Pooling

The pooling primitive performs forward or backward max or average pooling operation on 1D, 2D, or 3D spatial data.

The pooling operation is defined by the following formulas. We show formulas only for 2D spatial data which are straightforward to generalize to cases of higher and lower dimensions. Variable names follow the standard Conventions.

Forward

Max pooling:

\[\dst(n, c, oh, ow) = \max\limits_{kh, kw} \left( \src(n, c, oh \cdot SH + kh - PH_L, ow \cdot SW +kw - PW_L) \right)\]

Average pooling:

\[\dst(n, c, oh, ow) = \frac{1}{DENOM} \sum\limits_{kh, kw} \src(n, c, oh \cdot SH + kh - PH_L, ow \cdot SW +kw - PW_L)\]

Here output spatial dimensions are calculated similarly to how they are done for Convolution and Deconvolution.

Average pooling supports two algorithms:

• pooling_avg_include_padding, in which case \(DENOM = KH \cdot KW\),

• pooling_avg_exclude_padding, in which case \(DENOM\) equals to the size of overlap between an averaging window and images.

Difference Between Forward Training and Forward Inference

Max pooling requires a workspace for the forward_training propagation kind, and does not require it for forward_inference (see details below).

Backward

The backward propagation computes \(\diffsrc(n, c, h, w)\), based on \(\diffdst(n, c, h, w)\) and, in case of max pooling, workspace.

Execution Arguments

When executed, the inputs and outputs should be mapped to an execution argument index as specified by the following table.

Primitive input/output	Execution argument index
\(\src\)	DNNL_ARG_SRC
\(\dst\)	DNNL_ARG_DST
workspace	DNNL_ARG_WORKSPACE
\(\diffsrc\)	DNNL_ARG_DIFF_SRC
\(\diffdst\)	DNNL_ARG_DIFF_DST

Operation Details

1. During training, max pooling requires a workspace on forward (forward_training) and backward passes to save indices where a maximum was found. The workspace format is opaque, and the indices cannot be restored from it. However, one can use backward pooling to perform up-sampling (used in some detection topologies). The workspace can be created via dnnl::pooling_forward::primitive_desc::workspace_desc().

2. A user can use memory format tag any for dst memory descriptor when creating pooling forward propagation. The library would derive the appropriate format from the src memory descriptor. However, the src itself must be defined. Similarly, a user can use memory format tag any for the diff_src memory descriptor when creating pooling backward propagation.

Data Type Support

The pooling primitive supports the following combinations of data types.

Note

Here we abbreviate data types names for readability. For example, dnnl::memory::data_type::f32 is abbreviated to f32.

Propagation	Source / Destination	Accumulation data type (used for average pooling only)
forward / backward	f32, bf16	f32
forward	f16	f16
forward	s8, u8, s32	s32

Data Representation

Source, Destination, and Their Gradients

Like other CNN primitives, the pooling primitive expects data to be an \(N \times C \times W\) tensor for the 1D spatial case, an \(N \times C \times H \times W\) tensor for the 2D spatial case, and an \(N \times C \times D \times H \times W\) tensor for the 3D spatial case.

The pooling primitive is optimized for the following memory formats:

Spatial	Logical tensor	Data type	Implementations optimized for memory formats
1D	NCW	f32	ncw (abc), nwc (acb), optimized^
1D	NCW	s32, s8, u8	nwc (acb), optimized^
2D	NCHW	f32	nchw (abcd), nhwc (acdb), optimized^
2D	NCHW	s32, s8, u8	nhwc (acdb), optimized^
3D	NCDHW	f32	ncdhw (abcde), ndhwc (acdeb), optimized^
3D	NCDHW	s32, s8, u8	ndhwc (acdeb), optimized^

Here optimized^ means the format that comes out of any preceding compute-intensive primitive.

Post-ops and Attributes

The pooling primitive does not support any post-ops or attributes.

API

struct pooling_forward : public dnnl::primitive

Pooling forward propagation primitive.

Public Functions

pooling_forward()

Default constructor. Produces an empty object.

pooling_forward(const primitive_desc &pd)

Constructs a pooling forward propagation primitive.

Parameters

pd – Primitive descriptor for a pooling forward propagation primitive.

struct desc

Descriptor for a pooling forward propagation primitive.

Public Functions

desc(prop_kind aprop_kind, algorithm aalgorithm, const memory::desc &src_desc, const memory::desc &dst_desc, const memory::dims &strides, const memory::dims &kernel, const memory::dims &padding_l, const memory::dims &padding_r)

Constructs a descriptor for pooling forward propagation primitive.

Arrays strides, kernel, padding_l, and padding_r contain values for spatial dimensions only and hence must have the same number of elements as there are spatial dimensions. The order of values is the same as in the tensor: depth (for 3D tensors), height (for 3D and 2D tensors), and width.

Parameters

• aprop_kind – Propagation kind. Possible values are dnnl::prop_kind::forward_training, and dnnl::prop_kind::forward_inference.

• aalgorithm – Pooling algorithm kind: either dnnl::algorithm::pooling_max, dnnl::algorithm::pooling_avg_include_padding, or dnnl::algorithm::pooling_avg (same as dnnl::algorithm::pooling_avg_exclude_padding).

• src_desc – Source memory descriptor.

• dst_desc – Destination memory descriptor.

• strides – Vector of strides for spatial dimension.

• kernel – Vector of kernel spatial dimensions.

• padding_l – Vector of padding values for low indices for each spatial dimension ([[front,] top,] left).

• padding_r – Vector of padding values for high indices for each spatial dimension ([[back,] bottom,] right).

struct primitive_desc : public dnnl::primitive_desc

Primitive descriptor for a pooling forward propagation primitive.

Public Functions

primitive_desc()

Default constructor. Produces an empty object.

primitive_desc(const desc &adesc, const engine &aengine, bool allow_empty = false)

Constructs a primitive descriptor for a pooling forward propagation primitive.

Parameters

• adesc – Descriptor for a pooling forward propagation primitive.

• aengine – Engine to use.

• allow_empty – A flag signifying whether construction is allowed to fail without throwing an exception. In this case an empty object will be produced. This flag is optional and defaults to false.

primitive_desc(const desc &adesc, const primitive_attr &attr, const engine &aengine, bool allow_empty = false)

Constructs a primitive descriptor for a pooling forward propagation primitive.

Parameters

• adesc – Descriptor for a pooling forward propagation primitive.

• aengine – Engine to use.

• attr – Primitive attributes to use.

• allow_empty – A flag signifying whether construction is allowed to fail without throwing an exception. In this case an empty object will be produced. This flag is optional and defaults to false.

memory::desc src_desc() const

Returns a source memory descriptor.

Returns

Source memory descriptor.

Returns

A zero memory descriptor if the primitive does not have a source parameter.

memory::desc dst_desc() const

Returns a destination memory descriptor.

Returns

Destination memory descriptor.

Returns

A zero memory descriptor if the primitive does not have a destination parameter.

memory::desc workspace_desc() const

Returns the workspace memory descriptor.

Returns

Workspace memory descriptor.

Returns

A zero memory descriptor if the primitive does not require workspace parameter.

struct pooling_backward : public dnnl::primitive

Pooling backward propagation primitive.

Public Functions

pooling_backward()

Default constructor. Produces an empty object.

pooling_backward(const primitive_desc &pd)

Constructs a pooling backward propagation primitive.

Parameters

pd – Primitive descriptor for a pooling backward propagation primitive.

struct desc

Descriptor for a pooling backward propagation primitive.

Public Functions

desc(algorithm aalgorithm, const memory::desc &diff_src_desc, const memory::desc &diff_dst_desc, const memory::dims &strides, const memory::dims &kernel, const memory::dims &padding_l, const memory::dims &padding_r)

Constructs a descriptor for pooling backward propagation primitive.

Arrays strides, kernel, padding_l, and padding_r contain values for spatial dimensions only and hence must have the same number of elements as there are spatial dimensions. The order of values is the same as in the tensor: depth (for 3D tensors), height (for 3D and 2D tensors), and width.

Parameters

• aalgorithm – Pooling algorithm kind: either dnnl::algorithm::pooling_max, dnnl::algorithm::pooling_avg_include_padding, or dnnl::algorithm::pooling_avg (same as dnnl::algorithm::pooling_avg_exclude_padding).

• diff_src_desc – Diff source memory descriptor.

• diff_dst_desc – Diff destination memory descriptor.

• strides – Vector of strides for spatial dimension.

• kernel – Vector of kernel spatial dimensions.

• padding_l – Vector of padding values for low indices for each spatial dimension ([[front,] top,] left).

• padding_r – Vector of padding values for high indices for each spatial dimension ([[back,] bottom,] right).

struct primitive_desc : public dnnl::primitive_desc

Primitive descriptor for a pooling backward propagation primitive.

Public Functions

primitive_desc()

Default constructor. Produces an empty object.

primitive_desc(const desc &adesc, const engine &aengine, const pooling_forward::primitive_desc &hint_fwd_pd, bool allow_empty = false)

Constructs a primitive descriptor for a pooling backward propagation primitive.

Parameters

• adesc – Descriptor for a pooling backward propagation primitive.

• aengine – Engine to use.

• hint_fwd_pd – Primitive descriptor for a pooling forward propagation primitive. It is used as a hint for deciding which memory format to use.

• allow_empty – A flag signifying whether construction is allowed to fail without throwing an exception. In this case an empty object will be produced. This flag is optional and defaults to false.

primitive_desc(const desc &adesc, const primitive_attr &attr, const engine &aengine, const pooling_forward::primitive_desc &hint_fwd_pd, bool allow_empty = false)

Constructs a primitive descriptor for a pooling backward propagation primitive.

Parameters

• adesc – Descriptor for a pooling backward propagation primitive.

• attr – Primitive attributes to use.

• aengine – Engine to use.

• hint_fwd_pd – Primitive descriptor for a pooling forward propagation primitive. It is used as a hint for deciding which memory format to use.

• allow_empty – A flag signifying whether construction is allowed to fail without throwing an exception. In this case an empty object will be produced. This flag is optional and defaults to false.

memory::desc diff_src_desc() const

Returns a source memory descriptor.

Returns

Source memory descriptor.

Returns

A zero memory descriptor if the primitive does not have a source parameter.

memory::desc diff_dst_desc() const

Returns a diff destination memory descriptor.

Returns

Diff destination memory descriptor.

Returns

A zero memory descriptor if the primitive does not have a diff destination parameter.

memory::desc workspace_desc() const

Returns the workspace memory descriptor.

Returns

Workspace memory descriptor.

Returns

A zero memory descriptor if the primitive does not require workspace parameter.