Program execution device, program execution system, and program execution method

• US 10,579,489 B2
• Filed: 07/30/2015
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Inventors: Nishikawa, Koji, Ueno, Takahiro, Hashimoto, Shigeru
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson, Yolanda L
• Application Number:
  US15/569,157
• Publication Number:
  US 20180150366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,678 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2023 Failover techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/203 using migration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2035 without idle spare hardware
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/2046 where the redundant components share persistent storage G06F11/2043 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/85 Active fault masking without idle spares active fault masking without idle spare hardware where processing functionality is redundant G06F11/2035

Abstract

In a program execution device (100X), a memory (110) stores first information (101X) specifying one or more programs, and second information (102X) specifying some programs including at least one of programs to be executed by an other program execution device (100Y), out of the programs specified by the first information (101X) and the programs to be executed by the other program execution device (100Y). When an error in the other program execution device (100Y) is not detected by an error processing unit (123), an instruction processing unit (120) executes the programs specified by the first information (101X). When the error in the other program execution device (100Y) is detected by the error processing unit (123), the instruction processing unit (120) executes the programs specified by the second information (102X).

Claims

1. A program execution device that takes over execution of at least one program from an other program execution device upon occurrence of an error in the other program execution device, the program execution device comprising:

a memory that stores first table information specifying two or more programs to be executed by the program execution device during normal conditions, and second table information specifying some, but not all of the two or more programs included in the first table information and also specifying one or more additional programs that were to be executed by the other program execution device before the occurrence of the error in the other program execution device; and

a processor configured to;

determine whether the error in the other program execution device has been detected;

execute one or more of the two or more programs specified by the first table information stored in the memory when the error has not been detected in the other program execution device;

execute one or more of the programs specified by the second table information stored in the memory when the error has been detected in the other program execution device.

2. The program execution device according to claim 1, wherein the one or more additional programs include two or more additional programs.

4. The program execution device according to claim 1, wherein

the memory further stores third information that is associated with the first table information and that specifies a period in which the two or more programs specified by the first table information are to be executed, and fourth information that is associated with the second table information and that specifies a period in which the programs specified by the second table information are to be executed, and

when the error has not been detected in the other program execution device, the processor executes the two or more programs specified by the first table information in the period specified by the third information stored in the memory, and when the error has been detected in the other program execution device, the processor executes the programs specified by the second table information in the period specified by the fourth information stored in the memory.

5. The program execution device according to claim 4, wherein the memory stores, as the fourth information, information specifying a period longer than the period specified by the third information.

6. The program execution device according to claim 1, wherein the memory is a local memory used exclusively by the processor.

7. A program execution system comprising:

a plurality of program execution devices, each being the program execution device according to claim 1, and taking over at least one program from any one of the plurality of program execution devices upon occurrence of an error in that program execution device.

3. A program execution device that takes over execution of at least one program from an other program execution device upon occurrence of an error in the other program execution device, the program execution device comprising:

a memory that stores first table information specifying two or more programs to be executed by the program execution device during normal conditions, and second table information specifying some, but not all of the two or more programs included in the first table information and also specifying one or more additional programs that were to be executed by the other program execution device before the occurrence of the error in the other program execution device; and

a processor configured to;

detect the error, execute one or more of the two or more programs specified by the first table information stored in the memory when the error has not been detected in the other program execution device, and execute one or more of the programs specified by the second table information stored in the memory when the error has been detected in the other program execution device, wherein the memory further stores, as additional information of the second table information, for each program specified by the second table information, information indicating whether or not an accuracy of processing in the program is permitted to be lowered, and when executing a program specified by the second table information, the processor refers to the additional information of the second table information to determine whether or not to lower the accuracy of the processing in the program.

8. A program execution method comprising:

determining, by a program execution device, whether an error in an other program execution device has been detected;

when the error has not been detected in the other program execution device, reading, by the program execution device, from first table information stored in a memory that specifies two or more programs to be executed by the program execution device, and executing, by the program execution device, one or more of the programs specified by the read first table information, wherein the program execution device is configured to take over execution of at least one program from the other program execution device upon occurrence of the error in the other program execution device; and

when the error has been detected in the other program execution device, reading, from the memory by the program execution device, second table information specifying some, but not all of the two or more programs included in the first table information and also specifying one or more additional programs that were to be executed by the other program execution device before the occurrence of the error in the other program execution device, and executing one or more of the programs specified by the read second information, by the program execution device.