Fast loading kernel image file for booting

• US 11,074,083 B2
• Filed: 04/17/2019
• Issued: 07/27/2021
• Est. Priority Date: 10/19/2016
• 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: Hu, Huifeng
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Benjamin C
• Application Number:
  US16/387,341
• Publication Number:
  US 20190243663A1
• Time in Patent Office: 832 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/51 at application loading time, e.g. accepting, rejecting, starting or inhibiting executable software based on integrity or source reliability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5017 Task decomposition
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0608 Saving storage space on storage systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4405 Initialisation of multiprocessor systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5038 considering the execution order of a plurality of tasks, e.g. taking priority or time dependency constraints into consideration scheduling strategies G06F9/4881 and subgroups
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/30 Compression speech analysis-synthesis for redundancy reduction G10L19/00; for image communication H04N; Expansion; Suppression of unnecessary data, e.g. redundancy reduction
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 7/6005 Decoder aspects

Abstract

Example methods and apparatus for fast loading a kernel image file are provided. A multi-core processor includes a first core group and a second core group. The second core group includes a plurality of cores. In one example method, the first core group obtains a plurality of data blocks in a compressed kernel image file from a nonvolatile storage, and checks the currently obtained current data block. The current data block is put into a decompression queue in response to determining that the data block is correct. At least two of the plurality of cores in the second core group obtain the data block from the decompression queue, and after obtaining a plurality of data blocks, decompress the plurality of obtained data blocks into a memory in parallel to obtain the kernel image file.

Claims

1. A method for fast loading a kernel image file, wherein the method is executed by a multi-core processor, wherein the multi-core processor is connected to a nonvolatile storage and a memory, wherein the multi-core processor comprises a first core group and a second core group, wherein the first core group comprises at least one core, wherein the second core group comprises a plurality of cores, and wherein the method comprises:

obtaining, by the first core group, a plurality of data blocks in a compressed kernel image file from the nonvolatile storage, wherein the compressed kernel image file comprises a plurality of data blocks obtained after block compression is performed on the kernel image file;

checking, by the first core group each time obtaining a data block, the currently obtained current data block;

in response to determining that the current data block is correct, putting, by the first core group, the current data block into a decompression queue;

obtaining, by at least two of the plurality of cores in the second core group when there is a data block in the decompression queue, the data block in the decompression queue; and

in response to obtaining a plurality of data blocks, decompressing the plurality of obtained data blocks in parallel into the memory to finally obtain the kernel image file,

wherein a length of each data block matches a speed of obtaining and checking a data block by the first core group and a speed of performing decompression by a core in the second core group.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first core group comprises a first core and a second core, and

wherein the obtaining, by the first core group, a plurality of data blocks in a compressed kernel image file from the nonvolatile storage comprises obtaining, by the first core, the plurality of data blocks in the compressed kernel image file from the nonvolatile storage;

and

wherein the checking, by the first core group each time obtaining a data block, the currently obtained current data block comprises checking, by the second core each time obtaining a data block sent by the first core, the currently obtained current data block.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein

the first core and the second core are small cores.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the cores comprised in the second core group are large cores.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein

the large cores in the second core group comprise all large cores in the multi-core processor.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein

when the length of each data block matches the speed of obtaining and checking the data block by the first core group and the speed of performing decompression by the core in the second core group, then when there is or there will be a data block in the decompression queue, at least two of the large cores in the second core group are not idle at the same time.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the compressed kernel image file further comprises a checksum of each of the data blocks;

and

wherein the checking, by the first core group each time obtaining a data block, the currently obtained current data block comprises checking the current data block according to a checksum of the current data block.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein

the compressed kernel image file further comprises a total checksum, wherein a total check bit is obtained by calculating a checksum of the checksums of all the data blocks, and wherein the method further comprises:

in response to completing a check of a last data block, calculating, by the first core group, the checksum of the checksums of all the data blocks;

determining whether the checksum is consistent with the total checksum; and

in response to determining that the checksum is inconsistent with the total checksum, performing error processing.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the obtaining, by at least two of the plurality of cores in the second core group when there is a data block in the decompression queue, the data block in the decompression queue, and decompressing a plurality of obtained data blocks into the memory in parallel to obtain the kernel image file comprises:

obtaining, by the at least two of the plurality of cores in the second core group and when there is a data block in the decompression queue, the data block in the decompression queue; and

decompressing data blocks into the memory in parallel according to decompression addresses of the data blocks to obtain the kernel image file.

10. A multi-core processor, comprising a first core group and a second core group, wherein the first core group comprises at least one core, and wherein the second core group comprises a plurality of cores;

wherein the first core group is configured to obtain a plurality of data blocks in a compressed kernel image file from a nonvolatile storage connected to the multi-core processor, wherein the compressed kernel image file comprises a plurality of data blocks obtained after block compression is performed on the kernel image file;

wherein the first core group is further configured to;

in response to obtaining a data block, check the currently obtained current data block; and

in response to determining that the current data block is correct, put the current data block into a decompression queue; and

wherein at least two of the plurality of cores in the second core group are configured to;

in response to determining that there is a data block in the decompression queue, obtain the data block in the decompression queue; and

in response to obtaining a plurality of data blocks, decompress the plurality of obtained data blocks in parallel into a memory connected to the multi-core processor, to finally obtain the kernel image file,

wherein a length of each data block matches a speed of obtaining and checking a fragment by the first core group and a speed of performing decompression by a core in the second core group.

11. The multi-core processor according to claim 10, wherein the first core group comprises a first core and a second core, and wherein that the first core group is configured to obtain a plurality of data blocks in a compressed kernel image file from a nonvolatile storage connected to the multi-core processor comprises:

the first core obtains the plurality of data blocks in the compressed kernel image file from the nonvolatile storage; and

wherein that the first core group is configured to;

in response to obtaining a data block, check the currently obtained current data block comprises;

the second core is configured to;

in response to obtaining a data block sent by the first core, check the currently obtained current data block.

12. The multi-core processor according to claim 11, wherein

the first core and the second core are small cores.

13. The multi-core processor according to claim 10, wherein

the cores comprised in the second core group are large cores.

14. The multi-core processor according to claim 13, wherein

the large cores in the second core group comprise all large cores in the multi-core processor.

15. The multi-core processor according to claim 13, wherein

when the length of each data block matches the speed of obtaining and checking the fragment by the first core group and the speed of performing decompression by the core in the second core group, then when there is or there will be kernel image file data in the decompression queue, at least two of the large cores in the second core group are not idle at the same time.

16. The multi-core processor according to claim 10, wherein

the compressed kernel image file further comprises a checksum of each of the data blocks;

and

wherein that the first core group is configured to;

in response to obtaining a data block, check the currently obtained current data block comprises;

the first core group is configured to check the current data block according to a checksum of the current data block.

17. The multi-core processor according to claim 16, wherein

the compressed kernel image file further comprises a total checksum, wherein a total check bit is obtained by calculating a checksum of check bits of all the data blocks, and wherein the first core group is further configured to:

after the first core group completes a check of a last data block, calculate the checksum of the checksums of all the data blocks;

determine whether the checksum is consistent with the total checksum; and

in response to determining that the checksum is inconsistent with the total checksum, perform error processing.

18. The multi-core processor according to claim 10, wherein

the compressed kernel image file further comprises a decompression address of each data block, and wherein the decompression address is used to indicate a physical address that is in the memory and into which the data block is decompressed, and wherein that the at least two of the plurality of cores in the second core group are configured to:

when there is a data block in the decompression queue, obtain the block in the decompression queue, and decompress blocks into the memory in parallel to obtain the kernel image file comprises;

the at least two of the plurality of cores in the second core group are configured to;

when kernel image file data of a data block exists in the decompression queue, obtain the block in the decompression queue and decompress blocks into the memory in parallel according to decompression addresses of the blocks to obtain the kernel image file.

19. An electronic device, comprising a nonvolatile storage, a memory, and a multi-core processor, wherein the multi-core processor comprises a first core group and a second core group, wherein the first core group comprises at least one core, and wherein the second core group comprises a plurality of cores;

wherein the first core group is configured to obtain a plurality of data blocks in a compressed kernel image file from a nonvolatile storage connected to the multi-core processor, wherein the compressed kernel image file comprises a plurality of data blocks obtained after block compression is performed on the kernel image file;

wherein the first core group is further configured to;

in response to obtaining a data block, check the currently obtained current data block; and

in response to determining that the current data block is correct, put the current data block into a decompression queue; and

wherein at least two of the plurality of cores in the second core group are configured to;

in response to determining that there is a data block in the decompression queue, obtain the data block in the decompression queue; and

in response to obtaining a plurality of data blocks, decompress the plurality of obtained data blocks in parallel into the memory connected to the multi-core processor, to finally obtain the kernel image file,

wherein a length of each data block matches a speed of obtaining and checking a data block by the first core group and a speed of performing decompression by a core in the second core group.