Modular event-driven processing

• US 20060117318A1
• Filed: 08/15/2005
• Published: 06/01/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures I LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Shaw Parsing LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Huang, Alex, Cano, Charles E., Lueck, Jeremy S., Benevidez, J. Joseph, Rumelhart, Karl E., Tuttle, Timothy
• Granted Patent: US 8,397,237 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/506 Constraint
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load

Abstract

Each of a plurality of thread boundaries comprises functionality to be performed for a given event by a single thread. A plurality of queues through which events may be routed may be coupled to the thread boundaries. A plurality of tasks may be configured in a defined relationship, each task being associated with a thread boundary and comprising a unit of code for performing a specific function. Resources may be allocated to thread boundaries based on queue depth.

Claims

1. A method for processing events, the method comprising:

determining a load at a first thread boundary in a plurality of thread boundaries, wherein the plurality of thread boundaries are capable of performing a service for one or more events, wherein each thread boundary in the plurality of thread boundaries includes at least one task associated with at least a part of the service the at least one task is capable of performing; and

dynamically allocating one or more resources to the first thread boundary based on the load determined, wherein the one or more resources allow the at least one task of the first thread boundary to perform the at least the part of the service associated with the at least one task.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the load is based on a number of events that the first thread boundary needs to process.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing a plurality of thread boundary queues, wherein the first thread boundary comprises a first thread boundary queue capable of holding the number of events.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the load is determined based on the number of events being held in the thread boundary queue.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the first thread boundary is capable of performing the at least a part of the service on the number of events.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining a second load for a second thread boundary in the plurality of thread boundaries; and

dynamically allocating a second set of one or more resources to the second thread boundary based on the second load determined, wherein the second set of one or more resources allow the at least one task of the second thread boundary to perform a second at least the part of the service.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second load is based on a second number of events that the second thread boundary needs to process.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the load of the first thread boundary and the second load of the second thread boundary are used to determine how many resources are allocated to the first thread boundary and the second thread boundary.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein dynamically allocating one or more resources to the first thread boundary further comprises:

allocating threads to the first thread boundary based on the load, each allocated thread performing the at least the part of the service associated with the thread boundary to which it is allocated.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one task of each of the plurality of thread boundaries have a defined relationship in order to perform the service for the one or more events.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein an event in the one or more events is processed by the plurality of thread boundaries in order to perform the service for the event.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein a first event and a second event in the one or more events are processed in parallel in the first thread boundary.

13. A computer system for processing events, the computer system comprising:

a plurality of thread boundaries, wherein the plurality of thread boundaries are capable of performing a service, wherein a first thread boundary in the plurality of thread boundaries includes at least one task capable of performing at least a part of the service;

a plurality of thread boundary queues coupled to the thread boundaries, wherein the first thread boundary includes a first thread boundary queue capable of holding one or more events for routing to the first thread boundary; and

a resource allocation module capable of allocating one or more resources to the first thread boundary based on a first thread boundary queue depth of the first thread boundary queue, wherein the first thread boundary queue depth is based on a number of events being held in the first thread boundary queue.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the allocated one or more resources allow the at least one task of the first thread boundary to perform the at least the part of the service for the number of events being held in the first thread boundary queue.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein a second thread boundary in the plurality of thread boundaries includes a second thread boundary queue holding a second number of events,

wherein the resource allocation module is capable of allocating a first set of resources to the first thread boundary and a second set of resources to the second thread boundary based on the first thread boundary queue depth and the second thread boundary queue depth, wherein the first thread boundary queue depth is based on the number of events being held in the first thread boundary queue and the second thread boundary queue depth is based on the second number of events being held in the second thread boundary queue.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more resources comprise one or more threads, wherein the one or more threads are allocated to the first thread boundary based on the first thread boundary queue depth.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein each allocated thread performs the at least one task within the first thread boundary for the number of events.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

a thread pool comprising the one or more threads to be allocated to thread boundaries based on thread boundary queue depth, the thread pool being coupled to the resource allocation module.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein each of the plurality of tasks is stateless.

20. The system of claim 13, further comprising one or more service utilities capable of providing a utility, wherein the at least one task in each of the plurality of thread boundaries can use a service utility in the one or more service utilities to perform its part of the service.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein at least one of the one or more service utilities is statefull.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one task of the plurality of thread boundaries have a defined relationship in order to perform the service for the one or more events.

23. The system of claim 13, wherein an event in the number of events is processed by the plurality of thread boundaries in order to perform the service for the event.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the event is passed from the first thread boundary to a second thread boundary queue of a second thread boundary such that the second thread boundary can process the event next.

25. The system of claim 13, wherein a first event and a second event in the one or more events are processed in parallel in the first thread boundary.

26. A computer system for processing, the computer system comprising:

a first thread boundary comprising at least one task, wherein a first task in the first thread boundary comprises processing functionality to perform a first function;

a second thread boundary comprising at least one task, wherein a second task in the second thread boundary comprises processing functionality to perform a second function;

a first thread boundary queue coupled to the first thread boundary;

a second thread boundary queue coupled to the second thread boundary, wherein the second thread boundary queue connects the first thread boundary and the second thread boundary such that the one or more events are routed from the first thread boundary to the second thread boundary through the second thread boundary queue; and

a resource allocation module capable of allocating one or more resources to the first and second thread boundaries, wherein one or more resources allow the first and second tasks to perform their first and second functions, wherein the one or more resources are allocated to the first and second thread boundaries based on a first thread boundary queue depth of the first thread boundary queue and a second thread boundary queue depth of the second thread boundary queue, the first thread boundary receiving a first set of resources in the one or more resources and the second thread boundary receiving a second set of resources in the one or more resources.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the one or more resources comprise threads capable of processing the first function of the first task or second function of the second task.

28. The system of claim 27 further comprising:

a thread pool comprising the one or more threads to be allocated to the first and second thread boundaries based on the first and second thread boundary queue depth.

29. The system of claim 26, wherein first and second tasks are stateless.

30. The system of claim 26, further comprising one or more service utilities, wherein a service utility comprises a utility that can be accessed by the first task or second task in performing the first function or the second function.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein at least one of the one or more service utilities is stateful.

32. The system of claim 26, wherein the at least one first task in the first thread boundary and the at least one task in the second thread boundary have a defined relationship in order to perform an overall functionality based on the first function and second function for the event.

33. The system of claim 26, wherein the event is processed by the plurality of thread boundaries in order to perform an overall function defined by the first and second function for the event.

34. The system of claim 26, wherein a first event and a second event in the one or more events are processed in parallel.