へのハイブリッド CPU に関する AMD の特許のヒント
Twitter ユーザー Kepler は、異種プロセッサ内の異なるタイプのコア間でのタスク（スレッド）の移動について詳しく説明している新しいAMD特許を発見しました。言い換えれば、この特許は、「大きな」高性能コアと「小さな」効率コアのクラスターを使用するArmのbig.LITTLE設計に似たマイクロアーキテクチャの基礎を築きます。
AMDは毎年多数の特許を申請しているため、それらすべてが実際の製品として現れる保証はありません。とはいえ、ハイブリッドAMDデザインが市場に出るのを見ることができると考える理由はたくさんあります。 Intelは、次の第12世代アルダーレイクファミリー。 AMDが最終的にハイブリッドバンドワゴンに飛び乗ると仮定するのは合理的です。
異種プロセッサ間のタスク移行の方法に関する特許は数日前に公開されましたが、AMDは2019年に提出しました。この特許は同様の特許の延長である可能性があります。 AMDも同じ年に提出した命令セットアーキテクチャの実装に関する特許（ ISA）異種プロセッサで。
AMDの
The patent explains that the process to relocate a task or task from the first processor to the second processor will be based around performance metrics based on certain thresholds or some other trigger. AMD didn’t specify which cores are which, but for the sake of conversation, we can assume that the first processor refers to the big cores and the second processor refers to the power-efficient cores.
Obviously, the whole point behind a hybrid configuration is to optimize performance-per-watt while also improving performance. To achieve this goal, tasks must be moved quickly and efficiently between the big and small cores. AMD’s method consists of comparing one or multiple metrics to a threshold on a checklist to determine whether or not to pass the task from one processor to another. Once the assessment is complete, the first processor essentially pauses operations while the information is transferred over to the second processor.
AMD mentions numerous examples of the type of metrics that the chipmaker could leverage for the task relocation process. The chipmaker mentions task execution time, core utilization, memory usage, idle state of a single core, or duration of a single-core execution-just to mention a few scenarios.
In one example, AMD measures the period of time that the small cores are running at the maximal clock speed and compares it to a threshold. If the duration is greater than the established time threshold, the task shifts over to the bigger cores. In another example, AMD takes into account an external factor: memory. If the memory utilization is less than the threshold established on the small cores, the task will remain on said cores.
Hybrid processors won’t succeed unless there is proper software support. Recent rumors point to a new, more efficient scheduler in Windows 11 that’s optimized for hybrid setups. That new update is rumored to land later this year at the same time as Alder Lake, which should pave the way for better support for hybrid processors.
