Booting method for computer system with multiple central processing units

• US 9,690,595 B2
• Filed: 09/15/2015
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Shahi, Aman, Das, Shayori
• Primary Examiner(s): Wai, Eric C
• Application Number:
  US14/855,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20160004542A1
• Time in Patent Office: 651 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4405 Initialisation of multiprocessor systems

Abstract

A booting method for computer system with multiple central processing units is provided. The method includes: initializing at least two CPUs of the multiple CPUs at start of a booting process; accessing, by each of the at least two initialized CPUs, a task description chart (TDC) stored in the computer system, wherein the TDC includes information of at least two tasks of the booting process; and selecting, by each of the at least two initialized CPUs, a task from at least two tasks according to selection information of the at least two tasks in the TDC; obtaining, by each of the at least two initialized CPUs, the selected task according to address information of the selected task in the TDC; and executing, by the initialized CPUs, the selected tasks at least partially in parallel.

Claims

1. A method for booting a computer system having multiple Central Processing Units (CPUs), comprising:

initializing at least two CPUs of the multiple CPUs at start of a booting process;

accessing, by each of the at least two initialed CPUs, a task description chart (TDC) stored in the computer system, wherein when a first CPU of the at least two initialized CPUs accesses the TDC, the first CPU locks the TDC, and the locked TDC is not accessible by CPUs other than the first CPU;

selecting, by each of the at least two initialized CPUs, a task according to the TDC, wherein the TDC includes information of a plurality of tasks of the booting process and selection information of the tasks; and

executing, by the at least two initialized CPUs, the selected tasks at least partially in parallel.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selection information of the tasks further comprises a priority field indicating a priority of each of the tasks, and a task with a highest priority is first selected by the first CPU.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selection information further comprises a dependency field indicating a dependency of a first task from a second task, and the first task is selectable when the second task is marked as completed.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the first CPU selects a third task according to the selection information, the first CPU marks a lock field of the third task as locked, and wherein the third task being marked as locked is not selectable by the initialized CPUs other than the first CPU.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the selection information further comprises a status field indicating whether any of the tasks is completed, and wherein after completing an execution of a task, the CPU executing the task marks in the status field of the task as completed, and wherein the task being marked as completed is not selectable by the initialized CPUs.

6. A computer system, comprising:

a memory configured to store a task description chart (TDC) and a first instruction, wherein the TDC includes information of a plurality of tasks of a booting process of the computer system and selection information of the tasks; and

multiple Central Processing Units (CPUs) coupled with the memory, wherein at least two CPUs of the multiple CPUs are initialized at a start of the booting process, wherein by executing the first instruction, each of the at least two initialized CPUs is configured to access the TDC, and select a task according to the TDC, and wherein a first CPU of the at least two initialized CPUs is configured to lock the TDC after accessing the TDC according to the first instruction, and the locked TDC is not accessible by CPUs other than the first CPU.

7. The computer system according to claim 6, wherein the selection information of the tasks further comprises a priority field indicating a priority of each of the tasks, and the first CPU is configured select a task with a highest priority among the tasks in the TDC.

8. The computer system according to claim 6, wherein the selection information further comprises a dependency field indicating a dependency of a first task from a second task, and the first task is selectable when the second task is marked as completed.

9. The computer system according to claim 6, wherein the first CPU is further configured to mark a lock field of a third task after the first CPU selects the third task, and wherein the third task being marked as locked is not selectable by the initialized CPUs other than the first CPU.

10. The computer system according to claim 6, wherein the selection information further comprises a status field indicating whether any of the tasks is completed, and wherein after completing an execution of a task, the CPU executing the task is configured to mark in the status field of the task as completed, and wherein the task being marked as completed is not selectable by the initialized CPUs.

11. The computer system according to claim 6, further comprising:

an initializing circuit configured to initialize a CPU of the multiple CPUs as a boot CPU, wherein the boot CPU is configured to initialize the at least two initialized CPUs of the multiple CPUs according to a second instruction stored in the memory.

12. The computer system according to claim 6, wherein the booting process includes multiple tasks executable in parallel by the at least two initialized CPUs, and the booting process of the computer system is a computer program stored in the memory that includes a basic input output system (BIOS) module, a boot loader module and a kernel module.

13. The computer system according to claim 12, wherein steps from the BIOS module, the boot loader module and the kernel module are modularized into steps including independent or asynchronous steps, and the modularized steps are separated out to form tasks of the booting process.

14. The computer system according to claim 13, wherein peripheral devices initialization steps in the BIOS module are divided into initialization steps for initializing a device other than modifying a configuration register and register steps for modifying the configuration register based on the initialization steps, and the initialization steps and the register steps are separated out to form different tasks of the at least two tasks.

15. The computer system according to claim 6, wherein the selection information further comprise a size field indicating a size of each of the tasks, and

wherein the first CPU is further configured to determine whether to execute a task according to an available memory for executing tasks and size of the task.

16. The computer system according to claim 6, wherein the at least two initialized CPUs are configured to continue to select and execute the tasks according to the TDC until all tasks whose information is in the TDC are executed.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer executable program codes for booting a computer system having multiple Central Processing Units (CPUs), wherein at least two CPUs of the multiple CPUs are initialized at start of the booting process and execute the program codes which includes instructions for:

accessing, by each of the at least two initialed CPUs, a task description chart (TDC) stored in the computer system, wherein when a first CPU of the at least two initialized CPUs accesses the TDC, the first CPU locks the TDC, and the locked TDC is not accessible by CPUs other than the first CPU;

selecting, by each of the at least two initialized CPUs, a task according to TDC, wherein the TDC includes information of a plurality of tasks of the booting process and selection information of the tasks; and

executing, by the at least two initialized CPUs, the selected tasks at least partially in parallel.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the selection information of the tasks further comprises a priority field indicating a priority of each of the tasks, and a task with a highest priority is first selected by the first CPU.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein the selection information further comprises a dependency field indicating a dependency of a first task from a second task, and the first task is selectable when the second task is marked as completed.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 17, wherein after the first CPU selects a third task according to the selection information, the first CPU marks a lock field of the third task as locked, and wherein the third task being marked as locked is not selectable by the initialized CPUs other than the first CPU.