DISTRIBUTED CONTROL OF DEVICES USING DISCRETE DEVICE INTERFACES OVER SINGLE SHARED INPUT/OUTPUT

• US 20110099557A1
• Filed: 06/25/2008
• Published: 04/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Grass Valley Canada (Belden Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Licensing (Vantiva SA)
• Inventors: Wilson, Gerald Philip
• Granted Patent: US 8,572,631 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 719/314
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/102 where the programme performs an interfacing function, e.g. device driver G06F13/105 takes precedence; scheduling within device drivers G06F9/52; contention policies within device drivers G06F9/4881

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for controlling a device. In one aspect, a method for controlling a device includes exposing a plurality of virtual device interfaces (13) for a device (11), wherein each virtual device interface (13) enables client control of a discrete function of the device, and controlling concurrent communication between the device (11) and two or more virtual device interfaces (13) operating on a single shared I/O connection (15) using a shared I/O port controlled by a device I/O module (12). The device I/O module (12) enables independent development of multiple device interfaces (13) that can seamlessly and independently operate on a single (physical) device communication connection (15), wherein the device shared I/O (input/output) module (12) implements functions to arbitrate and coordinate I/O activity between the device interfaces (13) and target device (11).

Claims

1. A method, comprising the steps of:

providing a plurality of virtual device interfaces for a device, wherein each virtual device interface enables client control of a discrete function of the device; and

controlling concurrent communication between the device and two or more virtual device interfaces operating on a single shared I/O connection using a device input/output (I/O) interface.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

assigning equal priority to virtual device interfaces executing tasks; and

prioritizing messages from the virtual device interfaces based on assigned priority.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

placing messages in separate client queues associated with each client operating a virtual device interface; and

moving messages from the client queues and placing the messages into a timeline in order of time and priority.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

periodically determining the priority of messages in the timeline; and

transmitting messages from the timeline according to priority.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising the steps of:

periodically determining a priority of messages in the timeline;

detecting if potential timing collisions exist for message transmission; and

providing collision notification to the virtual device interfaces.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of:

using an I/O API (application programming interface) that enables a client to specify the priority and timing of messages for that client.

7. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of:

using an I/O API (application programming interface) that enables a client to specify response messages received from the target device, which are to be provided to that client.

8. A program storage device readable by a computer, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for controlling a device, the method steps comprising:

using a plurality of virtual device interfaces for a device, wherein each virtual device interface enables client control of a discrete function of the device; and

controlling concurrent communication between the device and two or more virtual device interfaces operating on a single shared I/O connection using a device input/output (I/O) interface.

9. The program storage device of claim 8, wherein the instructions for controlling concurrent communication comprise instructions for:

assigning equal priority to virtual device interfaces executing tasks; and

prioritizing messages from the virtual device interfaces based on assigned priority.

10. The program storage device of claim 8, wherein the instructions for controlling concurrent communication comprise instructions for:

placing messages in separate client queues associated with each client operating a virtual device interface; and

moving messages from the client queues and placing the messages into a timeline in order of time and priority.

11. The program storage device of claim method of claim 10, wherein the instructions for controlling concurrent communication comprise instructions for:

periodically determining a priority of messages in the timeline; and

transmitting messages from the timeline according to priority.

12. The program storage device of claim 10, wherein the instructions for controlling concurrent communication comprise instructions for:

periodically determining a priority of messages in the timeline;

detecting if potential timing collisions exist for message transmission; and

providing collision notification to the virtual device interfaces.

13. The program storage device of claim 10, further comprising instructions for using an I/O API (application programming interface) that enables a client to specify a priority or timing of messages for that client.

14. The program storage device of claim 10, further comprising instructions for using an I/O API (application programming interface) that enables a client to specify response messages received from the target device, which are to be provided to that client.

15. A system, comprising:

a component that interfaces with a plurality of virtual devices and a target device to concurrently control communications over a single connection between two or more of the virtual devices and the device.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising:

a front end interface that interfaces with virtual devices and determines message queues for the virtual devices; and

an input/output (I/O) port interface that interacts with a target device based on the queued messages.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the front end interface assigns equal priority to virtual devices executing tasks and prioritizes messages from the virtual devices based on assigned priority.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the front end interface places messages in separate client queues associated with each client operating a virtual device interface, moves messages from the client queues and places the messages into a timeline in order of time and priority.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the front end interface periodically determines a priority of messages in the timeline and transmits messages from the timeline according to time and priority.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

an I/O API (application programming interface) that enables a client to specify a priority and timing of messages for that client.

21. The system of claim 18, further comprising:

an I/O API (application programming interface) that enables a client to specify response messages received from the target device, which are to be provided to that client.