Intercomponent data communication between multiple time zones

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9563594-B2
Application number	US-201414292575-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2014
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Feb 7, 2017
Grant date	Feb 7, 2017

Abstract

A request to send a first message from a first component to a second component is received at an arbiter. The first component is located in a first time zone and the second component is located in a second time zone. The arbiter determines that the second component is located in the second time zone. It is determined that the second time zone can be communicated with via one or more communications channels in a first direction. It is determined whether bandwidth is available on the one or more communications channels in the first direction. If bandwidth is available on the one or more communications channels in the first direction, a data path between the first component and the one or more communications channels in the first direction is created and the request is granted. Otherwise, the grant of the request is delayed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a processor comprising,
a first plurality of components in a first time zone, wherein the first time zone represents a first area of the processor in which processor signals can traverse within a specified amount of time;
a second plurality of components in a second time zone, wherein the second time zone represents a second area of the processor in which processor signals can traverse within the specified amount of time, wherein a processor signal from a first component of the first plurality of components to a second component of the second plurality of components is not received within the specified amount of time;
a first bidirectional communication path comprising one or more communications channels in a first direction between the first time zone and the second time zone and one or more communications channels in a second direction between the first time zone and the second time zone;
wherein an arbiter associated with the first plurality of components is coupled with the one or more communications channels in the first direction,
wherein the arbiter is configured to,
receive, from the first component, a request to send a first message to the second component;
determine that the second component is located in the second time zone;
in response to a determination that the second component is in the second time zone, determine that the second time zone can be communicated with via the one or more communications channels in the first direction;
in response to the determination that the second time zone can be communicated with via the one or more communications channels in the first direction, determine whether bandwidth is available on the one or more communications channels in the first direction;
in response to a determination that bandwidth is available on the one or more communications channels in the first direction,
create a first data path between the first component and the one or more communications channels in the first direction; and
grant the request to send the first message to the second component; and

in response to a determination that bandwidth is not available on the one or more communications channels in the first direction, delay the grant of the request to send the first message to the second component.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the arbiter being configured to determine that bandwidth is available on the one or more communications channels in the first direction comprises the arbiter configured to:
determine a count m of requests to send messages granted by the arbiter during a current time period, wherein the messages granted by the arbiter are to be sent using the one or more communications channels in the first direction,
wherein the one or more communications channels in the first direction comprise a total number n of communications channels,
wherein bandwidth is available on the one or more communications channels in the first direction if m is less than n.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the arbiter being configured to determine that bandwidth is available on the one or more communications channels in the first direction comprises the arbiter configured to:
determine a count l of messages incoming to the first time zone on the one or more communications channels in the first direction that are not destined for the first time zone,
wherein bandwidth is available on the one or more communications channels in the first direction if a sum of m plus l is less than n.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the arbiter is further configured to:
receive, via an incoming portion of the one or more communications channels in the first direction, metadata associated with a second message, wherein the metadata indicates a destination of the second message;
determine whether the destination of the second message is located in the first time zone based, at least in part, on the metadata;
in response to a determination that the destination of the second message is located in the first time zone, determine that the destination of the second message is a third component of the first plurality of components based, at least in part, on the metadata;
in response to a determination that the destination of the second message is the third component, create a second data path between the one or more communications channels in the first direction and the first component; and
in response to a determination that the destination of the second message is not located in the first time zone, create a third data path between the incoming portion of the one or more communications channels in the first direction and an outgoing portion of the one or more communications channels in the first direction.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the second message is received one or more time periods after the metadata.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein each of the one or more time periods is a clock cycle, wherein the specified amount of time is measured in clock cycles.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the arbiter is further configured to:
receive, from the first component of the first plurality of components, a request to send a second message to a third component of the first plurality of components;
determine that the third component is located in the first time zone;
in response to a determination that the third component is located in the first time zone, determine that a count of messages that the third component will receive during a time period in which the third component will receive the second message is less than a maximum number of messages the third component can receive during the time period; and
in response to a determination that the count of messages that the third component will receive during the time period in which the third component will receive the second message is less than the maximum number of messages the third component can receive during the time period,
create a second data path between the first component and the third component; and
grant the request to send the second message via the second data path.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the arbiter being configured to create the first data path between the first component and the one or more communications channels in the first direction comprises the arbiter configured to select an input of a plurality of inputs of a multiplexor.

9. An apparatus comprising:
a processor comprising,
a bidirectional communication trunk comprising z bidirectional communication trunk portions;
z+1 time zones sequentially coupled by a respective one of the z bidirectional communication trunk portions,
wherein communications between components in two different time zones of the z+1 time zones do not arrive within a specified period of time,
wherein communications between components in in a same time zone of the z+1 times zones arrive within the specified period of time,
wherein each direction of each of the z bidirectional communication trunk portions comprises at least one communication channel configured to carry a message in the respective direction, wherein each communication channel comprises m temporary message storage locations, wherein each communication channel is associated with a metadata channel comprising m−1 temporary metadata storage locations, wherein each metadata channel is configured to carry message metadata in the respective direction, wherein an n th time zone of the z+1 time zones comprises an n th arbiter,

wherein the n th arbiter is configured to,
receive a request to send a message to a component located in an x th time zone of the z+1 time zones, wherein the request to send the message to the x th time zone originates in the n

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Dixon Robert C
• Lambrecht Lonny J
• Marino Charles F
• Stuecheli Jeffrey A

Classifications

• G06F13/4031

  with arbitration · CPC title

• G06F13/4068 Primary

  Electrical coupling · CPC title

• G06F13/372

  using a time-dependent priority, e.g. individually loaded time counters or time slot · CPC title

• G06F13/4221

  being an input/output bus, e.g. ISA bus, EISA bus, PCI bus, SCSI bus · CPC title