US 11,954,492 B1
Fence enforcement techniques based on stall characteristics
Benjiman L. Goodman, Austin, TX (US); Dzung Q. Vu, Cedar Park, TX (US); and Robert Kenney, Austin, TX (US)
Assigned to Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed by Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US)
Filed on Nov. 10, 2022, as Appl. No. 18/054,401.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/376,180, filed on Sep. 19, 2022.
Int. Cl. G06F 9/38 (2018.01)
CPC G06F 9/3838 (2013.01) [G06F 9/3836 (2013.01); G06F 9/3867 (2013.01); G06F 9/3887 (2013.01); G06F 9/3888 (2023.08)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus, comprising:
a plurality of channel pipelines for a plurality of channels, wherein the channel pipeline for a given channel includes a decode stage;
a plurality of execution pipelines shared by the channel pipelines and configured to perform different types of operations provided by the channel pipelines;
first scheduler circuitry configured to assign threads to channels;
second scheduler circuitry configured to assign an operation from a given channel to a given execution pipeline based on decode of an operation for that channel; and
dependency circuitry configured to, for a first operation that depends on a prior operation that uses one of the execution pipelines, determine, based on status information for the prior operation from the one of the execution pipelines, whether to stall the first operation or to deactivate a thread that includes the first operation from its assigned channel.