Patent ID: 8417917

Claim:
A method, in a data processing system, for improving the performance and efficiency of multi-core processors, the method comprising: receiving, by a system controller in the data processing system, an indication of set of primary processor cores in a primary processor core logic layer and a set of secondary processor cores in a secondary processor core logic layer; determining, by the system controller, an operational function for each primary processor core in the set of primary processor cores in the primary processor core logic layer and for each secondary processor core in the set of secondary processor cores in the secondary processor core logic layer, thereby forming a set of determined operational functions; and generating, by the system controller, an initial configuration, based on the set of determined operational functions, for initializing the set of primary processor cores and the set of secondary processor cores in a three-dimensional processor core architecture, wherein the initial configuration indicates how at least one primary processor core of the set of primary processor cores collaborate with at least one secondary processor core of the set of secondary processor cores.