U.S. patent application number 15/823387 was filed with the patent office on 2019-05-30 for management of the untranslated to translated code steering logic in a dynamic binary translation based processor.
The applicant listed for this patent is Intel Corporation. Invention is credited to Jason M. Agron, Rangeen Basu Roy Chowdhury, Cristiano Pereira, Girish Venkatasubramanian.
Application Number | 20190163642 15/823387 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 66633129 |
Filed Date | 2019-05-30 |
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United States Patent
Application |
20190163642 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Venkatasubramanian; Girish ;
et al. |
May 30, 2019 |
MANAGEMENT OF THE UNTRANSLATED TO TRANSLATED CODE STEERING LOGIC IN
A DYNAMIC BINARY TRANSLATION BASED PROCESSOR
Abstract
A processor comprising an instruction execution circuit to
execute a second code stored at a second address of a memory,
wherein the second code is translated from a first code stored at a
first address of the memory and a translation table (TT) controller
coupled to a translation table to store a TT entry comprising a
mapping between the first address and the second address and an
attribute field comprising an attribute value associated with
execution of the second code, wherein the TT controller is to
monitor execution of the second code by the instruction execution
circuit and update, based on a performance metric of the execution,
the attribute value of the TT entry.
Inventors: |
Venkatasubramanian; Girish;
(Mountain View, CA) ; Agron; Jason M.; (San Jose,
CA) ; Pereira; Cristiano; (Groveland, CA) ;
Basu Roy Chowdhury; Rangeen; (Santa Clara, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Intel Corporation |
Santa Clara |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
66633129 |
Appl. No.: |
15/823387 |
Filed: |
November 27, 2017 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 8/443 20130101;
G06F 12/12 20130101; G06F 12/1009 20130101; G06F 12/1027 20130101;
G06F 8/445 20130101; G06F 9/325 20130101; G06F 12/0831 20130101;
G06F 2212/68 20130101; G06F 9/3836 20130101; G06F 8/00 20130101;
G06F 11/3466 20130101; G06F 9/45516 20130101; G06F 11/3024
20130101; G06F 12/0292 20130101 |
International
Class: |
G06F 12/1027 20060101
G06F012/1027; G06F 12/1009 20060101 G06F012/1009; G06F 12/12
20060101 G06F012/12; G06F 9/38 20060101 G06F009/38; G06F 9/32
20060101 G06F009/32; G06F 12/0831 20060101 G06F012/0831 |
Claims
1. A processor comprising: an instruction execution circuit to
execute a second code stored at a second address of a memory,
wherein the second code is translated from a first code stored at a
first address of the memory; and a translation table (TT)
controller coupled to a translation table to store a TT entry
comprising: a mapping between the first address and the second
address; and an attribute field comprising an attribute value
associated with execution of the second code, wherein the TT
controller is to: monitor execution of the second code by the
instruction execution circuit; and update, based on a performance
metric of the execution, the attribute value of the TT entry.
2. The processor of claim 1, further comprising a binary translator
circuit to: translate the first code to the second code; store the
second code at the second address of the memory; and generate the
TT entry stored in the translation table.
3. The processor of claim 1, wherein the first code is specified
according to a first instruction set architecture, and wherein the
second code is specified according to one of the first instruction
set architecture or a second instruction set architecture.
4. The processor of claim 1, wherein the TT controller is further
to: identify, using the instruction execution circuit, the first
code to be executed; search the translation table to determine
whether the TT entry comprises the mapping between the first code
and the second code; and responsive to determining that TT entry
comprises the mapping, cause the instruction execution circuit to
execute the second code.
5. The processor of claim 1, wherein the at least one attribute
value comprises at least one of: a TT hit count attribute value
representing a number of times that the mapping has been used to
translate the first code to the second code; a loop attribute value
indicating whether there are instruction loops in the first code; a
dynamic execution count attribute value representing a number of
instructions in the first code divided by a number of conditional
branches in the first code; a gear level attribute value
representing a number of rounds of optimization in translating the
first code to the second code; or a prefetch attribute value
indicating whether the entry is prefetched from a full list of
mappings stored in the memory.
6. The processor of claim 1, wherein the TT controller further
comprises a replacement policy circuit to: select, based on the at
least one attribute value, an eviction victim entry from a
plurality of entries in the translation table; and evict the
eviction victim entry from the translation table.
7. The processor of claim 6, wherein the replacement policy circuit
to designate, based on TT hit count attribute values associated
with the plurality of entries, a first entry in the translation
table as the eviction victim entry.
8. The processor of claim 6, wherein the replacement policy circuit
to determine, based on loop attribute values associated with the
plurality of entries, a first entry in the translation table as the
eviction victim entry.
9. The processor of claim 6, wherein the replacement policy circuit
to determine, based on dynamic execution count attribute values
associated with the plurality of entries, a first entry in the
translation table as the eviction victim entry.
10. The processor of claim 6, wherein the replacement policy
circuit to determine, based on gear level attribute values
associated with the plurality of entries, a first entry in the
translation table as the eviction victim entry.
11. The processor of claim 6, wherein the replacement policy
circuit is to determine, based on prefetch attribute values
associated with the plurality of entries, a first entry in the
translation table as the eviction victim entry.
12. A system comprising: a memory to store a first code stored at a
first address of a memory and a second code, translated from the
first code, at a second address; a processor comprising an
instruction execution circuit to execute the second code; and a
translation table (TT) controller coupled to a translation table to
store a TT entry comprising: a mapping between the first address
and the second address; and an attribute field comprising an
attribute value associated with execution of the second code,
wherein the TT controller is to: monitor execution of the second
code by the instruction execution circuit; and update, based on a
performance metric of the execution, the attribute value of the TT
entry.
13. The system of claim 12, wherein the processor further comprises
a binary translator to: translate the first code to the second
code; store the second code at the second address of the memory;
and generate the TT entry stored in the translation table.
14. The system of claim 12, wherein the first code is specified
according to a first instruction set architecture, and wherein the
second code is specified according to one of the first instruction
set architecture or a second instruction set architecture.
15. The system of claim 12, wherein the TT controller is further
to: identify, using the instruction execution circuit, the first
code to be executed; search the translation table to determine
whether the TT entry comprises the mapping between the first code
and the second code; and responsive to determining that TT entry
comprises the mapping, cause the instruction execution circuit to
execute the second code.
16. The system of claim 12, wherein the at least one attribute
value comprises at least one of: a TT hit count attribute value
representing a number of times that the mapping has been used to
translate the first code to the second code; a loop attribute value
indicating whether there are instruction loops in the first code; a
dynamic execution count attribute value representing a number of
instructions in the first code divided by a number of conditional
branches in the first code; a gear level attribute value
representing a number of rounds of optimization in translating the
first code to the second code; or a prefetch attribute value
indicating whether the entry is prefetched from a full list of
mappings stored in the memory.
17. The system of claim 12, wherein the TT controller further
comprises a replacement policy circuit to: select, based on the at
least one attribute value, an eviction victim entry from a
plurality of entries in the translation table; and evict the
eviction victim entry from the translation table.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the replacement policy circuit
to designate, based on at least one of TT hit count attribute
values, loop attribute values, dynamic execution count attribute
values, gear level attribute values, prefetch attribute values
associated with the plurality of entries, a first entry as the
eviction victim entry.
19. A method comprising: monitoring, by a translation table (TT)
controller associated with a binary translation based (BT)
processor, execution of a second code translated from a first code;
and updating, based on a performance metric of the execution, an
attribute value of the TT entry, the attribute value comprising at
least one of: a TT hit count attribute value representing a number
of times that the mapping has been used to translate the first code
to the second code; a loop attribute value indicating whether there
are instruction loops in the first code; a dynamic execution count
attribute value representing a number of instructions in the first
code divided by a number of conditional branches in the first code;
a gear level attribute value representing a number of rounds of
optimization in translating the first code to the second code; or a
prefetch attribute value indicating whether the entry is prefetched
from a full list of mappings stored in the memory.
20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: selecting, based on
the attribute value, an eviction victim entry from a plurality of
entries in the translation table; and evicting the eviction victim
entry from the translation table.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to
microprocessors and more specifically, but without limitation, to a
dynamic binary translation (DBT) based microprocessor.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Multi-core processors are found in most computing systems
today, including servers, desktops and a System on a Chip (SoC).
Computer systems that utilize these multi-core processors may
execute instructions of various types of code.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0003] The disclosure will be understood more fully from the
detailed description given below and from the accompanying drawings
of various embodiments of the disclosure. The drawings, however,
should not be taken to limit the disclosure to the specific
embodiments, but are for explanation and understanding only.
[0004] FIG. 1 illustrates a processing system according to an
embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0005] FIG. 2 illustrates an entry of an extended translation table
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0006] FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary replacement policy for
selecting victim entries based on associated attribute values
according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0007] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a method to update an extended
translation table entry according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure.
[0008] FIG. 5A is a block diagram illustrating a micro-architecture
for a processor including heterogeneous core in which one
embodiment of the disclosure may be used.
[0009] FIG. 5B is a block diagram illustrating an in-order pipeline
and a register renaming stage, out-of-order issue/execution
pipeline implemented according to at least one embodiment of the
disclosure.
[0010] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of the micro-architecture
for a processor that includes logic in accordance with one
embodiment of the disclosure.
[0011] FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a system in which an
embodiment of the disclosure may be used.
[0012] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a system in which an embodiment
of the disclosure may operate.
[0013] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a system in which an embodiment
of the disclosure may operate.
[0014] FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a System-on-a-Chip (SoC) in
accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.
[0015] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an SoC design
in accordance with the present disclosure.
[0016] FIG. 12 illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment of a
computer system.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0017] The code specified according to the instruction set
architecture (ISA) of the processor is often translated into a
translated code specified according to the same or another ISA. The
translated code can be executed with improved performance (e.g.,
speed) at the cost of resources spent on the translation. Certain
types of multi-core processors may include a binary translator that
converts a code specified according to the instruction set
architecture (ISA) of the processor to a functionality-equivalent
version of the code (translated code) specified according to the
same or another ISA. The code translation may include code
optimization to the same ISA (e.g., to emulate a complex
instruction using a set of simple instructions or to remove
redundant instructions) or to another ISA. The translated code may
have been optimized with certain performance advantages such as,
for example, the improvement of the execution speed. The
optimization may include reordering of instructions.
[0018] The binary translator can be implemented using hardware
circuitry or as a software component executed by the processor. In
some implementations, the binary translator may use a translation
table (TT), which is a hardware structure that an instruction fetch
circuit can access with minimal delay. The translation table may
contain entries to store the mappings between the original code and
the translated code. In some implementations, an entry of the
translation table may contain the mapping between a first memory
address referencing the memory location for storing the original
code and a second memory address referencing the memory location
for storing the translated code. The translation table typically
has a limited amount of storage space to store a pre-determined
number of TT entries (e.g., 64 entries in a TT). Thus, the
translation table may store only a subset of address mappings,
while the full set of mappings may be stored in another larger but
slower storage device (e.g., in a far memory)
[0019] The processor may include a control circuit (referred to as
TT control circuit herein) to identify the translated code based on
the mapping between the original code and the translated code. The
TT control circuit may identify (e.g., by monitoring a program
counter that stores the memory address of the instructions to be
executed), an instruction ready to be executed, where the
instruction is associated with a memory address. Responsive to
identifying the instruction, the TT control circuit may first query
the translation table to determine whether the translation table
includes an entry associated with the memory address. Responsive to
determining that there is such a mapping (referred to as a TT hit),
the TT control circuit may cause the instruction execution circuit
to retrieve, based on the mapping from the memory and execute the
translated code. Responsive to determining that there is no such a
mapping (referred to as a TT miss), the TT control circuit may
perform one of two fallback options. As one option, the TT control
circuit may assume that there is no translated code corresponding
to the instruction to be executed, and allow the instruction
execution circuit to execute the code without translation (the
original code). Alternatively, responsive to a TT miss, the TT
control circuit may look up the full set of mappings stored in the
memory to determine whether there is translated code matching to
the instruction to be executed in the full set. If the mapping to
the translated code is found in the full set of mappings, an entry
including the discovered mapping is added to the translation table,
and the instruction execution circuit is to execute the translated
code. Because of the slow lookup using the full set of mappings, it
is also desirable to move the entry into the translation table
prior to the TT miss.
[0020] Due to the limited size of the translation table, the
addition of the new entry may force the eviction of an existing
entry in the translation table because the translation table may
have been filled up by existing entries. In some implementations,
the TT control circuit selects the entry to evict based on a
replacement policy (e.g., the least recently used (LRU) policy,
which involves the eviction of the least recently used TT
entry).
[0021] The performance of a binary translation based processor can
be measured in terms of the ratio (referred to as the coverage) of
executed instructions in translated code over those in
un-translated code. Thus, the higher coverage value potentially
indicates a higher performance of the binary translation based
processor. Embodiments of the present disclosure extend the TT
entries with one or more attribute values. Responsive to detecting
a trigger event, a TT prefetcher circuit logic ("TT prefetcher")
may use these attributes to prefetch TT entries from a translation
manifest table (referred to as a manifest table) to the translation
table, wherein the manifest table is a hardware/software
co-designed translation cache index structure tailored to support
efficient translation table refill operations on the basis of
physical pages. The trigger event may occur due to a read miss
associated with a memory page. The manifest table may contain TT
entries that can be identified by their association with physical
page numbers. Responsive to detecting the trigger event associated
with the memory page identified by a physical page number, the TT
prefetcher may prefetch these entries into the translation table in
anticipation that they may be used for code translation, thus
increasing the coverage (i.e., the TT hit rate) and reducing the
need for searching the full set of mappings stored in the
memory.
[0022] FIG. 1 illustrates a processing system 100 according to an
embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1,
processing system 100 (e.g., a system-on-a-chip (SOC) or a
motherboard of a computer system) may include a processor 102 and a
memory device 104 communicatively coupled to processor 102.
Processor 102 may be a hardware processing device such as, for
example, a central processing unit (CPU) or a graphic processing
unit (GPU) that includes one or more processing cores to execute
software applications. Processing system 100 may further include a
memory 104 for storing instructions and/or data associated with the
execution of these instructions.
[0023] In one embodiment, processor 102 is a binary translator
based processor that may execute code specified according to the
ISA of the processor or may execute translated code (converted from
the code) specified according to the same ISA or another ISA. As
shown in FIG. 1, binary translation (BT) based processor 102 may
include an instruction execution circuit 106, a binary translator
110, and a translation table (TT) controller 112 that are operably
coupled to either other. Instruction execution circuit 106 can be a
processing core including logic circuit to execute both translated
code and the un-translated code. For example, instruction execution
circuit 106 may include an un-translated code execution logic 118
for executing the un-translated code and a translated code
execution logic 118 for executing the translated code.
[0024] Memory 104 may include a first region to store un-translated
code 114 and a translation cache (or T-cache) region 108 to store
translated code 116. Un-translated code 114 may include one or more
instructions that can be referenced according to the memory address
(e.g., physical memory addresses) at which an instruction is
stored. In one embodiment, binary translator 110 may select, based
on the need for optimization, regions of un-translated code 114 and
convert the selected regions to translated code 116. Similarly, one
or more instructions of the translated code 116 may be referenced
according to the memory address of the instruction in the
translated code 116. In one embodiment, translated code 116 is
stored in a memory segment referred to as translation cache (TC),
where the translated code 116 is identified by the entry point
(e.g., the memory address of the code block at which the region
starts). For example, the entry point of the un-translated code can
be stored at a memory address of 0xBA8F. The code block starting
from 0xBA8F may be translated and stored in TC at 0xDE79BA8F. From
this point onward, the TT controller 112 may identify instructions
whose memory address is in a program counter (not shown),
indicating that these instructions are ready to be executed. The TT
controller 112 may first determine, based on the translation table
122, whether the instructions starting from the memory address
(e.g., 0xBA8F) have corresponding translated code. If the
translated code is found (e.g., at 0xBA8F), the translated code
execution unit 120 is to execute the translated code rather than
the un-translated code.
[0025] Binary translator 110 can be a hardware-implemented logic
circuit (or alternatively, a software component executing on
processor 102) for converting regions of un-translated code 114 to
translated code 116 stored in the TC. In some implementations, the
conversion of regions of un-translated code to translated code is
carried out (e.g., during code compilation) prior to loading the
un-translated code 114 for execution. This is referred to as static
binary translation. Embodiments of the present disclosure utilize
dynamic binary translation, where the un-translated code is
translated based on whether certain conditions are met during the
execution process.
[0026] In one embodiment, instruction execution circuit 106 may
execute, without translation, un-translated code 114. Responsive to
determining that a certain region of the un-translated code 114 has
been executed a number of times (e.g., over a threshold value), the
region is determined to be "hot" and worthy of translation. A
hardware profiling logic (a combination of performance counters and
branch profiling logic) may record the number of times or the
"hotness" of a region. BT processor 102 may invoke binary
translator 110 to select and translate the "hot" region for code
optimization. In one embodiment, a code region corresponds to a
control flow graph (CFG) region of the code which forms the basic
unit on which the binary translator 110 can operate. Responsive to
completing the translation, binary translator 110 may store the
translated code 116 in the translation cache and store a mapping
between the un-translated code 114 and the translated code 116 in
an entry of a the full set of mappings in far memory and optionally
also in the translation table in the BT Processor 102. The mapping
may be used in subsequent code execution to identify the translated
code.
[0027] The code translation may be carried out using several rounds
of optimizations from less optimized (thus requiring less
translation time) to more optimized (thus requiring more
translation time). In the first cut of translation, the seminally
translated code is less optimized. After executing the seminally
translated code for a pre-determined number of times, the seminally
translated code may be further translated (with further
optimization) as processor 102 may determine with a higher
confidence level that the code region is worthy investing more
resources for further optimization (or further translation). This
is referred to as geared translation. Each round of translation is
associated with a gear level. The higher gear translations are
typically more optimized than lower gear translations.
[0028] During the execution of code, translation table (TT)
controller 112 may include TT control circuit 130 to determine,
based on a translation table, whether a region of un-translated
code 114 has a corresponding region of translated code that can be
executed by translation code execution unit 120. In some
implementations, the translation table includes one or more entries
to store the mappings between regions in un-translated code 114 and
the corresponding regions of translated code 116 in the translation
cache. For example, each entry may store the starting address of a
code region in un-translated code 114 and the starting address of
the corresponding region in translated code 108. Thus, TT control
circuit 130 may look up the translated code as a response to
identifying the un-translated code to be executed (e.g., in the
program counter). Although these TT entries may provide the
mappings between regions of un-translated code 114 and translated
code 116, these entries do not provide hints as to which entry is
most suitable for eviction when a new entry is to be added to a
filled translation table. This may lead to eviction of more useful
entries over less useful entries for translation, thereby resulting
in processor performance loss (e.g., lower coverage). A TT entry is
more useful if the translated code pointed to by this entry is more
likely to be executed.
[0029] Embodiments of the present disclosure expand TT entries 124
with one or more attribute values encoding information about the
code (both un-translated code and the translated code) and the
status of the code execution. These attribute values may be derived
from code translation by the binary translator or from execution of
translated code 116. Thus, TT control circuit 130 may use these
attribute values to select the least useful entries to evict from
the translation table 122, thus improving the coverage of BT
processor 102.
[0030] As shown in FIG. 1, TT controller 112 may include TT control
circuit 130 which may determine whether there is a TT hit using an
extended translation table (ETT) 122. Extended translation table
122 includes additional types of attribute values than a
translation table. ETT 122 may be stored in a hardware structure
associated with (either as part of or coupled to) TT controller
112. In one embodiment, ETT 122 may be an internal hardware feature
of BT processor 102 that is not exposed to software applications.
ETT 122 may include one or more entries 124 for storing the mapping
between corresponding regions in un-translated code 114 and
translated code 116. Additionally, each entry 124 in ETT 122 may be
associated with an attribute field 128 for storing attribute values
that can be used to improve the coverage of BT processor 102.
[0031] FIG. 2 illustrates an entry 200 of an extended translation
table according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As
shown in FIG. 2, entry 200 may include a mapping field 202 and an
attribute field 204. Mapping field 202 may include an un-translated
code address sub-field 206 for storing the starting memory address
of a region of un-translated code, and a translated code address
sub-field 208 for storing the starting memory address of the region
of the corresponding translated code. The value pair ("oxABCD" and
"0xWXYZABCD") stored in the sub-fields 206, 208 forms the mapping
between a region of un-translated code and a region of translated
code.
[0032] Attribute field 204 of entry 200 may further include
sub-fields for storing attribute values such as, for example, a hit
count sub-field 210 for storing a hit count attribute value, a loop
sub-field 220 for storing a loop attribute value, a dynamic
execution count sub-field 222 for storing a dynamic execution count
attribute value, a gear level sub-field 224 for storing a gear
level attribute value, and a prefetch status sub-field 226 for
storing a prefetch attribute value. Additionally, entry 200 may
still be associated with a least-recently used (LRU) attribute
value 228.
[0033] These attribute values may indicate different aspects of the
code executing on BT processor 102. In one embodiment, TT control
circuit 130 as shown in FIG. 1 may monitor the code execution by
instruction execution circuit 106 and update these attribute values
through the code execution. The hit count attribute value of
sub-field 210 may indicate the number of times that the mapping 202
of the entry 200 is used for code translation (i.e., the number of
TT hits). Entries with higher hit count may indicate that these
entries are more useful for finding and executing translated code
over entries with lower hit counts, and are thus prioritized for
retention during TT entry eviction.
[0034] The loop attribute value stored in sub-field 220 may be a
bit flag that, when set (e.g., to "1"), indicate that the region of
the translated code associated with mapping 202 contains a loop
(i.e., the execution of a sequence of instructions that is repeated
iteratively until a condition is met). The entries associated with
a loop may also be prioritized for retention during TT entry
eviction over those not associated with a loop because code
translation for a loop is likely to increase the coverage of number
of translated instructions executed.
[0035] The dynamic execution count attribute value stored in
sub-field 222 may indicate the ratio between the number of
instructions in the code region over the number of conditional
branches in the code region, where each branch in the code may
include one or more instructions the execution of which depends on
whether a condition is met. The dynamic execution count attribute
value may reflect the effective size of the code region when the
translated code is executed. For example, the dynamic execution
count of the translated code region that contains two conditional
blocks of instructions (each with 10 instructions) may have a
smaller dynamic execution count than the code region that contains
a single block of twenty instructions with no condition. The reason
is that, when the translated code of the first scenario (two
conditional blocks of 10 instructions) is executed, it is certain
that a branch termination would lead to outside of the translated
code, thus reducing the effective size of the translated code
region to only 10 instructions. The second scenario of a single
block of 20 instructions would guarantee 20 instructions being
executed as translated code. Entries with higher dynamic execution
count attribute value may be prioritized for retention during TT
entry eviction over those with lower dynamic execution count
attribute value.
[0036] The gear level attribute value stored in sub-field 224 may
represent the number of rounds of optimizations performed in a
tiered code translation system. Entries associated with a higher
gear level (more optimization rounds performed) may be prioritized
over entries with a lower gear level for retention during TT entry
eviction because it is assumed that more rounds of optimization
generate more efficient code.
[0037] The prefetch attribute value stored in sub-field 226 may be
a bit flag to indicate whether the entry is one that has been
prefetched into the translation table from the full set of
translation mappings stored in the memory (or a higher level cache
such as the last level cache (LLC)). The prefetch attribute value,
when set (e.g., to "1"), may indicate that the entry has been
prefetched from the memory to the translation table before it is
being used to increase the coverage. For example, the prefetching
may take place based on occurrence of certain trigger events (e.g.,
instruction translation lookaside buffer (TLB) miss event). The
entry is prefetched from the full set of mappings stored in the far
memory to the translation table under the assumption that it might
be used sometime in the near future. But the new entry being
inserted into the translation table will be used immediately. Hence
entries associated with the prefetch attribute value set are
prioritized for eviction from the TT over entries with the prefetch
attribute value not set.
[0038] The LRU attribute value 228 may indicate the time that the
entry 200 is last used by TT control circuit 130 to look up code
translation. The LRU attribute value 228 is recorded by the
hardware translation cache each time the entry is accessed by TT
control circuit 130. Thus, LRU attribute value 228 is not written
by TT control circuit 130 based on monitoring the code execution.
The entries associated with a lower LRU attribute value 228 may be
prioritized for retention during TT entry eviction.
[0039] Referring to FIG. 1, in one embodiment, TT control circuit
130 may include policy circuit 132 implementing a replacement
policy based on attribute values stored in attribute field 128. The
replacement policy may include rules using these attribute values
for selecting a victim entry for eviction. For example, the rules
can be implemented as a decision logic (implemented in software or
hardware) relating to the retention of entries associated with a
loop over one without a loop. FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary
replacement policy 300 for selecting victim entries based on
associated attribute values according to an embodiment of the
present disclosure.
[0040] At 302, the TT control circuit 130 may start the policy
circuit 132. At 304, policy circuit 132 may a request to add a new
entry to the extended translation table 122. Responsive to
receiving the request, at 306, policy circuit 132 may determine
whether there is a free slot in the extended translation table to
accommodate the new entry. At 308, responsive to determining that
there is a free slot in the extended translation table 122, T
control circuit 130 may place the new entry in the free slot.
[0041] Responsive to determining that there is no free slot in the
extended translation table at 306, policy circuit 132 may need to
identify a victim entry in the extended translation table 122 as
the candidate to evict from the translation table 122. In one
embodiment, the victim is selected based on the attribute values
associated with each entry.
[0042] In one embodiment, policy circuit 132 may first try to
identify the victim entry based on the hit count attribute values
associated with entries. Instead of operating on each hit count
value, the hit count values are grouped into several bands. Each
band covers a hit count value range. Thus, each band may be
associated with several entries that are associated with hit count
attribute values within the band. At 310, policy circuit 132 may
identify entries associated with the lowest hit count value band as
potential victim candidates. At 312, policy circuit 132 may
determine whether the number of potential candidates is a
predetermined value M (e.g., M=1). Responsive to determining that
the number of potential victim candidates is one, at 330, policy
circuit 132 may select the sole candidate as the victim for
eviction.
[0043] Responsive to determining that that the number of potential
victim candidates is not one (either zero or more than one), policy
circuit 132 may compare the loop indicator associated with the code
region specified by the new entry with loop attribute values in
entries of the extended translation table 122. At 314, policy
circuit 132 may identify those extended translation table entries
the loop attribute values of which are no more than the loop
attribute value of the new entry (i.e., if the new entry has no
loops, the identified extended TT entries have no loops; if the new
entry has loops, the identified extended TT entries can have or
have no loops). At 316, policy circuit 132 may determine whether
the number of identified extended translation table entries is a
predetermined value M (e.g., M=1). Responsive to determining that
the number is one, at 330, policy circuit 132 may select the sole
candidate as the victim entry for eviction.
[0044] Responsive to determining that the number of identified
extended translation table entries is not one, policy circuit 132
may determine the dynamic execution count attribute value of the
code region associated with the new entry and compare the dynamic
execution count value of the new entry with the dynamic execution
count attribute values stored in the extended translation table
entries. At 318, policy circuit 132 may identify, as potential
eviction victim candidates, extended translation table entries with
the dynamic execution count attribute values that are no more than
the dynamic execution count value of the new entry. At 320, policy
circuit 132 may determine whether the number of potential eviction
victim candidates is a predetermined value M (e.g., M=1).
Responsive to determining that the number of potential eviction
victim candidates is one, at 330, policy circuit 132 may select the
sole candidate as the victim entry for eviction.
[0045] Responsive to determining that the number of potential
eviction victim candidates is not one, policy circuit 132 may
determine the gear level of the code region associated with the new
entry. AT 322, policy circuit 132 may identify, as potential
eviction victim candidates, extended translation table entries with
the gear level attribute values that are no more than the gear
level of the new entry. At 324, policy circuit 132 may determine
whether the number of potential eviction victim candidates is a
predetermined value M (e.g., M=1). Responsive to determining that
the number of potential eviction victim candidates is one, at 330,
policy circuit 132 may select the sole candidate as the victim
entry for eviction.
[0046] Responsive to determining that the number of potential
eviction victim candidates is not one, at 326, policy circuit 132
may identify, as potential eviction victim candidates, the extended
translation table entries whose the prefetch attribute values are
not set (i.e., those non-prefetch entries). At 328, policy circuit
132 may determine whether the number of potential eviction victim
candidates is a predetermined value M (e.g., M=1). Responsive to
determining that the number of potential eviction victim candidates
is one, at 330, policy circuit 132 may select the sole candidate as
the victim entry for eviction. Responsive to determining that the
number of potential eviction victim candidates is not one, at 322,
the policy circuit 132 may apply a replacement algorithm (e.g. the
least-recently used (LRU) policy or random replacement policy etc.)
on the potential eviction victim candidates to determine the victim
entry. If the number of potential eviction victim candidates is
zero, the replacement algorithm is used as default on all of the
entries in the extended translation table 122.
[0047] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a method 400 to update an
extended translation table entry according to an embodiment of the
present disclosure. Method 400 may be performed by processing logic
that may include hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic,
programmable logic, microcode, etc.), software (such as
instructions run on a processing device, a general purpose computer
system, or a dedicated machine), firmware, or a combination
thereof. In one embodiment, method 400 may be performed, in part,
by TT controller 112, as shown in FIG. 1.
[0048] For simplicity of explanation, the method 400 is depicted
and described as a series of acts. However, acts in accordance with
this disclosure can occur in various orders and/or concurrently and
with other acts not presented and described herein. Furthermore,
not all illustrated acts may be performed to implement the method
400 in accordance with the disclosed subject matter. In addition,
those skilled in the art will understand and appreciate that the
method 400 could alternatively be represented as a series of
interrelated states via a state diagram or events.
[0049] Referring to FIG. 4, the TT controller of a
binary-translation based processor, at 402, may monitor execution
of a second code translated from a first code.
[0050] At 404, the TT controller may update, based on a performance
metric of the execution, an attribute value of the TT entry. The
attribute value may include at least of a TT hit count attribute
value representing a number of times that the mapping has been used
to translate the first code to the second code, a loop attribute
value indicating whether there are instruction loops in the first
code, a dynamic execution count attribute value representing a
number of instructions in the first code divided by a number of
conditional branches in the first code, a gear level attribute
value representing a number of rounds of optimization in
translating the first code to the second code, or a prefetch
attribute value indicating whether the entry is prefetched from a
full list of mappings stored in the memory.
[0051] FIG. 5A is a block diagram illustrating a micro-architecture
for a processor 500 that implements the processing device including
heterogeneous cores in accordance with one embodiment of the
disclosure. Specifically, processor 500 depicts an in-order
architecture core and a register renaming logic, out-of-order
issue/execution logic to be included in a processor according to at
least one embodiment of the disclosure.
[0052] Processor 500 includes a front end unit 530 coupled to an
execution engine unit 550, and both are coupled to a memory unit
570. The processor 500 may include a reduced instruction set
computing (RISC) core, a complex instruction set computing (CISC)
core, a very long instruction word (VLIW) core, or a hybrid or
alternative core type. As yet another option, processor 500 may
include a special-purpose core, such as, for example, a network or
communication core, compression engine, graphics core, or the like.
In one embodiment, processor 500 may be a multi-core processor or
may part of a multi-processor system.
[0053] The front end unit 530 includes a branch prediction unit 532
coupled to an instruction cache unit 534, which is coupled to an
instruction translation lookaside buffer (TLB) 536, which is
coupled to an instruction fetch unit 538, which is coupled to a
decode unit 540. The decode unit 540 (also known as a decoder) may
decode instructions, and generate as an output one or more
micro-operations, micro-code entry points, microinstructions, other
instructions, or other control signals, which are decoded from, or
which otherwise reflect, or are derived from, the original
instructions. The decoder 540 may be implemented using various
different mechanisms. Examples of suitable mechanisms include, but
are not limited to, look-up tables, hardware implementations,
programmable logic arrays (PLAs), microcode read only memories
(ROMs), etc. The instruction cache unit 534 is further coupled to
the memory unit 570. The decode unit 540 is coupled to a
rename/allocator unit 552 in the execution engine unit 550.
[0054] The execution engine unit 550 includes the rename/allocator
unit 552 coupled to a retirement unit 554 and a set of one or more
scheduler unit(s) 556. The scheduler unit(s) 556 represents any
number of different schedulers, including reservations stations
(RS), central instruction window, etc. The scheduler unit(s) 556 is
coupled to the physical register file(s) unit(s) 558. Each of the
physical register file(s) units 558 represents one or more physical
register files, different ones of which store one or more different
data types, such as scalar integer, scalar floating point, packed
integer, packed floating point, vector integer, vector floating
point, etc., status (e.g., an instruction pointer that is the
address of the next instruction to be executed), etc. The physical
register file(s) unit(s) 558 is overlapped by the retirement unit
554 to illustrate various ways in which register renaming and
out-of-order execution may be implemented (e.g., using a reorder
buffer(s) and a retirement register file(s), using a future
file(s), a history buffer(s), and a retirement register file(s);
using a register maps and a pool of registers; etc.).
[0055] In one implementation, processor 500 may be the same as
processor 102 described with respect to FIG. 1.
[0056] Generally, the architectural registers are visible from the
outside of the processor or from a programmer's perspective. The
registers are not limited to any known particular type of circuit.
Various different types of registers are suitable as long as they
are capable of storing and providing data as described herein.
Examples of suitable registers include, but are not limited to,
dedicated physical registers, dynamically allocated physical
registers using register renaming, combinations of dedicated and
dynamically allocated physical registers, etc. The retirement unit
554 and the physical register file(s) unit(s) 558 are coupled to
the execution cluster(s) 560. The execution cluster(s) 560 includes
a set of one or more execution units 562 and a set of one or more
memory access units 564. The execution units 562 may perform
various operations (e.g., shifts, addition, subtraction,
multiplication) and operate on various types of data (e.g., scalar
floating point, packed integer, packed floating point, vector
integer, vector floating point).
[0057] While some embodiments may include a number of execution
units dedicated to specific functions or sets of functions, other
embodiments may include only one execution unit or multiple
execution units that all perform all functions. The scheduler
unit(s) 556, physical register file(s) unit(s) 558, and execution
cluster(s) 560 are shown as being possibly plural because certain
embodiments create separate pipelines for certain types of
data/operations (e.g., a scalar integer pipeline, a scalar floating
point/packed integer/packed floating point/vector integer/vector
floating point pipeline, and/or a memory access pipeline that each
have their own scheduler unit, physical register file(s) unit,
and/or execution cluster--and in the case of a separate memory
access pipeline, certain embodiments are implemented in which only
the execution cluster of this pipeline has the memory access
unit(s) 564). It should also be understood that where separate
pipelines are used, one or more of these pipelines may be
out-of-order issue/execution and the rest in-order.
[0058] The set of memory access units 564 is coupled to the memory
unit 570, which may include a data prefetcher 580, a data TLB unit
572, a data cache unit (DCU) 574, and a level 2 (L2) cache unit
576, to name a few examples. In some embodiments DCU 574 is also
known as a first level data cache (L1 cache). The DCU 574 may
handle multiple outstanding cache misses and continue to service
incoming stores and loads. It also supports maintaining cache
coherency. The data TLB unit 572 is a cache used to improve virtual
address translation speed by mapping virtual and physical address
spaces. In one exemplary embodiment, the memory access units 564
may include a load unit, a store address unit, and a store data
unit, each of which is coupled to the data TLB unit 572 in the
memory unit 570. The L2 cache unit 576 may be coupled to one or
more other levels of cache and eventually to a main memory.
[0059] In one embodiment, the data prefetcher 580 speculatively
loads/prefetches data to the DCU 574 by automatically predicting
which data a program is about to consume. Prefeteching may refer to
transferring data stored in one memory location of a memory
hierarchy (e.g., lower level caches or memory) to a higher-level
memory location that is closer (e.g., yields lower access latency)
to the processor before the data is actually demanded by the
processor. More specifically, prefetching may refer to the early
retrieval of data from one of the lower level caches/memory to a
data cache and/or prefetch buffer before the processor issues a
demand for the specific data being returned.
[0060] The processor 500 may support one or more instructions sets
(e.g., the x86 instruction set (with some extensions that have been
added with newer versions); the MIPS instruction set of MIPS
Technologies of Sunnyvale, Calif.; the ARM instruction set (with
optional additional extensions such as NEON) of ARM Holdings of
Sunnyvale, Calif.).
[0061] It should be understood that the core may support
multithreading (executing two or more parallel sets of operations
or threads), and may do so in a variety of ways including time
sliced multithreading, simultaneous multithreading (where a single
physical core provides a logical core for each of the threads that
physical core is simultaneously multithreading), or a combination
thereof (e.g., time sliced fetching and decoding and simultaneous
multithreading thereafter such as in the Intel.RTM. Hyperthreading
technology).
[0062] While register renaming is described in the context of
out-of-order execution, it should be understood that register
renaming may be used in an in-order architecture. While the
illustrated embodiment of the processor also includes a separate
instruction and data cache units and a shared L2 cache unit,
alternative embodiments may have a single internal cache for both
instructions and data, such as, for example, a Level 1 (L1)
internal cache, or multiple levels of internal cache. In some
embodiments, the system may include a combination of an internal
cache and an external cache that is external to the core and/or the
processor. Alternatively, all of the cache may be external to the
core and/or the processor.
[0063] FIG. 5B is a block diagram illustrating an in-order pipeline
and a register renaming stage, out-of-order issue/execution
pipeline implemented by processor 500 of FIG. 5A according to some
embodiments of the disclosure. The solid lined boxes in FIG. 5B
illustrate an in-order pipeline, while the dashed lined boxes
illustrates a register renaming, out-of-order issue/execution
pipeline. In FIG. 5B, a processor 500 as a pipeline includes a
fetch stage 502, a length decode stage 504, a decode stage 506, an
allocation stage 508, a renaming stage 510, a scheduling (also
known as a dispatch or issue) stage 512, a register read/memory
read stage 514, an execute stage 516, a write back/memory write
stage 518, an exception handling stage 522, and a commit stage 524.
In some embodiments, the ordering of stages 502-524 may be
different than illustrated and are not limited to the specific
ordering shown in FIG. 5B.
[0064] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of the micro-architecture
for a processor 600 that includes hybrid cores in accordance with
one embodiment of the disclosure. In some embodiments, an
instruction in accordance with one embodiment can be implemented to
operate on data elements having sizes of byte, word, doubleword,
quadword, etc., as well as datatypes, such as single and double
precision integer and floating point datatypes. In one embodiment
the in-order front end 601 is the part of the processor 600 that
fetches instructions to be executed and prepares them to be used
later in the processor pipeline.
[0065] The front end 601 may include several units. In one
embodiment, the instruction prefetcher 626 fetches instructions
from memory and feeds them to an instruction decoder 628 which in
turn decodes or interprets them. For example, in one embodiment,
the decoder decodes a received instruction into one or more
operations called "micro-instructions" or "micro-operations" (also
called micro op or uops) that the machine can execute. In other
embodiments, the decoder parses the instruction into an opcode and
corresponding data and control fields that are used by the
micro-architecture to perform operations in accordance with one
embodiment. In one embodiment, the trace cache 630 takes decoded
uops and assembles them into program ordered sequences or traces in
the uop queue 634 for execution. When the trace cache 630
encounters a complex instruction, the microcode ROM 632 provides
the uops needed to complete the operation.
[0066] Some instructions are converted into a single micro-op,
whereas others need several micro-ops to complete the full
operation. In one embodiment, if more than four micro-ops are
needed to complete an instruction, the decoder 628 accesses the
microcode ROM 632 to do the instruction. For one embodiment, an
instruction can be decoded into a small number of micro ops for
processing at the instruction decoder 628. In another embodiment,
an instruction can be stored within the microcode ROM 632 should a
number of micro-ops be needed to accomplish the operation. The
trace cache 630 refers to an entry point programmable logic array
(PLA) to determine a correct micro-instruction pointer for reading
the micro-code sequences to complete one or more instructions in
accordance with one embodiment from the micro-code ROM 632. After
the microcode ROM 632 finishes sequencing micro-ops for an
instruction, the front end 601 of the machine resumes fetching
micro-ops from the trace cache 630.
[0067] The out-of-order execution engine 603 is where the
instructions are prepared for execution. The out-of-order execution
logic has a number of buffers to smooth out and re-order the flow
of instructions to optimize performance as they go down the
pipeline and get scheduled for execution. The allocator logic
allocates the machine buffers and resources that each uop needs in
order to execute. The register renaming logic renames logic
registers onto entries in a register file. The allocator also
allocates an entry for each uop in one of the two uop queues, one
for memory operations and one for non-memory operations, in front
of the instruction schedulers: memory scheduler, fast scheduler
602, slow/general floating point scheduler 604, and simple floating
point scheduler 606. The uop schedulers 602, 604, 606, determine
when a uop is ready to execute based on the readiness of their
dependent input register operand sources and the availability of
the execution resources the uops need to complete their operation.
The fast scheduler 602 of one embodiment can schedule on each half
of the main clock cycle while the other schedulers can only
schedule once per main processor clock cycle. The schedulers
arbitrate for the dispatch ports to schedule uops for
execution.
[0068] Register files 608, 610, sit between the schedulers 602,
604, 606, and the execution units 612, 614, 616, 618, 620, 622, 624
in the execution block 611. There is a separate register file 608,
610, for integer and floating point operations, respectively. Each
register file 608, 610, of one embodiment also includes a bypass
network that can bypass or forward just completed results that have
not yet been written into the register file to new dependent uops.
The integer register file 608 and the floating point register file
610 are also capable of communicating data with the other. For one
embodiment, the integer register file 608 is split into two
separate register files, one register file for the low order 32
bits of data and a second register file for the high order 32 bits
of data. The floating point register file 610 of one embodiment has
128 bit wide entries because floating point instructions typically
have operands from 64 to 128 bits in width.
[0069] The execution block 611 contains the execution units 612,
614, 616, 618, 620, 622, 624, where the instructions are actually
executed. This section includes the register files 608, 610, that
store the integer and floating point data operand values that the
micro-instructions need to execute. The processor 600 of one
embodiment is comprised of a number of execution units: address
generation unit (AGU) 612, AGU 614, fast ALU 616, fast ALU 618,
slow ALU 620, floating point ALU 622, floating point move unit 624.
For one embodiment, the floating point execution blocks 622, 624,
execute floating point, MMX, SIMD, and SSE, or other operations.
The floating point ALU 622 of one embodiment includes a 64 bit by
64 bit floating point divider to execute divide, square root, and
remainder micro-ops. For embodiments of the present disclosure,
instructions involving a floating point value may be handled with
the floating point hardware.
[0070] In one embodiment, the ALU operations go to the high-speed
ALU execution units 616, 618. The fast ALUs 616, 618, of one
embodiment can execute fast operations with an effective latency of
half a clock cycle. For one embodiment, most complex integer
operations go to the slow ALU 620 as the slow ALU 620 includes
integer execution hardware for long latency type of operations,
such as a multiplier, shifts, flag logic, and branch processing.
Memory load/store operations are executed by the AGUs 612, 614. For
one embodiment, the integer ALUs 616, 618, 620, are described in
the context of performing integer operations on 64 bit data
operands. In alternative embodiments, the ALUs 616, 618, 620, can
be implemented to support a variety of data bits including 16, 32,
128, 256, etc. Similarly, the floating point units 622, 624, can be
implemented to support a range of operands having bits of various
widths. For one embodiment, the floating point units 622, 624, can
operate on 128 bits wide packed data operands in conjunction with
SIMD and multimedia instructions.
[0071] In one embodiment, the uops schedulers 602, 604, 606,
dispatch dependent operations before the parent load has finished
executing. As uops are speculatively scheduled and executed in
processor 600, the processor 600 also includes logic to handle
memory misses. If a data load misses in the data cache, there can
be dependent operations in flight in the pipeline that have left
the scheduler with temporarily incorrect data. A replay mechanism
tracks and re-executes instructions that use incorrect data. Only
the dependent operations need to be replayed and the independent
ones are allowed to complete. The schedulers and replay mechanism
of one embodiment of a processor are also designed to catch
instruction sequences for text string comparison operations.
[0072] The processor 600 also includes logic to implement store
address prediction for memory disambiguation according to
embodiments of the disclosure. In one embodiment, the execution
block 611 of processor 600 may include a store address predictor
(not shown) for implementing store address prediction for memory
disambiguation.
[0073] The term "registers" may refer to the on-board processor
storage locations that are used as part of instructions to identify
operands. In other words, registers may be those that are usable
from the outside of the processor (from a programmer's
perspective). However, the registers of an embodiment should not be
limited in meaning to a particular type of circuit. Rather, a
register of an embodiment is capable of storing and providing data,
and performing the functions described herein. The registers
described herein can be implemented by circuitry within a processor
using any number of different techniques, such as dedicated
physical registers, dynamically allocated physical registers using
register renaming, combinations of dedicated and dynamically
allocated physical registers, etc. In one embodiment, integer
registers store thirty-two bit integer data. A register file of one
embodiment also contains eight multimedia SIMD registers for packed
data.
[0074] For the discussions below, the registers are understood to
be data registers designed to hold packed data, such as 64 bits
wide MMX.TM. registers (also referred to as `mm` registers in some
instances) in microprocessors enabled with MMX technology from
Intel Corporation of Santa Clara, Calif. These MMX registers,
available in both integer and floating point forms, can operate
with packed data elements that accompany SIMD and SSE instructions.
Similarly, 128 bits wide XMM registers relating to SSE2, SSE3,
SSE4, or beyond (referred to generically as "SSEx") technology can
also be used to hold such packed data operands. In one embodiment,
in storing packed data and integer data, the registers do not need
to differentiate between the two data types. In one embodiment,
integer and floating point are either contained in the same
register file or different register files. Furthermore, in one
embodiment, floating point and integer data may be stored in
different registers or the same registers.
[0075] Referring now to FIG. 7, shown is a block diagram
illustrating a system 700 in which an embodiment of the disclosure
may be used. As shown in FIG. 7, multiprocessor system 700 is a
point-to-point interconnect system, and includes a first processor
770 and a second processor 780 coupled via a point-to-point
interconnect 750. While shown with only two processors 770, 780, it
is to be understood that the scope of embodiments of the disclosure
is not so limited. In other embodiments, one or more additional
processors may be present in a given processor. In one embodiment,
the multiprocessor system 700 may implement hybrid cores as
described herein.
[0076] Processors 770 and 780 are shown including integrated memory
controller units 772 and 782, respectively. Processor 770 also
includes as part of its bus controller units point-to-point (P-P)
interfaces 776 and 778; similarly, second processor 780 includes
P-P interfaces 786 and 788. Processors 770, 780 may exchange
information via a point-to-point (P-P) interface 750 using P-P
interface circuits 778, 788. As shown in FIG. 7, IMCs 772 and 782
couple the processors to respective memories, namely a memory 732
and a memory 734, which may be portions of main memory locally
attached to the respective processors.
[0077] Processors 770, 780 may each exchange information with a
chipset 790 via individual P-P interfaces 752, 754 using point to
point interface circuits 776, 794, 786, 798. Chipset 790 may also
exchange information with a high-performance graphics circuit 738
via a high-performance graphics interface 739.
[0078] A shared cache (not shown) may be included in either
processor or outside of both processors, yet connected with the
processors via P-P interconnect, such that either or both
processors' local cache information may be stored in the shared
cache if a processor is placed into a low power mode.
[0079] Chipset 790 may be coupled to a first bus 716 via an
interface 796. In one embodiment, first bus 716 may be a Peripheral
Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, or a bus such as a PCI Express
bus or another third generation I/O interconnect bus, although the
scope of the present disclosure is not so limited.
[0080] As shown in FIG. 7, various I/O devices 714 may be coupled
to first bus 716, along with a bus bridge 718 which couples first
bus 716 to a second bus 720. In one embodiment, second bus 720 may
be a low pin count (LPC) bus. Various devices may be coupled to
second bus 720 including, for example, a keyboard and/or mouse 722,
communication devices 727 and a storage unit 728 such as a disk
drive or other mass storage device which may include
instructions/code and data 730, in one embodiment. Further, an
audio I/O 724 may be coupled to second bus 720. Note that other
architectures are possible. For example, instead of the
point-to-point architecture of FIG. 7, a system may implement a
multi-drop bus or other such architecture.
[0081] Referring now to FIG. 8, shown is a block diagram of a
system 800 in which one embodiment of the disclosure may operate.
The system 800 may include one or more processors 810, 815, which
are coupled to graphics memory controller hub (GMCH) 820. The
optional nature of additional processors 815 is denoted in FIG. 8
with broken lines. In one embodiment, processors 810, 815 implement
hybrid cores according to embodiments of the disclosure.
[0082] Each processor 810, 815 may be some version of the circuit,
integrated circuit, processor, and/or silicon integrated circuit as
described above. However, it should be noted that it is unlikely
that integrated graphics logic and integrated memory control units
would exist in the processors 810, 815. FIG. 8 illustrates that the
GMCH 820 may be coupled to a memory 840 that may be, for example, a
dynamic random access memory (DRAM). The DRAM may, for at least one
embodiment, be associated with a non-volatile cache.
[0083] The GMCH 820 may be a chipset, or a portion of a chipset.
The GMCH 820 may communicate with the processor(s) 810, 815 and
control interaction between the processor(s) 810, 815 and memory
840. The GMCH 820 may also act as an accelerated bus interface
between the processor(s) 810, 815 and other elements of the system
800. For at least one embodiment, the GMCH 820 communicates with
the processor(s) 810, 815 via a multi-drop bus, such as a frontside
bus (FSB) 895.
[0084] Furthermore, GMCH 820 is coupled to a display 845 (such as a
flat panel or touchscreen display). GMCH 820 may include an
integrated graphics accelerator. GMCH 820 is further coupled to an
input/output (I/O) controller hub (ICH) 850, which may be used to
couple various peripheral devices to system 800. Shown for example
in the embodiment of FIG. 8 is an external graphics device 860,
which may be a discrete graphics device, coupled to ICH 850, along
with another peripheral device 870.
[0085] Alternatively, additional or different processors may also
be present in the system 800. For example, additional processor(s)
815 may include additional processors(s) that are the same as
processor 810, additional processor(s) that are heterogeneous or
asymmetric to processor 810, accelerators (such as, e.g., graphics
accelerators or digital signal processing (DSP) units), field
programmable gate arrays, or any other processor. There can be a
variety of differences between the processor(s) 810, 815 in terms
of a spectrum of metrics of merit including architectural,
micro-architectural, thermal, power consumption characteristics,
and the like. These differences may effectively manifest themselves
as asymmetry and heterogeneity amongst the processors 810, 815. For
at least one embodiment, the various processors 810, 815 may reside
in the same die package.
[0086] Referring now to FIG. 9, shown is a block diagram of a
system 900 in which an embodiment of the disclosure may operate.
FIG. 9 illustrates processors 970, 980. In one embodiment,
processors 970, 980 may implement hybrid cores as described above.
Processors 970, 980 may include integrated memory and I/O control
logic ("CL") 972 and 982, respectively and intercommunicate with
each other via point-to-point interconnect 950 between
point-to-point (P-P) interfaces 978 and 988 respectively.
Processors 970, 980 each communicate with chipset 990 via
point-to-point interconnects 952 and 954 through the respective P-P
interfaces 976 to 994 and 986 to 998 as shown. For at least one
embodiment, the CL 972, 982 may include integrated memory
controller units. CLs 972, 982 may include I/O control logic. As
depicted, memories 932, 934 coupled to CLs 972, 982 and I/O devices
914 are also coupled to the control logic 972, 982. Legacy I/O
devices 915 are coupled to the chipset 990 via interface 996.
[0087] Embodiments may be implemented in many different system
types. FIG. 10 is a block diagram of a SoC 1000 in accordance with
an embodiment of the present disclosure. Dashed lined boxes are
optional features on more advanced SoCs. In some implementations,
SoC 1000 as shown in FIG. 10 includes features of the SoC 100 as
shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 10, an interconnect unit(s) 1012 is
coupled to: an application processor 1020 which includes a set of
one or more cores 1002A-N and shared cache unit(s) 1006; a system
agent unit 1010; a bus controller unit(s) 1016; an integrated
memory controller unit(s) 1014; a set or one or more media
processors 1018 which may include integrated graphics logic 1008,
an image processor 1024 for providing still and/or video camera
functionality, an audio processor 1026 for providing hardware audio
acceleration, and a video processor 1028 for providing video
encode/decode acceleration; an static random access memory (SRAM)
unit 1030; a direct memory access (DMA) unit 1032; and a display
unit 1040 for coupling to one or more external displays. In one
embodiment, a memory module may be included in the integrated
memory controller unit(s) 1014. In another embodiment, the memory
module may be included in one or more other components of the SoC
1000 that may be used to access and/or control a memory. The
application processor 1020 may include a store address predictor
for implementing hybrid cores as described in embodiments
herein.
[0088] The memory hierarchy includes one or more levels of cache
within the cores, a set or one or more shared cache units 1006, and
external memory (not shown) coupled to the set of integrated memory
controller units 1014. The set of shared cache units 1006 may
include one or more mid-level caches, such as level 2 (L2), level 3
(L3), level 4 (L4), or other levels of cache, a last level cache
(LLC), and/or combinations thereof.
[0089] In some embodiments, one or more of the cores 1002A-N are
capable of multi-threading. The system agent 1010 includes those
components coordinating and operating cores 1002A-N. The system
agent unit 1010 may include for example a power control unit (PCU)
and a display unit. The PCU may be or include logic and components
needed for regulating the power state of the cores 1002A-N and the
integrated graphics logic 1008. The display unit is for driving one
or more externally connected displays.
[0090] The cores 1002A-N may be homogenous or heterogeneous in
terms of architecture and/or instruction set. For example, some of
the cores 1002A-N may be in order while others are out-of-order. As
another example, two or more of the cores 1002A-N may be capable of
execution the same instruction set, while others may be capable of
executing only a subset of that instruction set or a different
instruction set.
[0091] The application processor 1020 may be a general-purpose
processor, such as a Core.TM. i3, i5, i7, 2 Duo and Quad, Xeon.TM.,
Itanium.TM., Atom.TM. or Quark.TM. processor, which are available
from Intel.TM. Corporation, of Santa Clara, Calif. Alternatively,
the application processor 1020 may be from another company, such as
ARM Holdings.TM., Ltd, MIPS.TM., etc. The application processor
1020 may be a special-purpose processor, such as, for example, a
network or communication processor, compression engine, graphics
processor, co-processor, embedded processor, or the like. The
application processor 1020 may be implemented on one or more chips.
The application processor 1020 may be a part of and/or may be
implemented on one or more substrates using any of a number of
process technologies, such as, for example, BiCMOS, CMOS, or
NMOS.
[0092] FIG. 11 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a system
on-chip (SoC) design in accordance with the present disclosure. As
a specific illustrative example, SoC 1100 is included in user
equipment (UE). In one embodiment, UE refers to any device to be
used by an end-user to communicate, such as a hand-held phone,
smartphone, tablet, ultra-thin notebook, notebook with broadband
adapter, or any other similar communication device. Often a UE
connects to a base station or node, which potentially corresponds
in nature to a mobile station (MS) in a GSM network.
[0093] Here, SOC 1100 includes 2 cores--1106 and 1107. Cores 1106
and 1107 may conform to an Instruction Set Architecture, such as an
Intel.RTM. Architecture Core.TM.-based processor, an Advanced Micro
Devices, Inc. (AMD) processor, a MIPS-based processor, an ARM-based
processor design, or a customer thereof, as well as their licensees
or adopters. Cores 1106 and 1107 are coupled to cache control 1108
that is associated with bus interface unit 1109 and L2 cache 1110
to communicate with other parts of system 1100. Interconnect 1110
includes an on-chip interconnect, such as an IOSF, AMBA, or other
interconnect discussed above, which potentially implements one or
more aspects of the described disclosure. In one embodiment, cores
1106, 1107 may implement hybrid cores as described in embodiments
herein.
[0094] Interconnect 1110 provides communication channels to the
other components, such as a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) 1130
to interface with a SIM card, a boot ROM 1135 to hold boot code for
execution by cores 1106 and 1107 to initialize and boot SoC 1100, a
SDRAM controller 1140 to interface with external memory (e.g. DRAM
1160), a flash controller 1145 to interface with non-volatile
memory (e.g. Flash 1165), a peripheral control 1150 (e.g. Serial
Peripheral Interface) to interface with peripherals, video codecs
1120 and Video interface 1125 to display and receive input (e.g.
touch enabled input), GPU 1115 to perform graphics related
computations, etc. Any of these interfaces may incorporate aspects
of the disclosure described herein. In addition, the system 1100
illustrates peripherals for communication, such as a Bluetooth
module 1170, 3G modem 1175, GPS 1180, and Wi-Fi 1185.
[0095] FIG. 12 illustrates a diagrammatic representation of a
machine in the example form of a computer system 1200 within which
a set of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any one
or more of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed. In
alternative embodiments, the machine may be connected (e.g.,
networked) to other machines in a LAN, an intranet, an extranet, or
the Internet. The machine may operate in the capacity of a server
or a client device in a client-server network environment, or as a
peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network
environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet
PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a
cellular telephone, a web appliance, a server, a network router,
switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of
instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be
taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is
illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any
collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set
(or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of
the methodologies discussed herein.
[0096] The computer system 1200 includes a processing device 1202,
a main memory 1204 (e.g., read-only memory (ROM), flash memory,
dynamic random access memory (DRAM) (such as synchronous DRAM
(SDRAM) or DRAM (RDRAM), etc.), a static memory 1206 (e.g., flash
memory, static random access memory (SRAM), etc.), and a data
storage device 1218, which communicate with each other via a bus
1230.
[0097] Processing device 1202 represents one or more
general-purpose processing devices such as a microprocessor,
central processing unit, or the like. More particularly, the
processing device may be complex instruction set computing (CISC)
microprocessor, reduced instruction set computer (RISC)
microprocessor, very long instruction word (VLIW) microprocessor,
or processor implementing other instruction sets, or processors
implementing a combination of instruction sets. Processing device
1202 may also be one or more special-purpose processing devices
such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field
programmable gate array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DSP),
network processor, or the like. In one embodiment, processing
device 1202 may include one or more processing cores. The
processing device 1202 is configured to execute the processing
logic 1226 for performing the operations and steps discussed
herein. For example, processing logic 1226 may perform operations
as described in FIG. 4. In one embodiment, processing device 1202
is the same as processor architecture 102 described with respect to
FIG. 1 as described herein with embodiments of the disclosure.
[0098] The computer system 1200 may further include a network
interface device 1208 communicably coupled to a network 1220. The
computer system 1200 also may include a video display unit 1210
(e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)),
an alphanumeric input device 1212 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor
control device 1214 (e.g., a mouse), and a signal generation device
1216 (e.g., a speaker). Furthermore, computer system 1200 may
include a graphics processing unit 1222, a video processing unit
1228, and an audio processing unit 1232.
[0099] The data storage device 1218 may include a
machine-accessible storage medium 1224 on which is stored software
1226 implementing any one or more of the methodologies of functions
described herein, such as implementing store address prediction for
memory disambiguation as described above. The software 1226 may
also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main
memory 1204 as instructions 1226 and/or within the processing
device 1202 as processing logic 1226 during execution thereof by
the computer system 1200; the main memory 1204 and the processing
device 1202 also constituting machine-accessible storage media.
[0100] The machine-readable storage medium 1224 may also be used to
store instructions 1226 implementing store address prediction for
hybrid cores such as described according to embodiments of the
disclosure. While the machine-accessible storage medium 1128 is
shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term
"machine-accessible storage medium" should be taken to include a
single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed
database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one
or more sets of instructions. The term "machine-accessible storage
medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable
of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instruction for execution
by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or
more of the methodologies of the present disclosure. The term
"machine-accessible storage medium" shall accordingly be taken to
include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical
and magnetic media.
[0101] The following examples pertain to further embodiments.
Example 1 is a processor comprising an instruction execution
circuit to execute a second code stored at a second address of a
memory, wherein the second code is translated from a first code
stored at a first address of the memory and a translation table
(TT) controller coupled to a TT to store a TT entry comprising a
mapping between the first address and the second address and an
attribute field comprising an attribute value associated with
execution of the second code, wherein the TT controller is to
monitor execution of the second code by the instruction execution
circuit and update, based on a performance metric of the execution,
the attribute value of the TT entry.
[0102] In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 can further
include a binary translator circuit to translate the first code to
the second code, store the second code at the second address of the
memory, and generate the TT entry stored in the translation
table.
[0103] In Example 3, the subject matter of Example 1 can further
provide that the first code is specified according to a first
instruction set architecture, and wherein the second code is
specified according to one of the first instruction set
architecture or a second instruction set architecture.
[0104] In Example 4, the subject matter of Example 1 can further
provide that the TT controller is further to identify, using the
instruction execution circuit, the first code to be executed,
search the translation table to determine whether the TT entry
comprises the mapping between the first code and the second code,
and responsive to determining that TT entry comprises the mapping,
cause the instruction execution circuit to execute the second
code.
[0105] In Example 5, the subject matter of Example 1 can further
provide that the at least one attribute value comprises at least
one of a TT hit count attribute value representing a number of
times that the mapping has been used to translate the first code to
the second code, a loop attribute value indicating whether there
are instruction loops in the first code, a dynamic execution count
attribute value representing a number of instructions in the first
code divided by a number of conditional branches in the first code,
a gear level attribute value representing a number of rounds of
optimization in translating the first code to the second code, or a
prefetch attribute value indicating whether the entry is prefetched
from a full list of mappings stored in the memory.
[0106] In Example 6, the subject matter of Example 1 can further
provide that the TT controller further comprises a replacement
policy circuit to select, based on the at least one attribute
value, an eviction victim entry from a plurality of entries in the
translation table, and evict the eviction victim entry from the
translation table.
[0107] In Example 7, the subject matter of any of Examples 1 and 6
can further provide that the replacement policy circuit to
designate, based on TT hit count attribute values associated with
the plurality of entries, a first entry in the translation table as
the eviction victim entry.
[0108] In Example 8, the subject matter of any of Examples 1 and 6
can further provide that the replacement policy circuit to
determine, based on loop attribute values associated with the
plurality of entries, a first entry in the translation table as the
eviction victim entry.
[0109] In Example 9, the subject matter of any of Examples 1 and 6
can further provide that the replacement policy circuit to
determine, based on dynamic execution count attribute values
associated with the plurality of entries, a first entry in the
translation table as the eviction victim entry.
[0110] In Example 10, the subject matter of any of Examples 1 and 6
can further provide that the replacement policy circuit to
determine, based on gear level attribute values associated with the
plurality of entries, a first entry in the translation table as the
eviction victim entry.
[0111] In Example 11, the subject matter of any of Examples 1 and 6
can further provide that the replacement policy circuit is to
determine, based on prefetch attribute values associated with the
plurality of entries, a first entry in the translation table as the
eviction victim entry.
[0112] Example 12 is a system comprising a memory to store a first
code stored at a first address of a memory and a second code,
translated from the first code, at a second address, a processor
comprising an instruction execution circuit to execute the second
code, and a translation table (TT) controller coupled to a
translation table to store a TT entry comprising a mapping between
the first address and the second address, and an attribute field
comprising an attribute value associated with execution of the
second code, wherein the TT controller is to monitor execution of
the second code by the instruction execution circuit, and update,
based on a performance metric of the execution, the attribute value
of the TT entry.
[0113] In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 12 can further
provide that the processor further comprises a binary translator to
translate the first code to the second code, store the second code
at the second address of the memory, and generate the TT entry
stored in the translation table.
[0114] In Example 14, the subject matter of Example 12 can further
provide that the first code is specified according to a first
instruction set architecture, and wherein the second code is
specified according to one of the first instruction set
architecture or a second instruction set architecture.
[0115] In Example 15, the subject matter of Example 12 can further
provide that the TT controller is further to identify, using the
instruction execution circuit, the first code to be executed,
search the translation table to determine whether the TT entry
comprises the mapping between the first code and the second code,
and responsive to determining that TT entry comprises the mapping,
cause the instruction execution circuit to execute the second
code.
[0116] In Example 16, the subject matter of Example 12 can further
provide that the at least one attribute value comprises at least
one of a TT hit count attribute value representing a number of
times that the mapping has been used to translate the first code to
the second code, a loop attribute value indicating whether there
are instruction loops in the first code, a dynamic execution count
attribute value representing a number of instructions in the first
code divided by a number of conditional branches in the first code,
a gear level attribute value representing a number of rounds of
optimization in translating the first code to the second code, or a
prefetch attribute value indicating whether the entry is prefetched
from a full list of mappings stored in the memory.
[0117] In Example 17, the subject matter of Example 12 can further
provide that the TT controller further comprises a replacement
policy circuit to select, based on the at least one attribute
value, an eviction victim entry from a plurality of entries in the
translation table, and evict the eviction victim entry from the
translation table.
[0118] In Example 18, the subject matter of any of Examples 12 and
17 can further provide that the replacement policy circuit to
designate, based on at least one of TT hit count attribute values,
loop attribute values, dynamic execution count attribute values,
gear level attribute values, prefetch attribute values associated
with the plurality of entries, a first entry as the eviction victim
entry.
[0119] Example 19 is a method comprising monitoring, by a
translation table (TT) controller associated with a binary
translation based (BT) processor, execution of a second code
translated from a first code, and updating, based on a performance
metric of the execution, an attribute value of the TT entry, the
attribute value comprising at least one of a TT hit count attribute
value representing a number of times that the mapping has been used
to translate the first code to the second code, a loop attribute
value indicating whether there are instruction loops in the first
code, a dynamic execution count attribute value representing a
number of instructions in the first code divided by a number of
conditional branches in the first code, a gear level attribute
value representing a number of rounds of optimization in
translating the first code to the second code, or a prefetch
attribute value indicating whether the entry is prefetched from a
full list of mappings stored in the memory.
[0120] In Example 20, the subject matter of Example 19 can further
include selecting, based on the attribute value, an eviction victim
entry from a plurality of entries in the translation table, and
evicting the eviction victim entry from the translation table.
[0121] Example 21 is an apparatus comprising: means for performing
the method of any of Examples 19 to 20.
[0122] Example 22 is a machine-readable non-transitory medium
having stored thereon program code that, when executed, perform
operations comprising monitoring, by a translation table (TT)
controller associated with a binary translation based (BT)
processor, execution of a second code translated from a first code,
and updating, based on a performance metric of the execution, an
attribute value of the TT entry, the attribute value comprising at
least one of a TT hit count attribute value representing a number
of times that the mapping has been used to translate the first code
to the second code, a loop attribute value indicating whether there
are instruction loops in the first code, a dynamic execution count
attribute value representing a number of instructions in the first
code divided by a number of conditional branches in the first code,
a gear level attribute value representing a number of rounds of
optimization in translating the first code to the second code, or a
prefetch attribute value indicating whether the entry is prefetched
from a full list of mappings stored in the memory.
[0123] In Example 23, the subject matter of Example 22 can further
provide that the operations further comprise selecting, based on
the attribute value, an eviction victim entry from a plurality of
entries in the translation table, and evicting the eviction victim
entry from the translation table.
[0124] A design may go through various stages, from creation to
simulation to fabrication. Data representing a design may represent
the design in a number of manners. First, as is useful in
simulations, the hardware may be represented using a hardware
description language or another functional description language.
Additionally, a circuit level model with logic and/or transistor
gates may be produced at some stages of the design process.
Furthermore, most designs, at some stage, reach a level of data
representing the physical placement of various devices in the
hardware model. In the case where conventional semiconductor
fabrication techniques are used, the data representing the hardware
model may be the data specifying the presence or absence of various
features on different mask layers for masks used to produce the
integrated circuit. In any representation of the design, the data
may be stored in any form of a machine readable medium. A memory or
a magnetic or optical storage such as a disc may be the machine
readable medium to store information transmitted via optical or
electrical wave modulated or otherwise generated to transmit such
information. When an electrical carrier wave indicating or carrying
the code or design is transmitted, to the extent that copying,
buffering, or re-transmission of the electrical signal is
performed, a new copy is made. Thus, a communication provider or a
network provider may store on a tangible, machine-readable medium,
at least temporarily, an article, such as information encoded into
a carrier wave, embodying techniques of embodiments of the present
disclosure.
[0125] A module as used herein refers to any combination of
hardware, software, and/or firmware. As an example, a module
includes hardware, such as a micro-controller, associated with a
non-transitory medium to store code adapted to be executed by the
micro-controller. Therefore, reference to a module, in one
embodiment, refers to the hardware, which is specifically
configured to recognize and/or execute the code to be held on a
non-transitory medium. Furthermore, in another embodiment, use of a
module refers to the non-transitory medium including the code,
which is specifically adapted to be executed by the microcontroller
to perform predetermined operations. And as can be inferred, in yet
another embodiment, the term module (in this example) may refer to
the combination of the microcontroller and the non-transitory
medium. Often module boundaries that are illustrated as separate
commonly vary and potentially overlap. For example, a first and a
second module may share hardware, software, firmware, or a
combination thereof, while potentially retaining some independent
hardware, software, or firmware. In one embodiment, use of the term
logic includes hardware, such as transistors, registers, or other
hardware, such as programmable logic devices.
[0126] Use of the phrase `configured to,` in one embodiment, refers
to arranging, putting together, manufacturing, offering to sell,
importing and/or designing an apparatus, hardware, logic, or
element to perform a designated or determined task. In this
example, an apparatus or element thereof that is not operating is
still `configured to` perform a designated task if it is designed,
coupled, and/or interconnected to perform said designated task. As
a purely illustrative example, a logic gate may provide a 0 or a 1
during operation. But a logic gate `configured to` provide an
enable signal to a clock does not include every potential logic
gate that may provide a 1 or 0. Instead, the logic gate is one
coupled in some manner that during operation the 1 or 0 output is
to enable the clock. Note once again that use of the term
`configured to` does not require operation, but instead focus on
the latent state of an apparatus, hardware, and/or element, where
in the latent state the apparatus, hardware, and/or element is
designed to perform a particular task when the apparatus, hardware,
and/or element is operating.
[0127] Furthermore, use of the phrases `to,` `capable of/to,`
and/or `operable to,` in one embodiment, refers to some apparatus,
logic, hardware, and/or element designed in such a way to enable
use of the apparatus, logic, hardware, and/or element in a
specified manner. Note as above that use of `to,` `capable of/to,`
and/or `operable to,` in one embodiment, refers to the latent state
of an apparatus, logic, hardware, and/or element, where the
apparatus, logic, hardware, and/or element is not operating but is
designed in such a manner to enable use of an apparatus in a
specified manner.
[0128] A value, as used herein, includes any known representation
of a number, a state, a logical state, or a binary logical state.
Often, the use of logic levels, logic values, or logical values is
also referred to as 1's and 0's, which simply represents binary
logic states. For example, a 1 refers to a high logic level and 0
refers to a low logic level. In one embodiment, a storage cell,
such as a transistor or flash cell, may be capable of holding a
single logical value or multiple logical values. However, other
representations of values in computer systems have been used. For
example the decimal number ten may also be represented as a binary
value of 910 and a hexadecimal letter A. Therefore, a value
includes any representation of information capable of being held in
a computer system.
[0129] Moreover, states may be represented by values or portions of
values. As an example, a first value, such as a logical one, may
represent a default or initial state, while a second value, such as
a logical zero, may represent a non-default state. In addition, the
terms reset and set, in one embodiment, refer to a default and an
updated value or state, respectively. For example, a default value
potentially includes a high logical value, i.e. reset, while an
updated value potentially includes a low logical value, i.e. set.
Note that any combination of values may be utilized to represent
any number of states.
[0130] The embodiments of methods, hardware, software, firmware or
code set forth above may be implemented via instructions or code
stored on a machine-accessible, machine readable, computer
accessible, or computer readable medium which are executable by a
processing element. A non-transitory machine-accessible/readable
medium includes any mechanism that provides (i.e., stores and/or
transmits) information in a form readable by a machine, such as a
computer or electronic system. For example, a non-transitory
machine-accessible medium includes random-access memory (RAM), such
as static RAM (SRAM) or dynamic RAM (DRAM); ROM; magnetic or
optical storage medium; flash memory devices; electrical storage
devices; optical storage devices; acoustical storage devices; other
form of storage devices for holding information received from
transitory (propagated) signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared
signals, digital signals); etc., which are to be distinguished from
the non-transitory mediums that may receive information there
from.
[0131] Instructions used to program logic to perform embodiments of
the disclosure may be stored within a memory in the system, such as
DRAM, cache, flash memory, or other storage. Furthermore, the
instructions can be distributed via a network or by way of other
computer readable media. Thus a machine-readable medium may include
any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form
readable by a machine (e.g., a computer), but is not limited to,
floppy diskettes, optical disks, Compact Disc, Read-Only Memory
(CD-ROMs), and magneto-optical disks, Read-Only Memory (ROMs),
Random Access Memory (RAM), Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
(EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory
(EEPROM), magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or a tangible,
machine-readable storage used in the transmission of information
over the Internet via electrical, optical, acoustical or other
forms of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves, infrared signals,
digital signals, etc.). Accordingly, the computer-readable medium
includes any type of tangible machine-readable medium suitable for
storing or transmitting electronic instructions or information in a
form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer).
[0132] Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment"
or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or
characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is
included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.
Thus, the appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an
embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not
necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the
particular features, structures, or characteristics may be combined
in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.
[0133] In the foregoing specification, a detailed description has
been given with reference to specific exemplary embodiments. It
will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes
may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and
scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims. The
specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an
illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense. Furthermore,
the foregoing use of embodiment and other exemplarily language does
not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or the same example,
but may refer to different and distinct embodiments, as well as
potentially the same embodiment.
* * * * *