Methods And Apparatus For Dynamic Grouping Of Requestors Of Resources In A Multi-Processor System

• US 20080077721A1
• Filed: 09/26/2006
• Published: 03/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Computer Entertainment Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Terakawa, Hiroaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,546,405 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 710/240
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/508 Monitor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals

Abstract

Methods and apparatus provide for: assigning each of a plurality of requesters to a respective one of a plurality of requester groups; receiving tokens from a plurality of resources, where each token is an exchange medium for permitting one of the requesters having the token to access an associated one of the resources for a period of time; receiving requests for the tokens from one or more of the requesters; allocating the tokens to at least one of the respective requester groups and the requesters thereof based on token allocation criteria; and dynamically re-assigning one or more of the requesters among the requester groups based on feedback information concerning at least some prior token allocations.

Claims

14. An apparatus comprising:

a plurality of parallel processors capable of operative communication with a plurality of resources;

a token manager circuit operable to;

(i) receive tokens from a plurality of resources, where each token is an exchange medium for permitting one of the processors having the token to access an associated one of the resources for a period of time;

(ii) receive requests for the tokens from one or more of the processors, and (iii) allocate the tokens to the respective processors based on token allocation criteria; and

a controller circuit operable to;

(i) assign each of the plurality of processors to a respective one of a plurality of requestor groups, (ii) and dynamically re-assign one or more of the processors among the requestor groups based on feedback information concerning at least some prior token allocations.

1. A method, comprising:

assigning each of a plurality of requesters to a respective one of a plurality of requestor groups;

receiving tokens from a plurality of resources, where each token is an exchange medium for permitting one of the requestors having the token to access an associated one of the resources for a period of time;

receiving requests for the tokens from one or more of the requestors;

allocating the tokens to at least one of the respective requestor groups and the requestors thereof based on token allocation criteria; and

dynamically re-assigning one or more of the requestors among the requester groups based on feedback information concerning at least some prior token allocations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the feedback information includes indications of whether one or more of the requestors did not receive a token allocation when requested.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the feedback information includes the number of times that each requester did not receive a token allocation when requested.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of dynamically re-assigning includes at least one of:

(i) re-assigning one of the requesters having a relatively high number of times that it did not receive a token allocation to a different requestor group; and

(ii) re-assigning one of the requesters having a relatively low number of times that it did not receive a token allocation to a different requestor group.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein at least one of:

the relatively high number of times is a highest number of times that the given requestor did not receive a token allocation when requested; and

the relatively low number of times is a lowest number of times that the given requestor did not receive a token allocation when requested.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of dynamically re-assigning includes re-assigning the requester having a relatively high number of times to the group containing the requestor having a relatively low number of times.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of dynamically re-assigning includes re-assigning the requestor having a relatively low number of times to the group containing the requestor having a relatively high number of times.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of dynamically re-assigning includes at least one of:

(i) re-assigning to a different requester group at least one requestor from one of the requestor groups having a relatively high total number of times that the requesters thereof did not receive a token allocation; and

(ii) re-assigning to a different requestor group at least one requestor from one of the requestor groups having a relatively low total number of times that the requesters thereof did not receive a token allocation.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of:

the relatively high total number of times is a highest total number of times that the requesters of the given requester group did not receive a token allocation when requested; and

the relatively low total number of times is a lowest total number of times that the requesters of the given requestor group did not receive a token allocation when requested.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of dynamically re-assigning includes re-assigning one of the requestors from the requestor group having the relatively high total number of times to the requester group having the relatively low total number of times.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the step of dynamically re-assigning includes re-assigning one of the requesters from the requestor group having the relatively low total number of times to the requestor group having the relatively high total number of times.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the token allocation criteria includes granting token requests based on a priority of the requests for tokens.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the token allocation criteria includes granting token requests on a round robin basis.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein at least one of:

the feedback information includes indications of whether one or more of the requestors did not receive a token allocation when requested; and

the feedback information includes the number of times that each requestor did not receive a token allocation when requested.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the controller circuit is operable to at least one of:

(i) re-assign one of the processors having a relatively high number of times that it did not receive a token allocation to a different requestor group; and

(ii) re-assign one of the processors having a relatively low number of times that it did not receive a token allocation to a different requestor group.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein at least one of:

the relatively high number of times is a highest number of times that the given processor did not receive a token allocation when requested; and

the relatively low number of times is a lowest number of times that the given processor did not receive a token allocation when requested.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the controller circuit is operable to dynamically re-assign the processor having a relatively high number of times to the group containing the processor having a relatively low number of times.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the controller circuit is operable to dynamically re-assign the requestor having a relatively low number of times to the group containing the processor having a relatively high number of times.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the controller circuit is operable to at least one of:

(i) re-assign to a different requestor group at least one processor from one of the requestor groups having a relatively high total number of times that the processors thereof did not receive a token allocation; and

(ii) re-assigning to a different requester group at least one processor from one of the requester groups having a relatively low total number of times that the processors thereof did not receive a token allocation.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein at least one of:

the relatively high total number of times is a highest total number of times that the processors of the given requestor group did not receive a token allocation when requested; and

the relatively low total number of times is a lowest total number of times that the processors of the given requestor group did not receive a token allocation when requested.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the controller circuit is operable to dynamically re-assign one of the processors from the requestor group having the relatively high total number of times to the requestor group having the relatively low total number of times.

23. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the token allocation criteria includes granting token requests on a round robin basis.

21-1. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein the controller circuit is operable to dynamically re-assign one of the processors from the requestor group having the relatively low total number of times to the requestor group having the relatively high total number of times.

22-2. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the token allocation criteria includes granting token requests based on a priority of the requests for tokens.