Abstract: Described are systems and methods for clock gating components on a system-on-chip. A processing system includes one or more cores, each core including a clock gating enable bit register which is set by software when an expected idle period of the core meets or exceeds a clock gating threshold, and a power management unit connected to the one or more cores. The power management unit configured to receive an idle notification from a core of the one or more cores and initiate clock gating a clock associated with the core when the core and additional logic is quiescent and the clock gating enable bit register is set. The clock gating threshold is a defined magnitude greater than a clock wake-up time.

Abstract: Described are systems and methods for clock gating components on a system-on-chip. A processing system includes one or more cores, each core including a clock gating enable bit register which is set by software when an expected idle period of the core meets or exceeds a clock gating threshold, and a power management unit connected to the one or more cores. The power management unit configured to receive an idle notification from a core of the one or more cores and initiate clock gating a clock associated with the core when the core and additional logic is quiescent and the clock gating enable bit register is set. The clock gating threshold is a defined magnitude greater than a clock wake-up time.

Abstract: Described are systems and methods for power management. A processing system includes one or more cores and a connected power management unit (PMU). The PMU is selected from one of: a first level PMU which can power scale a; a second level PMU which can independently control power from a shared cluster power supply to each core of two or more cores in a cluster; a third level PMU where each core includes a power monitor which can track power performance metrics of an associated core; and a fourth level PMU when a complex includes multiple clusters and each cluster includes a set of the one or more cores, the fourth level PMU including a complex PMU and a cluster PMU for each of the multiple clusters, the complex PMU and cluster PMUs provide two-tier power management. Higher level PMUs include power management functionality of lower level PMUs.

Abstract: Described are systems and methods for power management. A processing system includes one or more cores and a connected power management unit (PMU). The PMU is selected from one of: a first level PMU which can power scale a; a second level PMU which can independently control power from a shared cluster power supply to each core of two or more cores in a cluster; a third level PMU where each core includes a power monitor which can track power performance metrics of an associated core; and a fourth level PMU when a complex includes multiple clusters and each cluster includes a set of the one or more cores, the fourth level PMU including a complex PMU and a cluster PMU for each of the multiple clusters, the complex PMU and cluster PMUs provide two-tier power management. Higher level PMUs include power management functionality of lower level PMUs.

Abstract: Systems and methods are described for a flexible and selectable power management interface. The flexible and selectable power management interface can provide multiple power management interfaces which are selectable based on a selected processor IP core, a selected power management controller, and a variety of factors. The flexible and selectable power management interface can be a direct handshake hardware interface, a memory-mapped bus interface, or a combination of the direct handshake hardware interface and the memory-mapped bus interface.

Abstract: A heterogeneous processor system includes a first processor implementing an instruction set architecture (ISA) including a set of ISA features and configured to support a first subset of the set of ISA features. The heterogeneous processor system also includes a second processor implementing the ISA including the set of ISA features and configured to support a second subset of the set of ISA features, wherein the first subset and the second subset of the set of ISA features are different from each other. When the first subset includes an entirety of the set of ISA features, the lower-feature second processor is configured to execute an instruction thread by consuming less power and with lower performance than the first processor.

Abstract: The size of a cache is modestly increased so that a short pointer to a predicted next memory address in the same cache is added to each cache line in the cache. In response to a cache hit, the predicted next memory address identified by the short pointer in the cache line of the hit along with an associated entry are pushed to a next faster cache when a valid short pointer to the predicted next memory address is present in the cache line of the hit.

Abstract: Described are systems and methods for power management. A processing system includes one or more cores and a connected power management unit (PMU). The PMU is selected from one of: a first level PMU which can power scale a; a second level PMU which can independently control power from a shared cluster power supply to each core of two or more cores in a cluster; a third level PMU where each core includes a power monitor which can track power performance metrics of an associated core; and a fourth level PMU when a complex includes multiple clusters and each cluster includes a set of the one or more cores, the fourth level PMU including a complex PMU and a cluster PMU for each of the multiple clusters, the complex PMU and cluster PMUs provide two-tier power management. Higher level PMUs include power management functionality of lower level PMUs.

Abstract: The size of a cache is modestly increased so that a short pointer to a predicted next memory address in the same cache is added to each cache line in the cache. In response to a cache hit, the predicted next memory address identified by the short pointer in the cache line of the hit along with an associated entry are pushed to a next faster cache when a valid short pointer to the predicted next memory address is present in the cache line of the hit.

Abstract: The size of a cache is modestly increased so that a short pointer to a predicted next memory address in the same cache is added to each cache line in the cache. In response to a cache hit, the predicted next memory address identified by the short pointer in the cache line of the hit along with an associated entry are pushed to a next faster cache when a valid short pointer to the predicted next memory address is present in the cache line of the hit.

Abstract: The hit rate of a L1 icache when operating with large programs is substantially improved by reserving a section of the L1 icache for regular instructions and a section for non-instruction information. Instructions are prefetched for storage in the instruction section of the L1 icache based on information in the non-instruction section of the L1 icache.

Abstract: The size of a cache is modestly increased so that a short pointer to a predicted next memory address in the same cache is added to each cache line in the cache. In response to a cache hit, the predicted next memory address identified by the short pointer in the cache line of the hit along with an associated entry are pushed to a next faster cache when a valid short pointer to the predicted next memory address is present in the cache line of the hit.

Abstract: A heterogeneous processor system includes a first processor implementing an instruction set architecture (ISA) including a set of ISA features and configured to support a first subset of the set of ISA features. The heterogeneous processor system also includes a second processor implementing the ISA including the set of ISA features and configured to support a second subset of the set of ISA features, wherein the first subset and the second subset of the set of ISA features are different from each other. When the first subset includes an entirety of the set of ISA features, the lower-feature second processor is configured to execute an instruction thread by consuming less power and with lower performance than the first processor.

Abstract: A heterogeneous processor system includes a first processor implementing an instruction set architecture (ISA) including a set of ISA features and configured to support a first subset of the set of ISA features. The heterogeneous processor system also includes a second processor implementing the ISA including the set of ISA features and configured to support a second subset of the set of ISA features, wherein the first subset and the second subset of the set of ISA features are different from each other. When the first subset includes an entirety of the set of ISA features, the lower-feature second processor is configured to execute an instruction thread by consuming less power and with lower performance than the first processor.

Abstract: Instructions are executed in a pipeline of a processor, where each instruction is associated with a particular context. A first storage stores branch prediction information characterizing results of branch instructions previously executed. The first storage is dynamically partitioned into partitions of one or more entries. Dynamically partitioning includes updating a partition to include an additional entry by associating the additional entry with a particular subset of one or more contexts. A predicted branch result is determined based on at least a portion of the branch prediction information. An actual branch result provided based on an executed branch instruction is used to update the branch prediction information. Providing a predicted branch result for a first branch instruction includes retrieving a first entry from a first partition based at least in part on an identified first subset of one or more contexts associated with the first branch instruction.

Abstract: Instructions are executed in a pipeline of a processor, where each instruction is associated with a particular context. A first storage stores branch prediction information characterizing results of branch instructions previously executed. The first storage is dynamically partitioned into partitions of one or more entries. Dynamically partitioning includes updating a partition to include an additional entry by associating the additional entry with a particular subset of one or more contexts. A predicted branch result is determined based on at least a portion of the branch prediction information. An actual branch result provided based on an executed branch instruction is used to update the branch prediction information. Providing a predicted branch result for a first branch instruction includes retrieving a first entry from a first partition based at least in part on an identified first subset of one or more contexts associated with the first branch instruction.

Abstract: A heterogeneous processor system includes a first processor implementing an instruction set architecture (ISA) including a set of ISA features and configured to support a first subset of the set of ISA features. The heterogeneous processor system also includes a second processor implementing the ISA including the set of ISA features and configured to support a second subset of the set of ISA features, wherein the first subset and the second subset of the set of ISA features are different from each other. When the first subset includes an entirety of the set of ISA features, the lower-feature second processor is configured to execute an instruction thread by consuming less power and with lower performance than the first processor.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus of delegating instructions or data from a CU to an NOC node in a network on chip (NOC) is disclosed. The NOC node executes the delegated instructions or processes the delegated data. An NOC controller (NCC), which is operatively coupled to the CU and the NOC node, facilitates delegating the instructions or data from the CU to the NOC node.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus of delegating instructions or data from a CU to an NOC node in a network on chip (NOC) is disclosed. The NOC node executes the delegated instructions or processes the delegated data. An NOC controller (NCC), which is operatively coupled to the CU and the NOC node, facilitates delegating the instructions or data from the CU to the NOC node.

Abstract: A method of implementing a mask load or mask store instruction by a processor is provided. The method may include receiving the mask load or mask store instruction, a location of a memory operand and a location of corresponding mask bits associated with the memory operand, breaking the received memory operand into a plurality of sub-operands and executing the mask load or mask store instruction on each of the plurality of sub-operands using a fastpath operation or using microcode, wherein the respective mask load or mask store instruction loads or stores each of the plurality of sub-operands based upon the corresponding mask bits.