Patent ID: 11928523
Assignee: GRAPHCORE LIMITED
Field: Computer technology (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 16:
17. A data processing system comprising:
a first processing device having a processing unit that includes a first set of processors and a second set of processors;
a second processing device that includes a third set of processors; and
a third processing device that includes a fourth set of processors,
wherein the first set of processors is configured to participate in a first barrier synchronisation enforced between a first synchronisation group comprising the first set of processors and the third set of processors, wherein the first barrier synchronisation separates a first compute phase for the first synchronisation group from a first exchange phase for the first synchronisation group,
wherein the first set of processors is configured to, during the first exchange phase, exchange data with the third set of processors,
wherein the second set of processors is configured to participate in a second barrier synchronisation enforced between a second synchronisation group comprising the second set of processors and the fourth set of processors, wherein the second barrier synchronisation separates a second compute phase for the second synchronisation group from a second exchange phase for the second synchronisation group,
wherein the second set of processors is configured to, during the second exchange phase, exchange data with the fourth set of processors,
wherein the first exchange phase overlaps in time with the second exchange phase, and
wherein the first processing device comprises an external sync controller comprising circuitry configured to:
coordinate the first barrier synchronisation between processors of the first synchronisation group by exchanging first sync messages with the second processing device; and
coordinate the second barrier synchronisation between processors of the second synchronisation group by exchanging second sync messages with the third processing device.