Protocol parallel processing apparatus having a plurality of CPUs allocated to process hierarchical protocols

• US 5,590,328 A
• Filed: 03/06/1995
• Issued: 12/31/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/1991
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• Original Assignee: Mitsubishi Denki Kabushiki Kaisha (Mitsubishi Electric Corporation)
• Inventors: Seno, Shoichiro, Ideguchi, Tetsuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Treat, William M.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Application Number:
  US08/399,331
• Time in Patent Office: 666 Days
• Field of Search: 395/650, 395/375, 395/700, 395/775, 395/200.1
• US Class Current: 718/105
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A protocol processing apparatus is presented having a plurality of CPUs for processing communication protocol data in parallel so as to achieve a high measure of efficiency. The apparatus provides a common memory including a CPU state table that is accessible by the plurality of CPUs. The CPU state table associates an idle flag, a remote node identifier, and a process start time with each of the plurality of CPUs. At least one line interface selects a CPU from the plurality of CPUs according to the contents of the CPU state table, selecting an idle CPU if one is available, selecting a CPU with the oldest process start time if no idle CPU is available, or selecting a busy CPU if the communication data to be processed is related to communication data already running on the busy CPU.

Claims

1. A protocol parallel processing apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of CPUs for processing a plurality of protocol data units;

a shared memory accessible by each of the plurality of CPUs for storing a CPU state table, that associates each of the plurality of CPUs with an idle flag indicative of whether a CPU is currently processing a protocol data unit, a remote address indicative of a remote node identified by a protocol data unit, and a process start time indicative of a time at which each CPU begins processing a protocol data unit; and

at least one line interface, coupled to the shared memory, including means for writing a remote address into the CPU state table when a protocol data unit is processed, and means for requesting one of the plurality of CPUs whose idle flag indicates that the CPU is idle to process the protocol data unit, and, means operative when no CPU is idle, for requesting a CPU with an oldest process start time to process the protocol data unit if none of the plurality of CPUs is idle.

2. A protocol parallel processing apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a host processor coupled to the at least one line interface and the shared memory, for receiving a protocol data unit and selecting one of the plurality of CPUs to process the protocol data unit.

3. The protocol processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one line interface further searches the CPU state table and selects one of the plurality of CPUs for processing the protocol data unit whose remote address matches the remote address of the protocol data unit.

4. The protocol processing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the CPU state table in the shared memory further associates each of the plurality of CPUs with a logical channel number indicative of a remote node identified by the protocol data unit.

5. A protocol parallel processing apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of CPUs for processing a plurality of protocol data units;

a shared memory accessible by each of the plurality of CPUs for storing a CPU state table that associates each of the plurality of CPUs with an idle flag, a connection number, and a process start time; and

at least one line interface, coupled to the shared memory, including means for writing a connection number into the CPU state table, and requesting one of the plurality of CPUs whose idle flag indicates that it is idle to process the protocol data unit, and means, operative when no CPU is idle, for requesting a CPU having an oldest process start time to process the protocol data unit if none of the plurality of CPUs is idle.

6. A protocol parallel processing apparatus of claim 5, further comprising a host processor coupled to the at least one line interface and the shared memory, for receiving a protocol data unit and selecting one of the plurality of CPUs to process the protocol data unit.

7. The protocol processing apparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one line interface further searches the CPU state table and selects one of the plurality of CPUs for processing the protocol data unit whose connection number matches the connection number of the protocol data unit.

8. A computer-implemented process for allocating a plurality of parallel CPUs, that share a common memory and network line interface, to process protocol data units (PDUs) in a network communication system, comprising the steps, performed by at least one of the plurality of CPU'"'"'s, of:

A) writing, by each CPU, an idle flag in the common memory to indicate whether the CPU is presently processing a PDU;

B) writing, by each CPU, a process starting time in the common memory to indicate a time at which the CPU begins processing a PDU, the method further comprising the steps of;

C) allocating, by the line interface in response to at least one CPU being idle, a received PDU to an idle CPU; and

D) allocating, by the line interface in response to no CPUs being idle, the received PDU to a CPU with an oldest process starting time.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the step of:

storing a remote node identifier to identify an origin of a PDU being processed, if any, for each of the plurality of CPUs.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, upon completion of processing a PDU, the method further comprises the step of storing constant values for the idle flag, the processor start time, and the remote node identifier indicative of an idle state.

11. A parallel data processing apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of CPUs joined together by a common bus;

a common memory coupled to the common bus;

means for determining, within the common memory, whether each of the plurality of CPUs is busy processing a protocol data unit (PDU);

means for recording, within the common memory, a process start time for each of the plurality of CPUs, indicative of a time at which each CPU began processing a PDU;

means for searching the common memory for a CPU from the plurality of CPUs that is idle;

means, responsive to the means for searching, for selecting a CPU that is idle, if one is found, and for selecting a CPU having an oldest process start time, if each of the plurality of CPUs is busy.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising:

means for recording an address, for each of the plurality of CPUs, into the common memory, indicative of a remote node designated by a PDU processed by each of the plurality of CPUs.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

means for determining whether an address conveyed by a PDU matches an address recorded by the means for recording; and

means for selecting a CPU whose recorded address matches the address conveyed by the PDU.

14. A protocol parallel processing apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of CPUs for processing a plurality of protocol data units;

a shared memory accessible by each of the plurality of CPUs for storing a CPU state table, that associates each of the plurality of CPUs with an idle flag indicative of whether a CPU is currently processing a protocol data unit, an identifier indicative of a remote node of a protocol data unit, and a process start time indicative of a time at which each CPU begins processing a protocol data unit;

at least one line interface, coupled to the shared memory, including means for writing a remote address into the CPU state table when a protocol data unit is processed, and means for requesting one of the plurality of CPUs whose idle flag indicates that the CPU is idle to process the protocol data unit; and

means, operative when no CPU is idle, for requesting a CPU with an oldest process start time to process the protocol data unit.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the identifier indicative of a remote node is a remote address.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the identifier indicative of a remote node is a connection number.

17. A protocol parallel processing apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of CPUs for processing a plurality of protocol data units;

a shared memory accessible by each of the plurality of CPUs for storing a CPU state table, that associates each of the plurality of CPUs with an idle flag indicative of whether a CPU is currently processing a protocol data unit, an identifier indicative of a remote node of a protocol data unit, and a process start time indicative of a time at which each CPU begins processing a protocol data unit; and

at least one line interface, coupled to the shared memory, including means for writing a remote address into the CPU state table when a protocol data unit is processed, and means, responsive to no CPU being idle, for requesting one of the plurality of CPUs with an oldest process start time to process the protocol data unit.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, further including means, responsive to at least one of the plurality of CPUs being idle, for requesting a CPU whose idle flag indicates that the CPU is idle to process the protocol data unit.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the identifier indicative of a remote node is a remote address.

20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the identifier indicative of a remote node is a connection number.