Patent ID: 8028295

Claim:
A method comprising: based on an operating-system-scheduled thread running on an operating-system-visible sequencer and using an instruction set extension, creating a persistent user-level thread to run on an operating-system-sequestered sequencer, for which an operating system does not schedule instructions, independently of context switch activities on the operating-system-scheduled thread such that the persistent user-level thread continues execution when the operating-system-scheduled thread is context switched and contexts of the operating-system-scheduled thread and other operating-system-scheduled threads running on other operating-system-visible sequencers are saved and the operating-system-scheduled thread and the other operating-system-scheduled threads are suspended; suspending running of the persistent user-level thread when the persistent user-level thread encounters an event that requires handling by the operating system; and communicating to one of the other operating-system-visible sequencers a control-transfer instruction, and executing the control-transfer instruction at a privileged level.