Control flow mechanism for execution of graphics processor instructions using active channel packing

A method comprising:

• detecting that a number of active channels is below a predetermined threshold percentage of a plurality of channels of processing resources of a graphics processor;
• detecting a diverging control flow impacting a first code region;
• responsive to the diverging control flow, triggering recompilation of the first code region;
• duplicating, as part of the recompilation, the first code region into a second code region that is smaller than an original size of the first code region and that comprises the number of active channels;
• packing an input of the active channels implemented by the second code region;
• performing consecutive channel execution on the input of the active channels by executing one active channel at a time;
• and
• unpacking an output of the active channels produced by the second code region.

A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to:

• detect that a number of active channels is below a predetermined threshold percentage of a plurality of channels of processing resources of a graphics processor of the one or more processors;
• detect a diverging control flow impacting a first code region;
• responsive to the diverging control flow, trigger recompilation of the first code region;
• duplicate, as part of the recompilation, the first code region into a second code region that is smaller than an original size of the first code region and that comprises the number of active channels;
• pack an input of the active channels implemented by the second code region;
• perform consecutive channel execution on the input of the active channels by executing one active channel at a time;
• and
• unpack an output of the active channels produced by the second code region.

A system comprising:

• a memory;
• and
• a graphics processor communicably couple to the memory, the graphics processor comprising:
• a plurality of processing resources to execute pipelined instructions using a plurality of channels;
• and
• flow control circuitry to:
• detect that a number of active channels is below a predetermined threshold percentage of the plurality of channels;
• detect a diverging control flow impacting a first code region;
• responsive to the diverging control flow, trigger recompilation of the first code region;
• duplicate, as part of the recompilation, the first code region into a second code region that is smaller than an original size of the first code region and that comprises the number of active channels;
• pack an input of the active channels implemented by the second code region;
• perform consecutive channel execution on the input of the active channels by executing one active channel at a time;
• and
• unpack an output of the active channels produced by the second code region.