Balancing Computational Load Across a Plurality of Processors

• US 20080271003A1
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Published: 10/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Nutter, Mark Richard, Minor, Barry L., To, VanDung Dang
• Granted Patent: US 7,694,306 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 717/151
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities

Abstract

Computational load is balanced across a plurality of processors. Source code subtasks are compiled into byte code subtasks whereby the byte code subtasks are translated into processor-specific object code subtasks at runtime. The processor-type selection is based upon one of three approaches which are 1) a brute force approach, 2) higher-level approach, or 3) processor availability approach. Each object code subtask is loaded in a corresponding processor type for execution. In one embodiment, a compiler stores a pointer in a byte code file that references the location of a byte code subtask. In this embodiment, the byte code subtask is stored in a shared library and, at runtime, a runtime loader uses the pointer to identify the location of the byte code subtask in order to translate the byte code subtask.

Claims

1. An information handling system comprising:

a plurality of heterogeneous processors;

a memory accessible by the heterogeneous processors;

one or more nonvolatile storage devices accessible by the heterogeneous processors; and

a code execution load balancing tool for load balancing code execution, the code execution load balancing tool comprising software code effective to;

compile a first source code subtask and a second source code subtask, the compiling resulting in a first byte code subtask and a second byte code subtask;

determine whether to store a pointer in a byte code file, the pointer including a stored location that corresponds to the second byte code subtask;

store the pointer in the byte code file in response to the determination;

store the second byte code subtask at the stored location in response to the determination;

translate the first byte code subtask to a first object code subtask;

execute the first object code subtask using one of the plurality of heterogeneous processors;

during the execution of the first object code subtask, the software code being further effective to;

retrieve the pointer and analyze the stored location;

in response to analyzing the stored location, retrieve the second byte code subtask using a runtime loader;

in response to retrieving the second byte code subtask, use the runtime loader to identify a processor type from a plurality of heterogeneous processor types in which to execute the second byte code subtask, wherein the identifying includes software code effective to retrieve a loading factor for each of the plurality of heterogeneous processor types and determine an availability of each of the plurality of heterogeneous processor types using the loading factors;

in response to identifying the processor type, use the runtime loader to translate the second byte code subtask to a second object code subtask; and

load the second object code subtask into a second processor, selected from the plurality of heterogeneous processors, that corresponds to the identified processor type.

2. A computer program product stored on a computer operable media, the computer operable media containing instructions for execution by a computer, which, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to implement a method for load balancing code execution, said method comprising:

compiling a first source code subtask and a second source code subtask, the compiling resulting in a first byte code subtask and a second byte code subtask;

determining whether to store a pointer in a byte code file, the pointer including a stored location that corresponds to the second byte code subtask;

storing the pointer in the byte code file in response to the determination;

storing the second byte code subtask at the stored location in response to the determination;

translating the first byte code subtask to a first object code subtask;

executing the first object code subtask using one of a plurality of heterogeneous processor types;

during the execution of the first object code subtask, the method further comprising;

retrieving the pointer and analyzing the stored location;

in response to analyzing the stored location, retrieving the second byte code subtask using a runtime loader;

in response to retrieving the second byte code subtask, using the runtime loader to identify a processor type from the plurality of heterogeneous processor types in which to execute the second byte code subtask, wherein the identifying includes retrieving a loading factor for each of the plurality of heterogeneous processor types and determining an availability of each of the plurality of heterogeneous processor types using the loading factors;

in response to identifying the processor type, using the runtime loader to translate the second byte code subtask to a second object code subtask; and

loading the second object code subtask into a processor that corresponds to the identified processor type.

3. A method for load balancing code execution, said method comprising:

compiling a first source code subtask and a second source code subtask, the compiling resulting in a first byte code subtask and a second byte code subtask;

determining whether to store a pointer in a byte code file, the pointer including a stored location that corresponds to the second byte code subtask;

storing the pointer in the byte code file in response to the determination;

storing the second byte code subtask at the stored location in response to the determination;

translating the first byte code subtask to a first object code subtask;

executing the first object code subtask using one of a plurality of heterogeneous processor types;

during the execution of the first object code subtask, the method further comprising;

retrieving the pointer and analyzing the stored location;

in response to analyzing the stored location, retrieving the second byte code subtask using a runtime loader;

in response to retrieving the second byte code subtask, using the runtime loader to identify a processor type from the plurality of heterogeneous processor types in which to execute the second byte code subtask, wherein the identifying includes retrieving a loading factor for each of the plurality of heterogeneous processor types and determining an availability of each of the plurality of heterogeneous processor types using the loading factors;

in response to identifying the processor type, using the runtime loader to translate the second byte code subtask to a second object code subtask; and

loading the second object code subtask into a processor that corresponds to the identified processor type.