Synchronous apparatus for processors

• US 5,107,420 A
• Filed: 08/13/1987
• Issued: 04/21/1992
• Est. Priority Date: 08/13/1986
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
• Inventors: Kametani, Masatsugu
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Coleman, Eric
• Application Number:
  US07/084,804
• Time in Patent Office: 1,713 Days
• Field of Search: 364/200 MS File, 364/900 MS File, 370/104
• US Class Current: 718/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/17 using an input/output type connection, e.g. channel, I/O port
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/45 Exploiting coarse grain parallelism in compilation, i.e. parallelism between groups of instructions

Abstract

A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing a plurality of processors includes: a register for storing information regarding a group of processors executing parallel processing for associated tasks; a unit for making active the task end information of a processor; a comparator for comparing the information stored in the register belonging to the group with the task end information to check if a synchronization in the group has been completed; a signal line for transferring the task end information to the comparator; and a unit for transferring a comparison result by the comparator to the processor.

Claims

1. A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing a plurality of processors comprising, a plurality of synchronizing units each coupled to a respective one said processors, and a signal line connected to said synchronizing units, each of said synchronizing units comprising:

means coupled to a processor for storing information indicating whether each of the processors belongs to a group of selected processors for executing parallelly given tasks;

means for producing active task end information when said processor has finished the task to be executed by that processor and for sending said task end information to said signal line;

means coupled to said signal line for receiving the task end information transmitted through said signal line from the sending means of the synchronizing units of the processors and for monitoring whether the processors, which the information stored in said storing means identifies as belonging to the group of selected processors, have completed the given tasks, respectively, based on the received task end information relating to those selected processors; and

means coupled to said processor for transferring a result of the monitoring by said monitoring means to said processor.

2. A synchronous apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said information storing means is a synchronous register having respective bit positions for storing a bit of information for each respective processor.

3. A synchronous apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said bit information stored in said synchronous register is indicative of whether each of the processors belongs to the group.

4. A synchronous apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said monitoring means includes logic units each provided for a respective one of said bit positions, each logic unit being connected to said signal line to receive task end information from said generating means for a respective processor and the bit information from a respective bit position of said synchronous register.

5. A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing the processing of tasks by a plurality of processors, comprising:

a respective synchronous register connected to each processor for storing information received from the processor identifying a group of processors executing parallel processing for related tasks;

a respective flip-flop coupled to each processor to be tiggered by the processor when information is set by the processor in said synchronous register at the time the processor completes a task;

a signal line coupled to each flip-flop for carrying a status signal indicating the state of each flip-flop;

means provided for each processor for monitoring those of the status signals related to the group of processors identified by the information stored in said synchronous register of the processor to determine when all flip-flops of the group of processors have been triggered; and

means for presetting all flip-flops of the group when it is detected that all flip-flops of the group have been triggered.

6. A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing the parallel processing of a plurality of tasks by designated ones of a plurality of processors, comprising:

a plurality of store means each coupled to a respective processor for storing information identifying processors, including the processor coupled thereto, which operate as a group for executing parallel processing for related tasks;

means for generating task end information for each processor when a task has been completed by the processor;

a plurality of monitoring means each coupled to a respective store means for monitoring task end information generated for those processors forming said group of processors identified by information stored in said store means to check if a processing of associated tasks has been completed by all processors in said group;

a signal line coupled to said generating means and said monitoring means for transferring said task end information between processors; and

means for transferring a result of checking by said monitoring means to said processors.

7. A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing a plurality of processors comprising, synchronizing units coupled to said processors, respectively, and a signal line connected to said synchronizing units, each of said synchronizing units comprising:

a synchronous register coupled to a processor for storing information indicating whether each of the processors belongs to a group of selected processors for executing parallelly given tasks;

a flip-flop coupled to said processor and said signal line for producing and sending a status signal to the signal line when said processor has finished the task to be executed by that processor;

means coupled to said signal line for receiving status signals from the processors and for judging whether the processors, which the information stored in said storing means indicates belong to the group of selected processors, have completed the given tasks, based on said received status signals relating to the selected processors; and

means coupled to said processor for transferring a result of the judging by said monitoring means to said processor.

8. A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing a plurality of processors extending parallelly given tasks, including a synchronizing unit for each processor, each synchronizing unit comprising:

means for storing respective first signals relating to respective processors, each first signal indicating whether the respective processor is designed for executing a given task;

means for providing respective second signals relating to respective processors, each second signal indicating that the respective processor has finished a given task;

means for monitoring whether the processors are in synchronism with each other in execution of given tasks based on the second signals relating to those processors which the first signals stored in said storing means indicate are designated for executing the given tasks; and

means for transferring a result of the monitoring by said monitoring means to the respective processors.

9. A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing a plurality of processors and including respective synchronizing units coupled to respective processors, each of said synchronizing units comprising:

means for storing respective status information indicating whether respective processors belong to a group of processors selected for executing parallelly given tasks;

means including a flip-flop for producing, when activated, a task end signal indicating that the processor coupled to the synchronizing unit has finished the task to be executed by that processor;

means for activating said flip-flop in response to a command signal produced from the processor coupled to the synchronizing unit when said processor has finished a task;

means for receiving task end signals produced by the synchronizing units of the respective processors and producing a synchronization end signal when all the task end signals relating to the processors which said status information indicates belong to the group of selected processors are received; and

means responsive to the synchronization end signal to deactivate said flip flop.

10. A synchronous apparatus according to claim 9, each synchronizing unit further comprising means responsive to the synchronization end signal to produce and send to the processor coupled to the synchronizing unit a synchronization check signal.

11. A synchronous apparatus according to claim 9, each synchronizing unit further comprising means for transmitting status information from the processor coupled to said synchronizing unit to said storing means.

12. A synchronous apparatus according to claim 11, wherein said storing means includes a register whose contents are rewritten and the status information is transmitted in the form of a trigger pulse.

13. A synchronous apparatus according to claim 11, further comprising means responsive to the synchronization end signal to produce and send to a processor a synchronization check signal.

14. A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing a plurality of processors and including respective synchronizing units coupled to respective processors, each of said synchronizing units comprising:

means for producing respective data indicating whether each of the processors belongs to a group of processors selected for executing parallelly given tasks;

means for receiving said data from said data producing means and for storing said data;

means including a flip-flop for producing, when activated, a task end signal indicating that the processor coupled to the synchronizing unit has finished a task to be executed by that processor;

means for activating said flip-flop in response to a command signal produced from the processor coupled to the synchronizing unit when that processor has finished the task;

means for receiving the task end signals produced by the flip-flops of the respective processors and for producing a synchronization end signal when all the task end signals relating to processors which the data stored in said storing means indicates belong to the group of the selected processors are received;

means responsive to said synchronization end signal for deactivating said flip-flop; and

means responsive to a synchronization end signal to produce and send a synchronization check signal to the processor coupled to the synchronization unit.

15. A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing a plurality of processors and including respective synchronizing units coupled to respective processors, each of said synchronizing units comprising:

means including a flip-flop for producing, when activated, a task end signal indicating that the processor coupled to the synchronizing unit has finished the task;

means for activating said flip-flop in response to a command signal produced from the processor coupled to the synchronizing unit when that processor has finished a task;

means responsive to said task end signals produced from the flip-flops of the respective processors for monitoring whether the processors have completed the given tasks, and for producing a synchronization end signal when all said tasks have been completed; and

means responsive to the synchronization end signal for deactivating said flip-flop.

16. A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing the parallel processing of a plurality of tasks by a plurality of processors, including a respective processor synchronizing unit for each one of the processors and a signal line connected to the respective processor synchronizing units for communicating information among the processor synchronizing units for the respective processors, each processor synchronizing unit provided for one processor, comprising:

store means for storing information identifying those processors constituting one group together with said one processor for executing parallel processing for given tasks;

flip-flop means which is set when said one processor has completed the given task thereby generating a first signal indicating that said one processor has completed the given task and reset in response to a trigger signal applied thereto thereby generating a second signal for allowing said one processor to execute a next task;

means for transmitting the first signal to the signal line; and

monitoring means connected to the signal line and the store means for receiving from the signal line and monitoring the first signals relating to the processors of the one group identified by the information stored in said store means and producing said trigger signal upon receiving all the first signals relating to the processors of the one group.

17. A synchronous apparatus for synchronizing a plurality of processors, including respective synchronizing units provided for respective processors, and a signal line connected to said synchronizing units, each one of said synchronizing units provided for a respective processor comprising:

means for storing information indicating those processors which are selected, together with the respective processor for which the one synchronizing unit is provided, to constitute one group for executing parallelly given tasks;

flip-flop means for producing active task end information when said respective processor has finished its given task and for producing a status signal which allows the respective processor to execute a next task in response to a trigger signal applied thereto; and

means connected to receive the task end information transmitted through said signal line from the sending means of the synchronizing units of the processors for monitoring whether all the task end information transmitted from the processors, which the information stored in said storing means indicates belong to the one group, have been received and for producing the trigger signal to be applied to said flip-flop means when all task end information has been received.

18. A multiple synchronizing system for synchronizing the parallel processing of given tasks by a plurality of processors comprising synchronizing subsystems respectively provided for respective groups of processors, and a signal line connected to said synchronizing subsystems, each of said synchronizing subsystems comprising a plurality of synchronizing units each coupled to a respective processor, each synchronizing unit provided for a respective processor, comprising:

means for storing information indicating those processors which are selected, together with the respective processor coupled to the synchronizing unit, to constitute a synchronizing subsystem for executing parallelly given tasks, respectively;

flip-flop means for producing active task end information when the respective processor coupled to the synchronizing unit has finished its given task and for producing a status signal which allows said respective processor to execute a next task upon receiving a trigger signal applied thereto; and

means connected to receive the task end information transmitted through said signal line from the sending means of the synchronizing units of the processors for monitoring whether all the task end information transmitted from the processors, which the information stored in said storing means indicates belong to the same synchronizing subsystem have been received and for producing the trigger signal to be applied to said flip-flop means when all task end information has been received.