4. Tiles and GlobalTensor

4.1 Scope

This chapter defines data-model contracts between tile operands and global memory operands. It specifies architecture-visible movement and interpretation rules.

4.2 Tile data model

A tile is the primary architectural data object for compute instructions. A tile contract includes:

  • element type and shape class
  • valid-region metadata (Rv, Cv)
  • location-intent role where required by instruction legality
  • layout/alignment properties required by backend legality

4.3 GlobalTensor data model

A GlobalTensor (or equivalent memory view) represents addressable global-memory data. Its architecture-visible contract includes:

  • element type compatibility with participating tile operations
  • address and stride interpretation required by memory instructions
  • visibility behavior under ordering constraints

4.4 GM <-> Tile movement contracts

TLOAD and TSTORE families define the primary GM <-> Tile bridge. Conforming implementations MUST preserve:

  • element mapping semantics in the defined valid domain
  • required ordering guarantees under event/TSYNC and memory model rules
  • documented behavior of quantization/scaling and mode attributes where present

4.5 Shape and domain compatibility

For movement and layout-transform operations:

  • source and destination domains MUST satisfy instruction-specific compatibility constraints
  • out-of-domain behavior MUST be either explicitly defined (for example pad/fill) or declared unspecified
  • backend legality checks MUST reject unsupported shape/layout tuples deterministically

4.6 Layout-transform operations

Operations such as extract/insert/reshape/transpose are architecture-level transforms over tile domains. They MUST define:

  • index-space mapping
  • valid-domain mapping
  • behavior for partially covered domains
  • implementation-defined constraints where hardware-specific behavior exists

4.7 Diagnostics requirements

Movement/layout diagnostics SHOULD report:

  • offending operand and operation
  • incompatible shape/layout/location dimensions
  • relevant index/offset parameter context
  • deterministic wording for reproducible CI behavior