Apparatus and method for multicore emulation based on dynamic context switching

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9501311-B2
Application number	US-201514602857-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 22, 2015
Priority date	Jan 28, 2014
Publication date	Nov 22, 2016
Grant date	Nov 22, 2016

Abstract

Provided are an apparatus and method for multicore emulation based on dynamic context switching. The apparatus for multicore emulation based on dynamic context switching includes a multicore emulation managing unit configured to transmit a signal for requesting determination of a core to be emulated among a plurality of cores, and a context switching managing unit configured to receive the signal for requesting determination of a core to be emulated from the multicore emulation managing unit, determine an ID of a core to be emulated according to the received signal, and executing emulation on a core corresponding to the determined core ID.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for multicore emulation based on dynamic context switching, the apparatus comprising:
a multicore emulation managing unit configured to transmit a signal for requesting determination of a core to be emulated among a plurality of cores; and
a context switching managing unit configured to receive the signal for requesting determination of a core to be emulated from the multicore emulation managing unit, determine an ID of a core to be emulated according to the received signal, and executing emulation on a core corresponding to the determined core ID,
wherein the plurality of cores are executed according to a workload for each of the plurality of cores,
wherein the multicore emulation managing unit transmits a context switching count value to the context switching managing unit,
wherein the context switching managing unit receives the context switching count value from the multicore emulation managing unit, and searches a context switching table for a core ID using the received context switching count value,
wherein the context switching managing unit searches for the core ID using a context switching table storing core IDs of the plurality of cores executed according to the context switching count value, and
wherein the context switching managing unit searches for the core ID using a context switching table in which the workload is allocated to each of the plurality of cores according to a ratio of operating frequencies of the plurality of cores.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein when a corresponding core does not exist in the context switching table according to the search results based on the context switching count value, the context switching managing unit sets a core ID to an initial value.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein when emulation of the core corresponding to the determined core ID is terminated, the context switching managing unit increases the context switching count value and transmits emulation termination information to the multicore emulation managing unit.

4. A method for multicore emulation based on dynamic context switching, the method comprising:
receiving a signal for requesting determination of a core to be emulated;
searching for an ID of a core to be emulated according to the received signal for requesting determination of a core to be emulated; and
executing emulation on a core corresponding to the ID according to the core ID search results,
wherein a plurality of cores are executed according to a workload for each of the plurality of cores,
wherein the receiving of a signal for requesting determination of a core to be emulated comprises receiving a context switching count value to receive a signal for requesting determination of a core to be emulated,
wherein the searching for a core ID comprises searching for a core ID using a context switching table storing core IDs of the plurality of cores executed according to the received context switching value, and
wherein the searching for a core ID comprises searching for a core ID using a context switching table in which the workload is allocated to each of the plurality of cores according to a ratio of operating frequencies of the plurality of cores.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising: when a corresponding core does not exit according to the core ID search results, setting a core ID to an initial value,
wherein the initial value is set to 0.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising: when execution of emulation of a core corresponding to the core ID determined according to the core ID search results is completed, transmitting emulation execution completion information.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the transmitting of emulation execution completion information comprises increasing the received context switching count value according to transmission of the emulation execution completion information.

8. An apparatus for multicore emulation based on dynamic context switching, the apparatus comprising:
a context switching managing device configured to receive a context switching count value, search for a corresponding core ID with respect to a plurality of cores operating at different operating frequencies according to the received context switching count value, and execute emulation on a corresponding core when the core corresponding to the core ID exists,
wherein the plurality of cores are executed according to a workload for each of the plurality of cores, and
wherein the context switching managing device searches for the corresponding core ID using a context switching table with respect to the plurality of cores with the workload previously allocated according to a ratio of different operation frequencies.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein when execution of the emulation on the corresponding core is completed, the context switching manager transmits emulation execution completion information to a multicore emulation manager.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein when execution of the emulation on the corresponding core is completed, the context switching manager increases the context switching count value.

11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein when the core ID corresponding to the context switching count value does not exist according to the corresponding core ID search results, the context switching manager sets a core ID to an initial value.

12. The apparatus of claim 8 , further comprising a context switching table reconfiguring unit configured to reconfigure the context switching table according to operating frequencies and workload allocation before or during execution of emulation.

Assignees

• Electronics & Telecommunications Res Inst
• Electronics & Telecommunications Res Inst

Inventors

• Lee Jae Jin
• Kwon Young Su

Classifications

• G06F9/461 Primary

  Saving or restoring of program or task context · CPC title

• G06F9/455

  Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines · CPC title