Information processing system, method, program and integrated circuit for maintaining balance of processing loads with respect to real-time tasks

• US 8,719,834 B2
• Filed: 04/20/2011
• Issued: 05/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Amano, Katsushige
• Primary Examiner(s): An, Meng
• Assistant Examiner(s): TEETS, BRADLEY A
• Application Number:
  US13/383,291
• Publication Number:
  US 20120117567A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 718/105
• 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 9/5083 Techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system

Abstract

An information processing system that maintains balance in the processing loads between processors and that includes operating systems, which each perform execution control on processing tasks by assigning each task to a task group and causing all tasks in the same task group to be executed on the same processor, and a hypervisor that associates each processor with one or more task groups in the operating systems and causes each operating system to perform the execution control so that all tasks in the same task group are executed on the processor associated with the same task group. The hypervisor sequentially acquires load indicators indicating a processing load of each task group in each operating system, refers to the processing loads indicated by the sequentially acquired load indicators, and when determining that the processing loads are not balanced between the processors, re-associates the processors with the task groups.

Claims

1. An information processing system comprising:

a plurality of processors;

a hypervisor configured to associate each of the plurality of processors with one or more task groups which are constituted within one or more task queues of a plurality of operating systems;

the hypervisor to cause each operating system to perform execution control so that all tasks included in each task group are executed on the processor associated with the task group;

each of the one or more task groups comprising at least one of a real-time task and a non-real-time task wherein real-time tasks requiring processing in real time within an operation interval;

the hypervisor including;

an acquisition unit configured to acquire load indicators indicating a processing load of each task group in each operating system; and

a re-association unit configured to evaluate the processing loads indicated by each load indicator acquired by the acquisition unit and, when determining that the processing loads are not balanced between the plurality of processors, to re-associate the plurality of processors with the one or more task groups;

the re-association unit re-associating the plurality of processors with the one or more task groups when the processing loads relating to real-time tasks included in a task group of the one or more task groups are not balanced between the plurality of processors, so as to balance the processing loads for real-time tasks;

each processing load indicating the operation interval of each real-time task in the corresponding task group;

the re-association unit determines that the processing loads are not balanced between the plurality of processors by evaluating the operation intervals of the real-time tasks in the corresponding task groups and determining that a given processor is associated with a first task group and a second task group, and the first task group has a real-time task having a shortest operation interval among the real-time tasks in the first and second tasks groups; and

re-associating the second task group with a processor of the plurality of processors that is other than the given processor and is associated with a third task group that does not have a real-time task.

2. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein

each processing load relating to real-time tasks included in a task group also depends on a number of real-time tasks included in the task group, and

when the number of real-time tasks to be processed by the processors are not balanced between the processors, the re-association unit re-associates the processors with the task groups so as to balance the number of real-time tasks to be processed.

3. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein the re-association unit

determines that the processing loads relating to real-time tasks are not balanced between the processors when at least two task groups among a plurality of task groups associated with a processor each include a real-time task, and

re-associates each of the at least two task groups with different processors.

4. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein the re-association unit

determines that the processing loads relating to real-time tasks are not balanced between the processors when one of a plurality of task groups associated with a processor includes a real-time task, and

re-associates only the one of the plurality of task groups that includes a real-time task with the processor and re-associates the rest of the plurality of task groups with one or more different processors.

5. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein

upon receipt of an interrupt, when the interrupt is for a task included in a task group that includes a real-time task, the hypervisor notifies the operating system performing execution control of the task group including the real-time task.

6. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein

each task is assigned a degree of priority for processing, and

the re-association unit

determines, based on a total of the degree of priority of each task included in each task group, that the processing loads are not balanced when totals of the degree of priority are not balanced between the processors, and

re-associates one of the processors with a different task group so as to average the totals of the degree of priority over the processors.

7. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein

the hypervisor further includes a notification unit configured to notify each operating system, regarding each task group included in the operating system, of a processing capacity allocated to the task group in the processor associated with the task group, and

upon generating a new task, each operating system allocates the new task to a task group having a highest processing capacity among the notified processing capacities.

8. The information processing system of claim 7, wherein

the hypervisor further includes a scheduling unit configured to determine, for each processor, a processing schedule for the one or more task groups associated with the processor, and

the processing capacity indicates a processing time for each task group based on the processing schedule.

9. The information processing system of claim 1, wherein each of the first, second and third task groups is associated with a virtual CPU, and each virtual CPU is associated with a physical processor such as the given processor and the processor other than the given processor.

10. The information processing system of claim 9, wherein the determining that the processing loads are not balanced between the processors also includes determining a number of virtual CPUs associated with a task group having a real-time task that are allocated to each physical processor.

11. The information processing system of claim 9, wherein in the re-associating of the second task group includes searching for another physical processor that is associated with a task group that does not include a real-time task and is considered to have a low processing load.

12. A processing method used in an information processing system, the information processing system comprising:

a hypervisor configured to associate each of a plurality of processors with one or more task groups which are constituted within one or more task queues of a plurality of operating systems;

the hypervisor to cause each operating system to perform execution control so that all tasks included in each task group are executed on the processor associated with the task group;

each of the one or more task groups comprising at least one of a real-time task and a non-real-time task wherein real-time tasks requiring processing in real time within an operation interval;

the processing method being used by the hypervisor and comprising the steps of;

acquiring load indicators indicating a processing load of each task group in each operating system; and

evaluating the processing loads indicated by each load indicator acquired in the acquisition step and, when determining that the processing loads are not balanced between the plurality of processors, re-associating the plurality of processors with the one or more task groups,

the plurality of processors being re-associated with the one or more task groups in the re-associating step when the processing loads relating to real-time tasks included in a task group of the one or more task groups are not balanced between the plurality of processors, so as to balance the processing loads for real-time tasks;

each processing load indicating the operation interval of each real-time task in the corresponding task group;

determining that the processing loads are not balanced between the plurality of processors by evaluating the operation intervals of the real-time tasks in the corresponding task groups and determining that a given processor is associated with a first task group and a second task group, and the first task group has a real-time task having a shortest operation interval among the real-time tasks in the first and second tasks groups; and

re-associating the second task group with a processor of the plurality of processors that is other than the given processor and a third task group that does not have a real-time task.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a processing program used in an information processing system,

the information processing system comprising:

a hypervisor configured to associate each of a plurality of processors with one or more task groups which are constituted within one or more task queues of a plurality of operating systems;

the hypervisor to cause each operating system to perform execution control so that all tasks included in each task group are executed on the processor associated with the task group;

each of the one or more task groups comprising at least one of a real-time task and a non-real-time task wherein real-time tasks requiring processing in real time within an operation interval;

the processing program being used by the hypervisor and causing a computer to perform the steps of;

acquiring load indicators indicating a processing load of each task group in each operating system; and

evaluating the processing loads indicated by each load indicator acquired in the acquisition step and, when determining that the processing loads are not balanced between the plurality of processors, re-associating the plurality of processors with the one or more task groups;

the plurality of processors being re-associated with the one or more task groups in the re-associating step when the processing loads relating to real-time tasks included in a task group of the one or more task groups are not balanced between the plurality of processors, so as to balance the processing loads for real-time tasks;

each processing load indicating the operation interval of each real-time task in the corresponding task group;

determining that the processing loads are not balanced between the plurality of processors by evaluating the operation intervals of the real-time tasks in the corresponding task groups and determining that a given processor is associated with a first task group and a second task group, and the first task group has a real-time task having a shortest operation interval among the real-time tasks in the first and second tasks groups; and

re-associating the second task group with a processor of the plurality of processors that is other than the given processor and a third task group that does not have a real-time task.

14. An integrated circuit comprising:

a hypervisor configured to associate each of a plurality of processors with one or more task groups which are constituted within one or more task queues of a plurality of operating systems;

the hypervisor to cause each operating system to perform execution control so that all tasks included in each task group are executed on the processor associated with the task group;

each of the one or more task groups comprising at least one of a real-time task and a non-real-time task wherein real-time tasks requiring processing in real time within an operation interval;

the hypervisor including;

an acquisition unit configured to acquire load indicators indicating a processing load of each task group in each operating system; and

a re-association unit configured to evaluate the processing loads indicated by each load indicator acquired by the acquisition unit and, when determining that the processing loads are not balanced between the plurality of processors, to re-associate the plurality of processors with the one or more task groups;

the re-association unit re-associating the plurality of processors with the one or more task groups when the processing loads relating to real-time tasks included in a task group of the one or more task groups are not balanced between the plurality of processors, so as to balance the processing loads for real-time tasks;

each processing load indicating the operation interval of each real-time task in the corresponding task group;

the re-association unit determines that the processing loads are not balanced between the plurality of processors by evaluating the operation intervals of the real-time tasks in the corresponding task groups and determining that a given processor is associated with a first task group and a second task group, and the first task group has a real-time task having a shortest operation interval among the real-time tasks in the first and second tasks groups; and

re-associating the second task group with a processor of the plurality of processors that is other than the given processor and is associated with a third task group that does not have a real-time task.