Apparatus and method for thread progress tracking using deterministic progress index

An apparatus for thread progress tracking, comprising:

• a processor comprising:
• a selector to select at least one thread constituting an application program;
• a determination unit to determine, by at least a processor, based on a predetermined criterion, whether an instruction execution scheme corresponds to a deterministic execution scheme having a regular cycle or a nondeterministic execution scheme having an irregular delay cycle with respect to each of at least one instruction constituting a corresponding thread;
• and
• a deterministic progress counter to generate a deterministic progress index with respect to an instruction that is executed by the deterministic execution scheme, excluding an instruction that is executed by the nondeterministic execution scheme,
• wherein the nondeterministic execution scheme comprises a hardware nondeterministic execution (HWND) to execute the instruction using the nondeterministic execution scheme at an instruction level of a hardware based processor, and a software nondeterministic execution (SWND) to execute a function using the nondeterministic execution scheme at a function level, the function including software based instructions.

A method for thread progress tracking, comprising:

• selecting at least one thread constituting an application program;
• determining, based on a predetermined criterion, whether an instruction execution scheme corresponds to one of a deterministic execution scheme having a regular cycle and a nondeterministic execution scheme having an irregular delay cycle with respect to at each of least one instruction constituting the corresponding thread where an irregular delay cycle occurs when additional code is inserted in a nondeterministic execution scheme;
• and
• generating a deterministic progress index based on a deterministic progress counter, with respect to an instruction that is executed by the deterministic execution scheme, excluding generating the deterministic progress index for an instruction that is executed by the nondeterministic execution scheme having the irregular delay.

A method for thread progress tracking, comprising:

• selecting at least one thread constituting an application program;
• determining, based on a predetermined criterion, whether an instruction execution scheme corresponds to a deterministic execution scheme having a regular cycle or a nondeterministic execution scheme having an irregular delay cycle with respect to at each of least one instruction constituting the corresponding thread;
• and
• generating a deterministic progress index based on a deterministic progress counter, with respect to an instruction that is executed by the deterministic execution scheme, excluding an instruction that is executed by the nondeterministic execution scheme,
• wherein an operation of the deterministic progress counter is controlled based on a hardware nondeterministic execution (HWND) signal to execute the instruction using the nondeterministic execution scheme at an instruction level of a hardware based processor, or a software nondeterministic execution (SWND) signal to execute a function using the nondeterministic execution scheme at a function level, the function including software based instructions.