Hardware support for collecting performance counters directly to memory
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsAlan Gara, Valentina Salapura, Robert W. Wisniewski
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Hardware support for collecting performance counters directly to memory, in one aspect, may include a plurality of performance counters operable to collect one or more counts of one or more selected activities. A first storage element may be operable to store an address of a memory location. A second storage element may be operable to store a value indicating whether the hardware should begin copying. A state machine may be operable to detect the value in the second storage element and trigger hardware copying of data in selected one or more of the plurality of performance counters to the memory location whose address is stored in the first storage element.
Claims24
A device for hardware supported performance counter data collection, comprising:
- a plurality of performance counters operable to collect one or more counts of one or more selected activities;
- a first storage element operable to store data value representing time interval;
- a timer element operable to read the data value and detect expiration of the time interval based on the data value;
- a second storage element operable to store an address of a memory location;
- and
- a state machine operable to receive the signal associated with the detected expiration of the time interval and trigger hardware copying of data in selected one or more of the plurality of performance counters to the memory location whose address is stored in the second storage element,
- wherein the memory location and the data value representing time interval are set by software, and
- the state machine comprises the hardware wherein the hardware copies the data of the performance counters in response to detecting the expiration of the time interval without the software getting involved.
A device for hardware supported performance counter data collection, comprising:
- a plurality of performance counters operable to collect one or more counts of one or more selected activities;
- a first storage element operable to store an address of a memory location;
- a second storage element operable to store a value indicating whether the hardware should begin copying;
- and
- a state machine operable to detect the value in the second storage element and trigger hardware copying of data in selected one or more of the plurality of performance counters to the memory location whose address is stored in the first storage element,
- wherein the memory location and the value indicating whether the hardware should begin copying is set by software, and
- the state machine comprises the hardware wherein the hardware copies the data of the performance counters in response to detecting the value without the software getting involved.
A method for hardware supported performance counter data collection, comprising:
- a software thread writing into a first storage element an address of memory;
- a software thread writing into a second storage element an indication of whether to copy;
- and
- a hardware thread detecting the indication of whether to copy from the second storage element and in response to detecting that the hardware should copy, performing a copy of data in one or more performance counters to memory region indicated by the address,
- wherein the hardware copies the data of the performance counters in response to detecting the value without the software getting involved.
A computer readable storage medium storing a program of instructions executable by a machine to perform a method for hardware supported performance counter data collection, comprising:
- a software thread writing into a first storage element an address of memory;
- a software thread writing into a second storage element an indication of whether to copy;
- and
- a hardware thread detecting the indication of whether to copy from the second storage element and in response to detecting that the hardware should copy, performing a copy of data in one or more performance counters to memory region indicated by the address,
- wherein the hardware copies the data of the performance counters in response to detecting the value without the software getting involved.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.