Advanced wavelet filtering for accelerated deep learning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12217147-B2
Application number	US-202017764453-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 15, 2020
Priority date	Oct 16, 2019
Publication date	Feb 4, 2025
Grant date	Feb 4, 2025

Abstract

Techniques in wavelet filtering for advanced deep learning provide improvements in one or more of accuracy, performance, and energy efficiency. An array of processing elements comprising a portion of a neural network accelerator performs flow-based computations on wavelets of data. Each processing element comprises a compute element to execute programmed instructions using the data and a router to route the wavelets in accordance with virtual channel specifiers. Each processing element is enabled to perform local filtering of wavelets received at the processing element, selectively, conditionally, and/or optionally discarding zero or more of the received wavelets, thereby preventing further processing of the discarded wavelets. The wavelet filtering is performed by one or more configurable wavelet filters operable in various modes, such as counter, sparse, and range modes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
communicating packets between a plurality of processing elements coupled via a fabric, wherein each of the communicated packets comprises a respective color field and a respective type field;
receiving, from the fabric, a particular one of the communicated packets in a particular one of the processing elements, wherein the color field of the particular packet is a particular color value and the type field of the particular packet is a particular type value indicating a mutually exclusive one of a plurality of types;
managing a wavelet filter of the particular processing element, wherein the wavelet filter is enabled to retain state comprising a filtered color; and
queueing information of the particular packet to enable execution, by the particular processing element, of an instruction that uses the queued information, wherein the queueing is conditional based on one or more queueing criteria, a first one of the queueing criteria is that the particular color value and the filtered color are different, and a second one of the queueing criteria is that the particular type value indicates a particular one of the types.

2. A method comprising:
communicating packets between a plurality of processing elements coupled via a fabric, wherein each of the communicated packets comprises a respective color field and a respective type field;
receiving, from the fabric, a particular one of the communicated packets in a particular one of the processing elements, wherein the color field of the particular packet is a particular color value and the type field of the particular packet is a particular type value indicating a mutually exclusive one of a plurality of types;
managing a wavelet filter of the particular processing element, wherein the wavelet filter is enabled to retain state comprising a filtered color; and
updating a counter, wherein;
the updating is conditional based on one or more updating criteria, a first one of the updating criteria is that the particular color value and the filtered color are identical, and a second one of the updating criteria is that the particular type value indicates a particular one of the types,
the updating is responsive to the receiving, and
the state further comprises the counter.

3. A method comprising:
communicating packets between a plurality of processing elements coupled via a fabric, wherein each of the communicated packets comprises a respective color field and a respective type field;
receiving, from the fabric, a particular one of the communicated packets in a particular one of the processing elements, wherein the color field of the particular packet is a particular color value and the type field of the particular packet is a particular type value indicating a mutually exclusive one of a plurality of types;
managing a wavelet filter of the particular processing element, wherein the wavelet filter is enabled to retain state comprising a filtered color;
queueing information of the particular packet to enable execution, by the particular processing element, of an instruction that uses the queued information, wherein the queueing is conditional based on one or more queueing criteria and a first one of the queueing criteria is that the particular color value and the filtered color are different, and a second one of the queueing criteria is that the particular type value indicates a particular one of the types; and
updating a counter, wherein:
the updating is conditional based on one or more updating criteria and a first one of the updating criteria is that the particular color value and the filtered color are identical, and a second one of the updating criteria is that the particular type value indicates the particular type,
the updating is responsive to the receiving, and
the state further comprises the counter.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the state further comprises a filter mode indicator enabled to indicate a mutually exclusive one of a plurality of filter operating modes and a third one of the queueing criteria is that the filter mode indicator indicates a particular one of the filter operating modes.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the state further comprises a filter mode indicator enabled to indicate a mutually exclusive one of a plurality of filter operating modes and a third one of the updating criteria is that the filter mode indicator indicates a particular one of the filter operating modes.

6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the state further comprises a filter mode indicator enabled to indicate a mutually exclusive one of a plurality of filter operating modes, a third one of the queueing criteria is that the filter mode indicator indicates a particular one of the filter operating modes, and a third one of the updating criteria is that the filter mode indicator indicates the particular filter operating mode.

7. The method of claim 4, claim 5, or claim 6 , wherein the filter operating modes comprise a counter mode, a sparse mode, and a range mode.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the state further comprises a limit and a third one of the queueing criteria is that the counter is one of less than the limit and equal to the limit.

9. The method of claim 1 or claim 3 wherein the particular packet comprises a particular index value, the state further comprises a range specifier, and a third one of the queueing criteria is that the particular index value is in accordance with a range specified by the range specifier.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the types comprise a control type and a data type.

11. The method of claim 2 or claim 3 , wherein the types comprise a control type and a data type.

12. The method of claim 2 or claim 3 , wherein the wavelet filter is a first wavelet filter, the state is first state, the filtered color is a first filtered color, and a second wavelet filter of the particular processing element is enabled to retain second state comprising a second filtered color.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the managing is a first managing and further comprising a second managing the second wavelet filter.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the updating is a first updating, the counter is a first counter, and the updating criteria is a first updating criteria; and further comprising a second updating a second counter, wherein the second updating is conditional based on one or more second updating criteria and a first one of the second updating criteria is that the particular color value, and the second filtered color are identical, and further wherein the second updating is responsive to the receiving.

15. The method of claim 2 or claim 3 , wherein the managing is a first managing, the wavelet filter is a first wavelet filter, the state is first state, the filtered color is a first filtered color, the updating is a first updating, the counter is a first counter, and the updating criteria is a first updating criteria; and further comprising:
a second managing a second wavelet filter of the particular processing element, wherein the second wavelet filter is enabled to retain second state comprising a second filtered color; and
a second updating a second counter, wherein the second updating is conditional based on one or more second updating criteria and a first one of the second updating criteria is that the particular color value and the second filtered color are identical, and the second updating is responsive to the receiving.

16. The method of claim 1 or claim 3 , wherein the particular packet comprises a particular index value, the state further comprises a range s

Assignees

• Cerebras Systems Inc

Inventors

• Morrison Michael
• James Michael Edwin
• Lie Sean
• Arekapudi Srikanth
• Lauterbach Gary R

Classifications

• G06N3/0464

  Convolutional networks [CNN, ConvNet] · CPC title

• G06N3/0495

  Quantised networks; Sparse networks; Compressed networks · CPC title

• G06N3/09

  Supervised learning · CPC title

• G06F9/3888

  controlled by a single instruction for multiple threads [SIMT] in parallel · CPC title

• G06F13/42

  Bus transfer protocol, e.g. handshake; Synchronisation · CPC title