METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DATA TRANSMISSION BETWEEN PROCESSORS USING MEMORY REMAPPING

• US 20080270711A1
• Filed: 02/07/2008
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 04/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Original Assignee: Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute
• Inventors: EUM, Nak Woong, LEE, Suk Ho, KIM, Hyuk, KWON, Young-Su, KOO, Bon Tae, BAEK, Young-Seok
• Granted Patent: US 8,464,006 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/148
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/1072 Decentralised address translation, e.g. in distributed shared memory systems

Abstract

Provided are a method and apparatus for efficiently transferring a massive amount of multimedia data between two processors. The apparatus includes a first local switch, which connects a virtual page of a first processor element to a shared memory page, a second local switch, which connects a virtual page of a second processor element to the shared memory page, a shared page switch, which connects a predetermined shared memory page of a shared physical memory to the first or second local switch, and a switch manager, which remaps a certain shared memory page of the shared physical memory that stores data of a task performed by the first processor element to the virtual page of the second processor element. Accordingly, since memory remapping is used, the massive amount of multimedia data can be transmitted by changing a method of mapping a memory, unlike a case when multimedia data is transmitted by using a memory bus.

Claims

1. An apparatus for performing data transmission between processors using memory remapping in a multiprocessor system including a plurality of processor elements, the apparatus comprising:

a first local switch, which connects a virtual page of a first processor element to a shared memory page of a shared physical memory that is shared by the first processor element and a second processor element;

a second local switch, which connects a virtual page of the second processor element to the shared memory page of the shared physical memory;

a shared page switch, which connects the shared memory page of the shared physical memory to the first local switch or the second local switch; and

a switch manager, which remaps a certain shared memory page of the shared physical memory storing data of a task performed by the first processor element to the virtual page of the second processor element and remaps a idle shared memory page of the shared physical memory to the virtual page of the first processor element by controlling the first local switch, the second local switch, and the shared page switch, when tasks performed by the first and second processor elements are completed.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first processor element and the second processor element are processor elements of a stream processor for processing a multimedia data stream.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the switch manager comprises:

a task synchronizer, which synchronizes the tasks by determining whether the tasks that are performed by the first and second processor elements are completed; and

a switch controller, which controls the first local switch, the second local switch, and the shared page switch.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the task synchronizer transmits a control start instruction to the switch controller based on a time of receiving task completion notification from both first and second processor elements.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the switch manager remaps a shared memory page, which is in an idle state after being mapped to the virtual page of the second processor element and then unmapped, to the virtual page of the first processor element.

6. A method of performing data transmission between processors using memory remapping in a multiprocessor system including a plurality of processor elements, the method comprising:

storing first data, which is obtained by a first processor element performing a first task, in a certain shared memory page, which is mapped to a virtual page of the first processor element, of a shared physical memory that is shared by the first processor element and a second processor element,

when tasks that are being performed by the first and second processor elements are completed, remapping the certain shared memory page storing the first data to a virtual page of the second processor element, and remapping a idle shared memory page of the shared physical memory to the virtual page of the first processor element; and

obtaining second data by the second processor element performing a second task based on the first data stored in the certain shared memory page.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first processor element and the second processor element are processor elements of a stream processor for processing a multimedia data stream.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising synchronizing the tasks by determining whether the tasks that are performed by the first and second processor elements are completed

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the synchronizing of the tasks comprises transmitting a control start instruction for memory remapping based on a time of receiving task completion notifications from both first and second processor elements.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the remapping remaps a shared memory page, which is in an idle state after being mapped to the virtual page of the second processor element and then unmapped, to the virtual page of the first processor element.