Operating System Distributed Over Heterogeneous Platforms

• US 20100251265A1
• Filed: 03/30/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Hodson, Orion T., Hunt, Galen C., Nightingale, Edmund B.
• Granted Patent: US 8,776,088 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/319
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/462 Lookup
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/465 Distributed object oriented systems remote method invocation [RMI] G06F9/548
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/546 Message passing systems or structures, e.g. queues
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An illustrative operating system distributes two or more instances of the operating system over heterogeneous platforms of a computing device. The instances of the operating system work together to provide single-kernel semantics to present a common operating system abstraction to application modules. The heterogeneous platforms may include co-processors that use different instruction set architectures and/or functionality, different NUMA domains, etc. Further, the operating system allows application modules to transparently access components using a local communication path and a remote communication path. Further, the operating system includes a policy manager module that determines the placement of components based on affinity values associated with interaction relations between components. The affinity values express the sensitivity of the interaction relations to a relative location of the components.

Claims

1. An operating system, comprising:

at least two instances of an operating system distributed among at least two heterogeneous platforms within a computing device, said at least two instances using single-kernel semantics, the single-kernel semantics presenting a common operating system abstraction to application modules that interact with said at least two heterogeneous platforms.

2. The operating system of claim 1, wherein said at least two heterogeneous platforms include a first platform and a second platform, wherein the first platform uses a different instruction set architecture than the second platform.

3. The operating system of claim 1, wherein said at least two heterogeneous platforms include a first platform and a second platform, wherein the first platform is a general-purpose processing platform, and the second platform performs a specialized function.

4. The operating system of claim 1, wherein said at least two heterogeneous platforms include a first platform and a second platform, wherein the first platform corresponds to a first NUMA domain and the second platform corresponds to a second NUMA domain.

5. The operating system of claim 1, wherein at least one instance of the operating system includes one or more components that are present in at least one other instance of the operating system, and wherein said at least one instance of the operating system includes one or more components that are not present in at least one other instance of the operating system.

6. A method, using an operating system, for providing access to components within a computing device, comprising:

receiving a request to perform a process that involves a component;

providing access to the component using a local communication path if it is determined that the component is located on a local platform; and

providing access to the component using a remote communication path if it is determined that the component is located on a remote platform.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the request to perform the process is made by an application module associated with the local platform.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining whether the component is provided on the local platform or remote platform by consulting a location determination module.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising sending a message over the remote communication path using transfer functionality, comprising:

forming a message which describes information to be sent to the remote platform;

sending the message to the remote platform;

receiving the message at the remote platform;

interpreting the message at the remote platform; and

copying the information described in the message so that the information is available to the remote platform,

it being transparent to the remote platform whether the information originates from the local platform or the remote platform.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

sending a confirmation to the local platform that indicates that the remote platform has received the message;

receiving the confirmation at the local platform; and

freeing memory associated with the message at the local platform.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the remote platform is implemented in hardware.

12. A computer readable medium for storing computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions providing a policy manager module when executed by one or more processing units, the computer readable instructions comprising:

logic configured to identify a process which involves an interaction relation between a first component and a second component;

logic configured to identify an affinity value associated with the interaction relation, the affinity value identifying a sensitivity of the process to a relative location of the first component and the second component; and

logic configured to determine a placement of the first component in relation to the second component by taking into consideration the affinity value.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the process is involved in running an application module on an operating system, and wherein the affinity value is specified in a manifest which accompanies the application module.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the placement is further based on an assessment of locations of the first component and the second component.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein one type of affinity value conveys that the process is agnostic with respect to the relative location of the first component and the second component.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein one type of affinity value conveys that the process may benefit if the first component is located on a same platform relative to the second component.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein one type of affinity value conveys that the process may benefit if the first component is located on a different platform relative to the second component.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 17, wherein said logic configured to determine a placement is further to configured to:

receive distance information regarding respective distances between different platforms; and

place the first component with respect to the second component by considering the affinity value in combination with the distance information.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein:

a first affinity value conveys that the process is agnostic with respect to the relative location of the first component and the second component;

a second affinity value conveys that the process may benefit if the first component is located on a same platform relative to the second component; and

a third affinity value conveys that the process may benefit if the first component is located on a different platform relative to the second component.

20. The computer readable medium of claim 12, wherein the affinity value comprises a non-binding suggestion regarding a placement of the first component with respect to the second component.