BACKGROUND

The invention is generally related to data processing in a computing system including a plurality of interconnected processing blocks, and in particular to processor architectures and communication architectures incorporated therein.

A network on a chip (NOC) is a novel integrated circuit architecture that applies a network-based architecture to a single chip to create a unique processing unit. A typical NOC includes a plurality of integrated processor (IP) blocks coupled to one another via the network. NOC processing units typically distribute (i.e., allocate) various parts of a job to different hardware threads of one or more IP blocks to be executed by the one or more IP blocks in the NOC processing unit. With the number of IP blocks in standard computer systems expected to rise, distributing tasks of a workload to hardware threads of the IP blocks has become increasingly demanding. In general, when distributing a workload, the status of hardware threads of IP blocks may be useful when determining whether to allocate a task to a particular IP block. Retrieving and accumulating thread status information, however, may be a processing resource expensive task in systems configured with large numbers of hardware threads.

A continuing need exists in the art for a manner of increasing the efficiency of workload distribution in computing systems including a plurality of interconnected integrated processor blocks.

SUMMARY

The invention addresses these and other problems associated with the prior art by utilizing a direct inter-thread communication (DITC) interface to communicate status requests from a master hardware thread to one or more slave hardware threads of a computing system. Each slave thread may be associated with status logic that determines the status of the slave thread and communicates a status response for the slave thread to the master thread. The master thread may be configured with thread status logic that analyzes status responses received from slave threads and causes the master hardware thread to perform one or more actions based on the received status responses. Consistent with embodiments of the invention, the status logic of each slave thread may be configured to automatically respond to a received status request without interrupting processing of the slave thread, i.e., without software thread involvement at the slave thread. Hence, embodiments of the invention dynamically retrieve/collect status related data for one or more slave threads with a master thread without interrupting the processing of software threads at the slave threads using configured hardware logic and messages communicated over the DITC interface.

Consistent with embodiments of the invention, a status request may be received at an inbox of a slave hardware thread from a master hardware thread. Status logic associated with the slave hardware thread may determine a status associated with the first hardware thread in response to receiving the status request in the inbox. Moreover, consistent with embodiments of the invention, the status logic is configured to determine the status of the slave hardware thread automatically and communicate the determined status independent of software direction/processing at the slave hardware thread, i.e., without interrupting processing of the slave hardware thread. Put another way, the status logic associated with the slave hardware thread determines the status of the slave hardware thread independent of the operations of the slave hardware thread. Hence, without the slave hardware thread processing the status request and/or without a software thread causing the slave hardware thread to perform an operation to thereby determine the status of the slave hardware thread, the status of the slave hardware thread is determined and communicated.

These and other advantages and features, which characterize the invention, are set forth in the claims annexed hereto and forming a further part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, and of the advantages and objectives attained through its use, reference should be made to the drawings, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is described exemplary embodiments of the invention.

