Method and system for rebooting a processor in a multi-processor system
US7676683B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 24, 2006 |
| Grant date | Mar 9, 2010 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jul 20, 2028 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/4418
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Processors arranged in a multi-processor configuration for substantially parallel operations receive their initialization data in order to start operations, such as graphics computations, real-time multimedia streaming, etc. Due to a change in the processing load, one or more processors might be deactivated. Subsequently, the load increases to such a level that requires all or some of the deactivated processors to be active again. In this case, the boot-up process of the entire system is not carried out as it would be time-consuming and wasteful; instead, responsive to a control signal only those processors that were previously in inactive mode are re-initialized by selecting a configuration data supplied by another processor, controller or any other intelligent programmable device. Alternatively, the configuration data may be accessed and retrieved from a local storage medium individually located in each processor, thereby re-booting only those inactive processors and without re-initializing the entire system.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.