US 12,229,593 B2
Synchronizing scheduling tasks with atomic ALU
Ollie Mower, Kings Langley (GB); and Yoong-Chert Foo, London (GB)
Assigned to Imagination Technologies Limited, Kings Langley (GB)
Filed by Imagination Technologies Limited, Kings Langley (GB)
Filed on Oct. 13, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/965,161.
Application 17/965,161 is a continuation of application No. 17/087,837, filed on Nov. 3, 2020, granted, now 11,500,677.
Application 17/087,837 is a continuation of application No. 16/010,813, filed on Jun. 18, 2018, granted, now 10,860,370, issued on Dec. 8, 2020.
Claims priority of application No. 1709649 (GB), filed on Jun. 16, 2017.
Prior Publication US 2023/0033355 A1, Feb. 2, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 9/48 (2006.01); G06F 7/575 (2006.01); G06F 9/30 (2018.01); G06F 9/52 (2006.01); G06F 15/173 (2006.01); G06F 15/76 (2006.01)
CPC G06F 9/4881 (2013.01) [G06F 7/575 (2013.01); G06F 9/3001 (2013.01); G06F 9/3004 (2013.01); G06F 9/30087 (2013.01); G06F 9/3009 (2013.01); G06F 9/3016 (2013.01); G06F 9/522 (2013.01); G06F 15/17325 (2013.01); G06F 15/76 (2013.01)] 19 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of synchronizing a group of scheduled tasks into a known state within a parallel processing unit, the method comprising:
in response to decoding, in an instruction decoder, a synchronization instruction in a scheduled task from a group of tasks, placing the scheduled task into a non-active state wherein no instructions in the scheduled task are executed except for the synchronization instruction, wherein the decoded synchronization instruction causes an ALU that executes the synchronization instruction to perform an operation on data assigned to the group of tasks; and
in response to receiving, at a scheduler, a message from the ALU indicating that the data assigned to the group of tasks has passed a check on data assigned to the group of tasks, removing all scheduled tasks in the group from the non-active state.