PROCESSING SYSTEM HAVING RESOURCE PARTITIONING

• US 20090070769A1
• Filed: 02/04/2008
• Published: 03/12/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: 8758271 Canada Inc. (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Kisel, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,904,400 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 718/104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5014 Reservation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/503 Resource availability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/504 Resource capping
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5016 the resource being the memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5022 Mechanisms to release resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

A processing system includes a resource that is accessible by a processor and resource partitioning software executable by the processor. The resource partitioning software may be executed to establish a resource partition for the resource. The resource partition defines a set of rules that are used to control access to the resource when a request for the resource is received from a software application and/or process.

Claims

1. A processing system comprising:

a resource;

a partitioning component configured to associate a resource partition with the resource, the resource partition having a set of partitioning rules including a minimum resource allocation and a maximum resource allocation; and

where the partitioning component is configured to control access to the resource by a requesting software application and/or process in accordance with the set of partitioning rules.

2. The processing system of claim 1, where the partitioning component is configured to validate or deny a resource request from the software application and/or process to enforce the set of partitioning rules associated with the resource.

3. The processing system of claim 1, where the partitioning component is configured to set limits for the minimum resource allocation and the maximum resource allocation to define attributes of the resource partition.

4. The processing system of claim 1, where the resource partition is dynamic and the partitioning component is configured to adjust limits of the minimum resource allocation and the maximum resource allocation at run time.

5. The processing system of claim 1, where a first object class and a second object class are associated with the requesting software application and/or process;

and

where based on the set of partitioning rules associated with the resource, the partitioning component grants the first object class access to the resource and denies the second object class access to the resource.

6. The processing system of claim 1, where the resource partition comprises a parent resource partition of one or more child resource partitions, where attributes of the parent resource partition constrain attributes of the one or more child resource partitions;

and

where allocations to the requesting software application and/or process from the child resource partition account against the parent resource partition.

7. The processing system of claim 1, further comprising a resource allocation component that coordinates access to the resource;

where the partitioning component is configured to receive a resource request from the software application and/or process; and

where the partitioning component is configured to manipulate the resource request based on the set of partitioning rules to provide one or more new or modified resource requests to the resource allocation component.

8. The processing system of claim 1, where the partitioning component is configured to group a plurality of resource partitions together as a single pseudo-partition.

9. The processing system of claim 1, where the set of partitioning rules comprises a terminal partition policy that when enabled prevents establishment of child partitions under the resource partition.

10. The processing system of claim 1, where the set of partitioning rules comprises a configuration lock policy that when enabled prevents changes to attributes of the resource partition.

11. The processing system of claim 1, where the set of partitioning rules comprises a permanence policy that when enabled prevents destruction of the resource partition.

12. The processing system of claim 1, where the minimum resource allocation indicates a reserved portion of the resource associated with the resource partition;

and

where a difference between the maximum resource allocation and the minimum resource allocation indicates a discretionary portion of the resource associated with the resource partition.

13. The processing system of claim 1, where the resource partition comprises an open use configuration with the minimum resource allocation set to zero and the maximum resource allocation set to unlimited.

14. The processing system of claim 1, where the resource partition comprises a guarantee use configuration with the minimum resource allocation set to a nonzero value and the maximum resource allocation set to unlimited.

15. The processing system of claim 1, where the resource partition comprises a restricted use configuration with the minimum resource allocation set to zero and the maximum resource allocation set to a nonzero value.

16. The processing system of claim 1, where the resource partition comprises a sandbox use configuration with the minimum resource allocation set to a first nonzero value and the maximum resource allocation set to a second nonzero value.

17. The processing system of claim 1, where the partitioning component is configured to establish one or more resource partitions to control access to internal memory, external memory, external communication bandwidth, interrupt channels, direct memory access resources, mutexes, semaphores, interface cards, and/or hardware systems.

18. The processing system of claim 1, where the resource comprises a plurality of interrupt channels;

and

where the partitioning component is configured to control allocation of the plurality of interrupt channels in accordance with the set of partitioning rules associated with the plurality of interrupt channels.

19. The processing system of claim 1, where the resource comprises direct memory access (DMA) capable memory, where the set of partitioning rules associated with the DMA capable memory comprises a limited access rule that indicates which requesting software applications and/or processes may access the DMA capable memory;

and

where the partitioning component is configured to control access to DMA capable memory in accordance with the limited access rule associated with the DMA capable memory.

20. The processing system of claim 1, where the resource comprises a mutex or semaphore created in memory;

and

where the partitioning component is configured to control access to the mutex or semaphore in accordance with the set of partitioning rules associated with the mutex or semaphore.

21. The processing system of claim 1, where the resource comprises an interface card having a plurality of sub-devices;

and

where the partitioning component is configured to control access to the plurality of sub-devices of the interface card in accordance with the set of partitioning rules associated with the interface card.

22. A processing system comprising:

a processor;

a resource accessible by the processor;

resource partitioning software executable by the processor to establish a resource partition corresponding to the resource, the resource partition having corresponding partitioning rules including a minimum resource allocation and a maximum resource allocation; and

where the resource partitioning software controls access to the resource by a requesting software application and/or process in accordance with the corresponding partitioning rules.

23. The processing system of claim 22, where the resource partitioning software assigns an amount of the resource for use by the requesting software application and/or process in accordance with the corresponding partitioning rules.

24. A method, comprising the steps of:

associating a resource partition with a resource, the resource partition having a set of partitioning rules including a minimum resource allocation and a maximum resource allocation;

receiving a request for access to the resource from a software application and/or process; and

controlling access to the resource in accordance with the set of partitioning rules associated with the resource.

25. The method of claim 24, where the step of controlling comprises the steps of:

comparing the request for access to the resource with the set of partitioning rules associated with the resource; and

determining whether the software application and/or process can satisfy the set of partitioning rules to gain access to the resource.

26. The method of claim 24, where the step of controlling comprises the steps of:

manipulating the request for access to the resource based on the set of partitioning rules; and

sending one or more new or modified requests for access to the resource to a resource allocation component that coordinates access to the resource.

27. A processing system comprising:

means for associating a resource partition with a resource, the resource partition having a set of partitioning rules including a minimum resource allocation and a maximum resource allocation; and

means for controlling access to the resource in accordance with the set of partitioning rules associated with the resource.