Method for execution of program steps by a remote CPU in a computer network

• US 5,918,011 A
• Filed: 07/22/1997
• Issued: 06/29/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/1992
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Koga, Eiji, Nakamura, Takashi, Asada, Satoshi, Watanabe, Hitoshi, Kadosawa, Tsuneaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrell, Robert B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Najjar, Saleh
• Application Number:
  US08/898,558
• Time in Patent Office: 707 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.35, 395/200.31
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system

Abstract

Each CPU registers jobs of its own in the form of nodes in a normal node queue, executes the registered jobs in a registration order, has a queue (remote node queue) for registering a job requested by another CPU in the form of a node, and executes the remote nodes in a registration order as in the normal nodes. When the first CPU causes the second CPU to execute a job, the first CPU transmits the job in the form of a node processed by the second CPU. The second CPU registers the received node in the remote node queue and executes it as in the normal node. The second CPU sends back, to the first CPU, the processing result of the received node in the form of a node processed by the first CPU, as needed.

Claims

1. A job execution method in a multi-processing unit system, wherein a first central processing unit (CPU) and a second CPU are connected to a network, said method comprising the steps of:

detecting in the first CPU, a first processing job containing a variable which belongs to the second CPU from among plural processing jobs, each of which is registered in a form of a processing node in a normal queue in the first CPU;

creating in the first CPU, a second processing job, in the form of a processing node which is directly executable by the second CPU, for requesting the second CPU to substitute a value for the variable in the first processing job;

transmitting, by the first CPU, the second processing job to the second CPU;

registering in a remote queue in the second CPU, the second processing job transmitted from the first CPU, in the form of a processing node which is directly executable by the second CPU;

executing in the second CPU, the second processing job transmitted from the first CPU and registered in the remote queue to substitute the value for the variable which belongs to the second CPU in the first processing job;

creating in the second CPU, a third processing job from the result of executing the second processing job, in the form of a processing node which is directly executable by the first CPU, the third processing job corresponding to the first processing job such that the value belonging to the second CPU has been substituted for the variable;

transmitting, by the second CPU, the third processing job to the first CPU in the form of a processing node which is directly executable by the first CPU;

registering in a remote queue in the first CPU the third processing job transmitted from the second CPU in the form of a processing node which is directly executable by the first CPU; and

executing in the first CPU the third processing job registered in the remote queue in the first CPU.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the second CPU registers a plurality of nodes transmitted from the first CPU in the remote queue and executes the plurality of nodes in a registration order.

3. A method according to claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

registering, in the second CPU a plurality of nodes corresponding to a program under execution into a normal queue different from the remote queue for registering the plurality of nodes transmitted from the first CPU; and

executing, in the second CPU, the plurality of nodes registered in the normal queue in an order of registration.

4. A method, according to claim 3, wherein the nodes registered in the remote queue are executed first when the nodes are registered in both the normal queue and the remote queue.

5. A method according to claim 3, wherein the nodes registered in the normal queue are executed first when the nodes are registered in both the normal queue and the remote queue.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein in said detecting step an identifier of the second CPU added to the variable in the first processing job is detected by the first CPU to determine that the variable belongs to the second CPU.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein the first CPU includes a table representing a correspondence between variables and CPUs to which the variables belong, and wherein the first CPU refers to the table to detect that a variable described in the first processing job is present in the second CPU.

8. A multi-processing unit system, comprising a network, and a first central processing unit (CPU) and a second CPU connected to said network,

said first CPU comprising:

detection means for detecting, in said first CPU a first processing job containing a variable which belongs to the second CPU from among plural processing jobs each of which is registered in a form of a processing node in a normal queue in said first CPU;

first creation means for creating a second processing job for requesting said second CPU to substitute a value for the variable in the first processing job, in the form of a processing node which is directly executable by said second CPU;

first transmission means for transmitting the second processing job to said second CPU; and

first registration means for registering, in a remote queue in said first CPU a processing job transmitted from said second CPU in the form of a processing node which is directly executable by said first CPU;

first execution means for executing the processing jobs registered in the normal queue and the remote queue in said first CPU;

said second CPU comprising;

second registration means for registering in a remote queue in said second CPU the second processing job transmitted from said first CPU in the form of a processing node which is directly executable by said second CPU;

second execution means for executing the second processing job transmitted from said first CPU and registered in the remote queue in said second CPU to substitute the value for the variable which belongs to said second CPU in the first processing job;

second creation means for creating a third processing job from the result of executing the second processing job, in the form of a processing node which is directly executable by said first CPU, the third processing job corresponding to the first processing job in which the variable belonging to said second CPU has been substituted for the variable; and

second transmission means for transmitting the execution of the third processing job to said first CPU in the form of a processing node which is directly executable by said first CPU.