing a synchronization operation based on the consumer fence value,

wherein the producer fence value and the consumer fence value each correspond to an order position of the in-order commands.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the synchronization operation synchronizes the producer thread and the consumer thread up to an in-order command associated with the consumer fence value.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein executing the producer thread comprises:
producing a first of the plurality of commands;
determining whether the first command is the in-order command; and
updating the producer fence value upon determining that the first command is the in-order command.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein executing the producer thread further comprises inserting the first command into a command queue upon a determination that the first command is not the in-order command.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein executing the consumer thread comprises:
retrieving the first command from the command queue; and
executing the first command.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein executing the consumer thread further comprises:
determining whether the first command is the in-order command; and
updating the consumer fence value upon determining that the first command is the in-order command.

17. At least one non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to:
execute a producer thread to generate a plurality of commands;
execute a consumer thread to process the plurality of commands; and
synchronize the producer thread with the consumer thread, including:
updating a producer fence value upon generation of in-order commands;
updating a consumer fence value upon processing of the in-order commands; and
performing a synchronization operation based on the consumer fence value, wherein the producer fence value and the consumer fence value each correspond to an order position of the in-order commands.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein executing the producer thread comprises:
producing a first of the plurality of commands;
determining whether the first command is an in-order command; and
updating the producer fence value upon determining that the first command is the in-order command.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 18 , executing the producer thread further comprises inserting the first command into a command queue upon a determination that the first command is not the in-order command.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 19 , wherein executing the consumer thread comprises:
retrieving the first command from the command queue; and
executing the first command.

21. The computer readable medium of claim 20 , wherein executing the consumer thread further comprises:
determining whether the first command is the in-order command; and
updating the consumer fence value upon determining that the first command is the in-order command.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Gurtovoy Stav
• Przybylski Mateusz Maria
• Apodaca Michael
• D S Manjunath

Classifications

• G06F9/522

  Barrier synchronisation · CPC title

• G06F9/4881

  Scheduling strategies for dispatcher, e.g. round robin, multi-level priority queues · CPC title

• G06T1/20 Primary

  Processor architectures; Processor configuration, e.g. pipelining · CPC title

• G06F9/52 Primary

  Program synchronisation; Mutual exclusion, e.g. by means of semaphores · CPC title