Managing a free list of resources to decrease control complexity and reduce power consumption

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9645637-B2
Application number	US-201514845338-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 4, 2015
Priority date	Sep 4, 2015
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments include method, systems and computer program products for searching a social network for media content. Aspects include identifying one or more available resources for execution by the processor, determining a maximum number of resources the processor can utilize in executing an instruction group, and grouping the one or more available resources into one or more resource groups, wherein each of the one or more resource groups has a size equal to the maximum number. Aspects also include receiving a request from a decode logic for a number of resources for execution and dispatching one of the one or more resource groups in response to the request by providing the number of resources for execution to the processor and sending remaining resources in the one of the one or more resource groups to a recycle queue.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for managing a free list of available resources in a processor, the method comprising:
identifying, by a processing system, one or more available resources for execution by the processor;
determining, by the processing system, a maximum number of resources the processor can utilize in executing an instruction group;
grouping, by the processing system, the one or more available resources into one or more resource groups, wherein each of the one or more resource groups has a size equal to the maximum number;
receiving, by the processing system, a request from a decode logic for a number of resources for execution;
dispatching, by the processing system, one of the one or more resource groups in response to the request by providing the number of resources for execution to the processor and sending one or more remaining resources in the one of the one or more resource groups to a recycle queue, wherein the one or more remaining resources are sent to the recycle queue without being utilized by the processor and wherein the recycle queue has a size equal to twice the maximum number of resources the processor can utilize in executing the instruction group;
receiving, by the processing system, a second request from the decode logic for a second number of resources for execution; and
based on determining that the recycle queue contains fewer resources than the maximum number, obtaining, by the processing system, additional available resources from both the recycle queue and the free list to create a new group of available resource.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising holding one or more instruction groups in a held resource group queue, where the size of the held resource group queue is large enough to account for a latency between indicating a resource is available and resource allocation.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a number of the one or more groups is selected to be large enough to account for a maximum number of resource groups that can be dispatched in a single cycle.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
indicating to a dispatch stall logic that the one or more resource groups are available for dispatch;
incrementing a resource group count for each of the one or more resource groups indicated;
decrementing the resource group count for each dispatching resource group; and
stalling dispatch based on the value of the resource group count.

5. The method of claim 1 , where the maximum number of resources the processor can utilize in executing the instruction group is equal to the maximum number of resources that the processor can utilize during a dispatch cycle.

6. A computer program product for managing a free list of available resources in a processor, the computer program product comprising:
a non-transitory storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising:
identifying one or more available resources for execution by the processor;
determining a maximum number of resources the processor can utilize in executing an instruction group;
grouping the one or more available resources into one or more resource groups, wherein each of the one or more resource groups has a size equal to the maximum number;
receiving a request from a decode logic for a number of resources for execution;
dispatching, by the processing system, one of the one or more resource groups in response to the request by providing the number of resources for execution to the processor and sending one or more remaining resources in the one of the one or more resource groups to a recycle queue, wherein the one or more remaining resources are sent to the recycle queue without being utilized by the processor and wherein the recycle queue has a size equal to twice the maximum number of resources the processor can utilize in executing the instruction group;
receiving, by the processing system, a second request from the decode logic for a second number of resources for execution; and
based on determining that the recycle queue contains fewer resources than the maximum number, obtaining, by the processing system, additional available resources from both the recycle queue and the free list to create a new group of available resource.

7. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein the method further comprises holding one or more instruction groups in a held resource group queue, where the size of the held resource group queue is large enough to account for a latency between indicating a resource is available and resource allocation.

8. The computer program product of claim 6 , wherein a number of the one or more groups is selected to be large enough to account for a maximum number of resource groups that can be dispatched in a single cycle.

9. The computer program product of claim 6 , where the maximum number of resources the processor can utilize in executing the instruction group is equal to the maximum number of resources that the processor can utilize during a dispatch cycle.

10. A system for managing a free list of available resources in a processor, comprising:
the processor in communication with one or more types of memory, the processor configured to:
identify one or more available resources for execution by the processor;
determine a maximum number of resources the processor can utilize in executing an instruction group;
group the one or more available resources into one or more resource groups, wherein each of the one or more resource groups has a size equal to the maximum number;
receive a request from a decode logic for a number of resources for execution;
dispatch one of the one or more resource groups in response to the request by providing the number of resources for execution to the processor and sending one or more remaining resources in the one of the one or more resource groups to a recycle queue, wherein the one or more remaining resources are sent to the recycle queue without being utilized by the processor and wherein the recycle queue has a size equal to twice the maximum number of resources the processor can utilize in executing the instruction group;
receive, by the processing system, a second request from the decode logic for a second number of resources for execution; and
based on determining that the recycle queue contains fewer resources than the maximum number, obtain, by the processing system, additional available resources from both the recycle queue and the free list to create a new group of available resource.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to hold one or more instruction groups in a held resource group queue, where the size of the held resource group queue is large enough to account for a latency between indicating a resource is available and resource allocation.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein a number of the one or more groups is selected to be large enough to account for a maximum number of resource groups that can be dispatched in a single cycle.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
indicate to a dispatch stall logic that the one or more resource groups are available for dispatch;
increment a resource group count for each of the one or more resource groups indicated;
decrement the resource group count for each dispatching resource group; and
stall dispatch based on the value of the resource group count.

14. The system of claim 10 , where the maximum number of resources the processor can utilize in executing the instruction group is equal to the maximum

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Alexander Gregory W
• Barrick Brian D

Classifications

• G06F9/462 Primary

  with multiple register sets · CPC title

• G06F9/5094 Primary

  where the allocation takes into account power or heat criteria (power management in computers in general G06F1/3203; thermal management in computers in general G06F1/206) · CPC title

• G06F2209/5018

  Thread allocation · CPC title

• G06F1/3293 Primary

  by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU · CPC title

• G06F9/3875

  Pipelining a single stage, e.g. superpipelining · CPC title