Distributed audio processing

• US 20070271569A1
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Published: 11/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: LINDQUIST, Carl Tobias, OHLGREN, Harry Carl Hakan
• Granted Patent: US 7,778,822 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Resources may be dynamically allocated in a distributed processing portable electronic communication device. The dynamic allocation may include receiving an instruction to process an audio processing task related to audio data; determining whether resources for processing the processing task are available at a first processing unit; performing the audio processing task by the first processing unit when the resources are determined to be available, the audio processing task obtaining processed audio data; and providing the processed audio data synchronously with a global synchronization pulse so that the phase of the audio data is controlled.

Claims

1. A method of dynamically allocating processing in a portable electronic communication device having a plurality of processing units, the method comprising:

receiving an instruction to process an audio processing task related to audio data;

determining whether resources for processing the processing task are available at a first processing unit of the plurality of processing units;

performing the audio processing task by the first processing unit when the resources are determined to be available, the audio processing task obtaining processed audio data; and

providing the processed audio data synchronously with a global synchronization pulse so that the phase of the audio data is controlled.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein receiving an instruction includes receiving an instruction to process an audio processing task related to a first audio stream, and wherein providing the processed audio data includes providing a processed version of the first audio stream synchronously to the global synchronization pulse so that the phase of the first audio stream is controlled.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein performing the audio processing task includes processing the first audio stream in relation to a second audio stream, and wherein providing the processed audio data includes providing the result of the processed first audio stream in relation to the second audio stream synchronously with the global synchronization pulse so that the relative phase of the first and second audio streams is unchanged.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of whether resources to process the processing task are available is preceded by selecting the first processing unit.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

requesting the first processing unit to process the audio processing task.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein performing the audio processing task by the first processing unit includes allocating resources for processing the processing task at the first processing unit.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising performing the processing task by another one of the plurality of processing units if the first processing unit can not allocate resources to process the audio processing task.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the performing the processing task by another one of the plurality of processing units is preceded by determining whether the another one of the plurality of processing units has available resources for processing the processing task.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the another one of the plurality of processing units is selected for determining whether the another one of the plurality of processing units has available resources based on a schedule.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising requesting the another one of the plurality of processing units to process the audio processing task.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein performing the processing task by another one of the plurality of processing units is performed in dependence of the resources that can be allocated.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

selecting the first processing unit of the plurality of processing units according to a predetermined schedule.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined schedule includes a priority list according to which the processing unit is selected.

14. A portable electronic communication device for dynamically allocating resources, comprising:

a first processing unit;

at least one other processing;

an inter-processing unit communication bus to couple the first processing unit and the at least one other processing unit;

a multi-channel audio bus for carrying audio data between the first and the at least one other processing unit; and

a control unit for providing a global synchronization pulse to at least the first processing unit, determining, over the inter-processing unit communication bus, whether resources to process a processing task are available at the first processing unit, controlling performance of the audio processing task by the first processing unit when the resources are determined to be available, and controlling providing processed audio data synchronously to with the global synchronization pulse to control the phase of the audio data.

15. The portable electronic communication device according to claim 14, wherein the portable communication device is a mobile phone.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable code thereon, the computer readable code, when loaded in a computer or portable electronic communication device, causing the computer or portable electronic device to:

receive an instruction to process an audio processing task related to audio data;

determine whether resources for processing the processing task are available at a first processing unit of the plurality of processing units;

perform the audio processing task by the first processing unit when the resources are determined to be available, the audio processing task obtaining processed audio data; and

provide the processed audio data synchronously with a global synchronization pulse so that the phase of the audio data is controlled.