Plurality (company)

Infobox Company
company_name = Plurality Ltd.
company_
company_type = Private
foundation = 2004 [ [http://www.plurality.com/profile.html Plurality's Profile] ]
location = Israel
industry = Semiconductors
products = Multi-core
homepage = [http://www.plurality.com/ Plurality.com]

Plurality Ltd. is an Israeli semiconductor company and the developer of the HAL (HyperCore Architecture Line) Multi-core processor. The company is a member of the Multicore Association. [ [http://www.multicore-association.org/member/memberlist.php Multicore Association member list] ]

HAL

Plurality develops a CPU, called HAL, which is a MIMD 32-bit RISC processor [ [http://www.dspdesignline.com/howto/199904672;jsessionid=25HXGXGMUGQVQQSNDLQSKHSCJUNN2JVN?pgno=3 Massively parallel processors for DSP] ] , and contains from 16 to 256 cores [ [http://www.calcalist.co.il/Ext/Comp/ArticleLayout/CdaArticlePrintPreview/1,2506,L-3096809,00.html Breaking Moore's law (Hebrew)] ] . HAL supports executing both fine-grained and coarse-grain parallelism (see granularity) due to its special hardware Synchronizer/Scheduler.

HAL's synchronizer/scheduler (patented [ [http://www.insidedsp.com/Articles/tabid/64/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/206/Pluralitys-Hypercore-Joins-the-MultiCore-Fray.aspx Plurality's Hypercore Joins the Multi-Core Fray] ] , see below also) eliminates the need of repeatedly executing a special kernel program controlling and deciding which task (or thread) to currently assign and execute on a given processor. The ability to synchronize tasks in hardware allows the processor to support fine-grained programs and to achieve almost a linear speedup. Fine grained programs can only be executed when the time elapsed between the beginning of the scheduler and the termination of the scheduler is less than the task`s execution time.

Patents

Synchronizer/Scheduler

Dr. Nimrod Bayer and Dr. Ran Ginosar, two of Plurality’s founders, received United States Patent 5202987 (“A High Flow-Rate Synchronizer/Scheduler for Multiprocessors”) for the company’s core technology on April 13, 1993. The patent has been cited by more than 30 subsequent patents. The patent abstract is as follows:

"A high flow rate Synchronizer/Scheduler apparatus for a multiprocessor system during program run-time, comprises a connection matrix for monitoring and detecting computational tasks which are allowed for execution containing a task map and a network of nodes for distributing to the processors information or computational tasks detected to be enabled by the connection matrix. The network of nodes possesses the capability of decomposing information on a pack of allocated computational tasks into messages of finer sub-packs to be sent towards the processors, as well as the capability of unifying packs of information on termination of computational tasks into a more comprehensive pack. A method of performing the synchronization/scheduling in the multiprocessor system of this apparatus is also described."

See also

* Parallel computing
* Parallel programming model
* Speedup
* Task parallelism

References

External links

* [http://www.plurality.com/ Plurality's website]
* [http://rebelscience.blogspot.com/2008/04/pluralitys-hal-kicking-ass-on-core.html Plurality’s HAL: Kicking Ass on Core Street]