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+# `MLBuffer` Exploration
+
+By @a-sully
+
+## What is this?
+
+This is an exploration - primarily via code samples of key use cases - of what
+ML compute might look like using a device-agnostic buffer, as proposed in
+[#482](https://github.com/webmachinelearning/webnn/issues/482) as `MLBuffer`.
+
+This is not intended to be a formal explainer, though it could become one if
+that would be useful. My intention here is to describe our priorities (such that
+we can ensure the design satisfies these priorities), bring attention to some
+open questions and related issues, toss around some ideas, and encourage
+discussion about how this proposal will be specified.
+
+## Goals
+
+- Minimize round-trips to JavaScript/CPU needed for synchronization of work on
+  buffers which may not live on the CPU
+- Minimize buffer copies
+  - In particular, we should support zero-copy buffer sharing between WebNN and
+    WebGPU if this is supported by the underlying hardware
+- Support the XPU (i.e. CPU, GPU, NPU, TPU, etc...) with one consistent API
+- Follow recomended [design
+  principles](https://w3ctag.github.io/design-principles/)
+  - In my opinion, this likely entails [mirroring WebGPU's design
+    decisions](https://w3ctag.github.io/design-principles/#naming-consultation),
+    where appropriate
+
+## Overarching Questions
+
+Many of these questions are not _specific_ to `MLBuffer`, but are important
+enough that their answers will strongly influence the shape of the `MLBuffer`
+proposal.
+
+- What are WebNN's timelines and how do they interact with WebGPU's timelines?
+  See [#529](https://github.com/webmachinelearning/webnn/issues/529)
+- Where will an `MLBuffer`'s memory be allocated on systems where an `MLContext`
+  may not be as closely tied to a given physical device as an
+  [`IDMLDevice`](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/directml/nn-directml-idmldevice)?
+  See [#350](https://github.com/webmachinelearning/webnn/issues/350)
+- How will errors be surfaced? See
+  [#477](https://github.com/webmachinelearning/webnn/issues/477). Do we need a
+  concept similar to [WebGPU's error
+  scopes](https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/#error-scopes)?
+- Must an `MLBuffer` only be used with an `MLContext` it was created from?
+  (or `MLGraph`s created from that `MLContext`, and so forth)
+- If what we're building is a device-agnostic buffer, it will surely be used for
+  things other than ML (in the long run). In the spirit of
+  [future-proofing](https://w3ctag.github.io/design-principles/#naming-future-proofing),
+  should we name it something other than `MLBuffer`?
+
+## Use Case: Chained Inference
+
+Here's a code sample showing how `MLBuffer`s can be used for chained inference
+and then read back to an `ArrayBuffer`:
+
+```js
+// Create new MLBuffers to be used for chained inference.
+const inputMlBuffer = mlContext.createBuffer({inputSize});
+const intermediateMlBuffer = mlContext.createBuffer({intermediateSize});
+const outputMlBuffer = mlContext.createBuffer({outputSize});
+
+// Copy the contents of an ArrayBuffer into an MLBuffer, to be later used as inputs.
+mlContext.writeBuffer(
+    inputMlBuffer,
+    /*dstOffset=*/0,
+    /*srcData=*/someJsArrayBuffer,
+);
+
+// Perform some ✧*✧* machine learning *✧*✧ described by `graph`.
+mlContext.dispatch(
+    graph,
+    /*inputs=*/{buffer: inputMlBuffer},
+    /*outputs=*/{buffer: intermediateMlBuffer},
+);
+
+// Feed the output of one execution as the input to the next. Chained inference!
+mlContext.dispatch(
+    anotherGraph,
+    /*inputs=*/{buffer: intermediateMlBuffer},
+    /*outputs=*/{buffer: outputMlBuffer},
+);
+
+// Read back the results to script.
+const resultBuffer = await outputMlBuffer.mapAsync();
+```
+
+Let's dive into what happens at each of these steps:
+
+### `MLBuffer` creation
+
+```js
+const inputMlBuffer = mlContext.createBuffer({inputSize});
+```
+#### How it works:
+
+- Enqueue a request on some WebNN timeline to allocate memory on the device
+  associated with `mlContext`
+- The memory allocation will be zeroed (as it is for [WebGPU's `createBuffer()`
+  method](https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/#dom-gpudevice-createbuffer))
+
+#### Questions:
+
+- Can an `MLBuffer`'s size always be known at the time of buffer allocation?
+  - In this case and many other cases it seems possible; it's presumably a
+    function of the model and/or video input. But since WebNN always rents a
+    buffer to WebGPU - never the other way around - this introduces a constraint
+    that the size of an `MLBuffer` must always be known at the time of buffer
+    allocation
+- When will `inputMlBuffer` be deallocated if `destroy()` is not called?
+
+### Writing to an `MLBuffer`
+
+```js
+mlContext.writeBuffer(
+    inputMlBuffer,
+    /*dstOffset=*/0,
+    /*srcData=*/someJsArrayBuffer,
+);
+```
+
+#### How it works:
+
+- Enqueue a request on some WebNN timeline to copy the contents of
+  `someJsArrayBuffer` to `inputMlBuffer`. This is very similar to [the
+  corresponding WebGPU
+  method](https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/#dom-gpuqueue-writebuffer), though the
+  implementation details will vary depending on which device `inputMlBuffer` is
+  allocated on. For example, if allocated on:
+  - a CPU, the buffer contents will be copied directly (i.e. `memcpy()`)
+  - a GPU, the behavior will likely match `GPUQueue.writeBuffer()`. On UMA
+    systems, a `memcpy()` might suffice. Other implementations may use a hidden
+    "upload" buffer to get the data onto the GPU. This implies two copies:\
+    *  `ArrayBuffer` → "upload" buffer → high-GPU-bandwidth
+    buffer*
+  - an XPU... it depends!
+- `someJsArrayBuffer` is unaffected, since the bytes are copied
+  - Note that the aforementioned copies are _in addition_ to any copies needed
+    to get the data into the `ArrayBuffer` in the first place. If the data is
+    weights being read from a `File`, for example, this will require first
+    copying the bytes from the `File` into the `ArrayBuffer`. This means
+    **copying the weights into GPU-accessible memory could take as many as four
+    copies!**
+
+#### Questions:
+
+- Should there be a corresponding
+  [`mappedAtCreation`](https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/#dom-gpubufferdescriptor-mappedatcreation)
+  capability?
+  - If the data is not already in an `ArrayBuffer`, this eliminates the data
+    copy into an `ArrayBuffer` altogether, since we could write to the "upload"
+    buffer directly:
+    ```js
+    const mlBuffer = mlContext.createBuffer({size, mappedAtCreation: true});
+
+    const floatArray = new Float32Array(mlBuffer.getMappedRange()),
+
+    // Write to `floatArray`
+    // ...
+
+    // Write the buffer contents to the XPU
+    mlBuffer.unmap();
+    ```
+      Before: *some source → `ArrayBuffer` → "upload" buffer
+      → high-GPU-bandwidth buffer*\
+      After: *some source → "upload" buffer
+      → high-GPU-bandwidth buffer*
+- Should there be the equivalent of
+  [`MAP_WRITE`](https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/#dom-gpubufferusage-map_write) +
+  [`COPY_SRC`](https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/#dom-gpubufferusage-copy_src) for
+  `MLBuffer`s?
+  - If we know the usage of `inputMlBuffer` (e.g. that it's read-only by WebNN)
+    then we may be able to eliminate the data copy from the "upload" buffer to
+    the high-GPU-bandwidth buffer in the non-UMA case:
+    ```js
+    const mlBuffer = mlContext.createBuffer({size, usage: MAP_WRITE | INPUT_ONLY});
+    ```
+    This may not make a difference for DirectML, which appears to require [bound
+    resources](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/directml/nf-directml-idmlbindingtable-bindpersistentresource)
+    to use `D3D12_HEAP_TYPE_DEFAULT`, but it could eliminate a copy on other
+    systems. I'm not familiar enough with other systems to know the answer here!
+  - Combining this with the above techniques brings (as many as) 4 copies down
+    to (as few as) 2:\
+      Before: *some source → `ArrayBuffer` → "upload" buffer
+      → high-GPU-bandwidth buffer*\
+      After: *some source → "upload" buffer*
+
+### Execute an `MLGraph`
+
+```js
+mlContext.dispatch(
+    graph,
+    /*inputs=*/{buffer: inputMlBuffer},
+    /*outputs=*/{buffer: intermediateMlBuffer},
+);
+```
+
+#### How it works:
+
+- Enqueues a request to compute the graph onto some WebNN timeline
+- Execution cannot start until all input and output `MLBuffer`s are available
+- All input and output `MLBuffer`s are unavailable while execution is in
+  progress
+- All work submitted after this `dispatch()` call which relies on an input or
+  output `MLBuffer` will be queued behind this execution
+
+#### Questions:
+
+- This approach is flexible enough to allow for graph execution on all backends.
+  Do we need a separate `compute()` method?
+- Should this method be on the `MLGraph` (related to
+  [#303](https://github.com/webmachinelearning/webnn/issues/303))? Is there a
+  use case not satisfied by the following?
+  ```js
+  graph.dispatch(
+    /*inputs=*/{buffer: inputMlBuffer},
+    /*outputs=*/{buffer: intermediateMlBuffer},
+  );
+  ```
+- Is it valid to pass the same `MLBuffer` as both an input and output of the
+  same `dispatch()` call? e.g.
+  ```js
+  graph.dispatch(
+    /*inputs=*/{buffer: someMlBuffer},
+    /*outputs=*/{buffer: someMlBuffer},
+  );
+  ```
+
+### Read back data from an `MLBuffer`
+
+```js
+const resultBuffer = await outputMlBuffer.mapAsync();
+```
+
+#### How it works:
+
+- After the completion of all currently-enqueued operations that use
+  `outputMlBuffer`, WebNN will copy the contents of `outputMlBuffer` to
+  `resultBuffer`. This is very similar to
+  [`GPUBuffer.mapAsync()`](https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/#dom-gpubuffer-mapasync),
+  with a key difference being that WebGPU only allows `mapAsync()` on buffers
+  which have the `MAP_READ` usage flag. In this case, if using a GPU, we may
+  need to create an intermediate "readback" buffer to facilitate the transfer.
+  This may require two copies:\
+  *  high-GPU-bandwidth buffer → "readback" buffer →
+  `ArrayBuffer`*\
+
+#### Questions:
+
+- What should this method be called? I've proposed `mapAsync()` here to mirror
+  WebGPU since the behavior is very similar.
+- Should there be the equivalent of
+  [`MAP_READ`](https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/#dom-gpubufferusage-map_read) +
+  [`COPY_DST`](https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/#dom-gpubufferusage-copy_dst) for
+  `MLBuffer`s?
+  - If we know the usage of `outputMlBuffer` (e.g. that it's
+    write-once by WebNN) then we could eliminate the data copy from the
+    high-GPU-bandwidth buffer to the "readback" buffer in the non-UMA case
+    ```js
+    // The buffer may be allocated on a "readback" buffer
+    const mlBuffer = mlContext.createBuffer({size, usage: MAP_READ | OUTPUT_ONLY});
+
+    // `mlBuffer` may be used as an output to MLGraph execution
+    // ...
+
+    // Read back with fewer data copies!
+    const resultBuffer = await mlBuffer.mapAsync();
+    ```
+    Again, this will not help DirectML and may or may not help other systems.
+
+## Use Case: WebGPU Interop
+
+Here’s a code example in which WebNN performs selfie segmentation on a video
+frame without needing round-trips to JavaScript to synchronize WebNN and WebGPU
+compute:
+
+```js
+const applyEffectToFrame = () => {
+  const gpuVideoTexture = gpuDevice.importExternalTexture({source: video});
+
+  // Create a new MLBuffer to be used to facilitate WebGPU interop.
+  //
+  // Note that a more optimized implementation might allocate this buffer - or a
+  // ring of buffers - ahead of time such that memory can be reused.
+  const tensorizedMlBuffer = mlContext.createBuffer({size: tensorizedBufferSize});
+
+  // Rent out the MLBuffer to WebGPU.
+  const tensorizedGpuBuffer = tensorizedMlBuffer.mapAsGpuBuffer(gpuDevice);
+
+  // Create a bind group for `gpuVideoTexture`, create a command encoder, etc.
+  // to "tensorize" `gpuVideoTexture` and store the result in `tensorizedGpuBuffer`
+  // ...
+
+  gpuDevice.queue.submit([tensorizationCommandEncoder.finish()]);
+
+  // Return the buffer to WebNN.
+  tensorizedMlBuffer.unmapFromGpuBuffer();
+
+  // Perform some inference described by `graph` on the frame
+  // (e.g. selfie segmentation)
+  mlContext.dispatch(
+    graph,
+    /*inputs=*/{buffer: tensorizedMlBuffer},
+    /*outputs=*/{buffer: tensorizedMlBuffer},
+  );
+
+  // Rent the MLBuffer back out to WebGPU.
+  const tensorizedGpuBufferAfterInference = tensorizedMlBuffer.mapAsGpuBuffer(gpuDevice);
+
+  // Create a bind group for `tensorizedGpuBufferAfterInference`,
+  // create a command encoder, etc to feed `tensorizedGpuBufferAfterInference`
+  // into a GPU shader which may blur the frame or replace background sections
+  // and then render the result
+  // ...
+
+  gpuDevice.queue.submit([texturizeAndRenderCommandEncoder.finish()]);
+
+  // Call this method for each frame.
+  video.requestVideoFrameCallback(applyEffectToFrame);
+}
+```
+
+Let's again dive into what happens at each of these steps. Some of these steps
+are covered above, which I'll skip over here:
+
+### Rent out an `MLBuffer` to WebGPU
+
+```js
+const tensorizedGpuBuffer = tensorizedMlBuffer.mapAsGpuBuffer(gpuDevice);
+```
+
+#### How it works:
+
+- Two fences are created:
+  1. a "start access" fence which is to be signaled by WebNN and waited on by
+     WebGPU
+  2. an "end access" fence which is to be signaled by WebGPU and waited on by
+     WebNN
+- `gpuDevice` enqueues a command to its `GPUQueue` to wait for the "start
+  access" fence to be signaled
+- WebNN (on some queue or timeline yet to be specified) will signal the "start
+  access" fence after the completion of all currently-enqueued operations that
+  use `tensorizedMlBuffer`. This is very similar to how `mapAsync()` works
+  - In this case, there is only one currently-enqueued operation:
+    `MLContext.createBuffer()`
+  - In the latter `mapAsGpuBuffer()` call, the "start access" fence will not be
+    signaled by WebNN until the `dispatch()` call is complete. This implicitly
+    blocks execution of the commands in `texturizeAndRenderCommandEncoder` that
+    are enqueued to WebGPU until WebNN is finished with `tensorizedMlBuffer`
+- WebNN will wait for the "end access" fence to be signaled. In the meantime,
+  all work involving `tensorizedMlBuffer` is blocked
+- `gpuDevice` has exclusive, read/write access to this memory for as long as the
+  "end access" fence is not signaled
+- If `tensorizedMlBuffer` was allocated in memory shared by `gpuDevice`, this
+  will be a zero-copy mapping. Otherwise a new buffer will be allocated on
+  `gpuDevice` and the contents of `tensorizedMlBuffer` will be copied into this
+  buffer
+- The memory backing `tensorizedMlBuffer` becomes inaccessible to WebNN (or
+  script, or anything else), regardless of whether a copy is made.
+  - Ideally these states and their transitions can be expressed similarly to a
+    `GPUBuffer`'s [internal
+    state](https://www.w3.org/TR/webgpu/#buffer-internals-state)
+
+#### Questions:
+
+- What are the usage flags of `tensorizedGpuBuffer`?
+- While `tensorizedMlBuffer` is rented out to WebGPU as `tensorizedGpuBuffer`:
+  - What happens if `destroy()` is called on `tensorizedMlBuffer`?
+  - What happens if `destroy()` is called on `tensorizedGpuBuffer`?
+
+### Return a rented-out `MLBuffer` back to WebNN
+
+```js
+tensorizedMlBuffer.unmapFromGpuBuffer();
+```
+
+#### How it works:
+
+- If `tensorizedMlBuffer` was allocated in memory shared by `gpuDevice`, this
+  will be a zero-copy unmapping. Otherwise the contents of `tensorizedGpuBuffer`
+  will be copied into `tensorizedMlBuffer`
+- Informs `gpuDevice` to signal the "end access" fence created in the
+  `mapAsGpuBuffer()` method after the completion of currently-enqueued
+  operations that use `tensorizedGpuBuffer`. This is very similar to how
+  `mapAsync()` works
+- The WebNN timeline receives the signal and may resume execution
+- WebNN has exclusive, read/write access to this memory until further notice
+- `tensorizerGpuBuffer` is expired
+  https://gpuweb.github.io/gpuweb/#dom-gpuexternaltexture-expired-slot
+
+#### Questions:
+
+- What happens to `tensorizedMlBuffer` if this method is never called?