Processor management via thread status

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9354926-B2
Application number	US-201113069338-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 22, 2011
Priority date	Mar 22, 2011
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

Various systems, processes, and products may be used to manage a processor. In particular implementations, managing a processor may include the ability to determine whether a thread is pausing for a short period of time and place a wait event for the thread in a queue based on a short thread pause occurring. Managing a processor may also include the ability to activate a delay thread that determines whether a wait time associated with the pause has expired and remove the wait event from the queue based on the wait time having expired.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method implemented by a computer, the method comprising:
determining whether a first thread is pausing;
if the first thread is pausing, placing a wait event for the first thread in a queue, the wait event comprising a wait time;
in response to the wait event being placed in the queue, determining whether a delay thread has been initiated;
if a delay thread has not been initiated, initiating a delay thread;
in response to the delay thread being initiated, determining whether a second thread is ready to run;
if the second thread is not ready to run, activating the delay thread, the delay thread determining whether the wait time associated with the paused first thread has expired; and
in response to the delay thread determining that the wait time has expired, removing the wait event from the queue and activating the first thread.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether a thread wait event is in the queue; and
deactivating the delay thread based on a lack of a thread wait event in the queue.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising placing the wait event in the queue based on an expected pause time being longer than a threshold.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining whether to switch a processor from a first partition to a second partition based on there being no second thread ready to run;
switching the processor to the second partition based on the there being no second thread ready to run;
determining whether the wait time has been exceeded; and
switching the processor from the second partition to the first partition based on the wait time having been exceeded.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the determination of whether the wait time has been exceeded includes analyzing the wait time for the paused first thread.

6. A computer program product for managing a processor, the computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory computer readable medium;
first program instructions to determine whether a first thread is pausing;
second program instructions to, if the first thread is pausing, place a wait event for the first thread in a queue, the wait event comprising a wait time;
third program instructions to, in response to the wait event being placed in the queue, determine whether a delay thread has been initiated;
fourth program instructions to, if a delay thread has not been initiated, initiate a delay thread;
fifth program instructions to, in response to the delay thread being initiated, determine whether a second thread is ready to run;
sixth program instructions to, if the second thread is not ready to run, activate the delay thread, the delay thread determining whether the wait time associated with the paused first thread has expired; and
seventh program instructions to, in response to the delay thread determining that the wait time has expired, remove the wait event from the queue and activate the first thread; and
wherein said program instructions are stored on said computer readable storage medium.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 , further comprising eighth program instructions to determine whether a thread wait event is in the queue and to deactivate the delay thread based on a lack of a thread wait event in the queue.

8. The computer program product of claim 6 , further comprising eighth program instructions to place the wait event in the queue based on an expected pause time being longer than a threshold.

9. The computer program product of claim 6 , further comprising eighth program instructions to:
determine whether to switch the processor from a first partition to a second partition based on there being no second thread ready to run;
switch the processor to the second partition based on the there being no second thread ready to run;
determine whether the wait time has been exceeded; and
switch the processor from the second partition to the first partition based on the wait time having been exceeded.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 , wherein the determination of whether the wait time has been exceeded includes analyzing the wait time for the paused first thread.

11. A method implemented by a computer, the method comprising:
determining whether a first thread is pausing;
if the first thread is pausing, placing a wait event for the first thread in a first queue, the wait event comprising a wait time, and placing the first thread in a second queue, the first thread ordered in the second queue based on the wait time;
in response to the wait event being placed in the first queue, determining whether a delay thread has been initiated;
if a delay thread has not been initiated, initiating a delay thread;
determining whether a second thread is ready to run;
if the second thread is not ready to run, activating the delay thread, the delay thread determining whether the wait time associated with the paused first thread has expired;
determining whether the wait time exceeds a threshold;
in response to determining that the wait time exceeds the threshold, initiating a low power mode for a processor running the delay thread; and
in response to the delay thread determining that the wait time has expired, removing the wait event from the first queue, returning the processor to a high power mode, removing the first thread from the second queue, and activating the first thread.

Assignees

• King-Smith Bernard A
• Olszewski Bret R
• Rees Stephen
• Vaidyanathan Basu
• IBM

Inventors

• King-Smith Bernard A
• Olszewski Bret R
• Rees Stephen
• Vaidyanathan Basu

Classifications

• G06F9/4843 Primary

  by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system · CPC title

• Y02B60/144

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• G06F1/3228 Primary

  Monitoring task completion, e.g. by use of idle timers, stop commands or wait commands · CPC title

• Y02D10/00

  Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management · CPC title

• Y02B70/10

  Technologies improving the efficiency by using switched-mode power supplies [SMPS], i.e. efficient power electronics conversion e.g. power factor correction or reduction of losses in power supplies or efficient standby modes · CPC title