Patent ID: 8271993

Claim:
A method of facilitating pipeline throughput in a synchronous pipeline system including a producer/consumer pair having a producer and a consumer, the method comprising: controlling the producer/consumer pair to allow the producer and consumer in the producer/consumer pair to run out-of-sync without violating dependency, wherein the controlling comprises: monitoring dependency of the producer and consumer in the producer/consumer pair, wherein monitoring the dependency comprises monitoring an age of a task of the producer relative to an age of a task of the consumer; and determining that the producer and consumer are allowed to run out-of-sync in response to detecting that one of plural conditions is present, a first of the plural conditions including the consumer being sync-ahead of the producer and the consumer executing a task older than a task of the producer, and a second of the plural conditions including the producer being sync-ahead of the consumer and the producer executing a task older than a task of the consumer.