Interrupt control function adapted to control the execution of interrupt requests of differing criticality

Abstract

An interrupt controller (1) is adapted to control the execution of interrupt requests (11, 12) of differing criticality by a processor (7) which is required to execute tasks (3, 17) of differing criticality under the control of a computer operating system (5); the interrupt controller being adapted to recognize critical (11) and non-critical (12) interrupt requests originating from different interrupt sources, and to recognize when the processor (7) is required to execute each of critical (3) and non-critical tasks (17); the interrupt controller being further adapted to pass critical interrupt requests (11) to the processor (7) for execution in preference to non-critical interrupt requests (12), to block non-critical interrupt requests (12) to the processor when they coexist with critical interrupt requests (11) or the processor (7) is required to execute critical tasks (3), and to pass non-critical interrupt requests (12) to the processor (7) when they do not coexist with any critical interrupt requests (11) and the processor (7) has no critical tasks (3) to be executed. The interrupt controller (1) is preferably implemented in hardware and its operation is transparent to the processor (7).

Description

technical field [0001] This invention relates to the control of interrupt execution in processors, and more particularly to the control of processors designed to support both critical and non-critical processes in a system. Background technique [0002] Most common processing systems, such as personal computers, do not need to handle strict real-time requirements. While there are some applications such as media streaming that impose a significant processing load on the processor, short-term demands that exceed the processing capabilities of the machine can result in minor artifacts in the replayed media stream that are easily overlooked by the viewer (assuming adequate error recovery measures). On the other hand, such systems value flexibility and often use "open operating systems" such as Microsoft Windows or Linux. These systems allow anyone to write software that runs on any computer running such an operating system, regardless of its hardware specifications. The resul...

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