Core Task Watchdog Mechanism for Multi-Core Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current data processing systems face challenges in efficiently managing and monitoring the execution of multiple tasks across processor cores, particularly in determining whether tasks are active or inactive, which can lead to watchdog errors if not properly managed.
Innovation Solution
A data processor system with a core task watchdog mechanism that uses sequential strobe signals to monitor task activity, where the duration between strobe signals is set longer than the expected task duration, allowing for efficient detection of inactive tasks and preventing watchdog errors without requiring task program intervention.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional watchdog timer is used to monitor task execution, then task reliability can be improved, but software overhead increases and multiple tasks cannot efficiently share the watchdog resource
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple individual watchdog timers into a single shared watchdog resource that can monitor multiple tasks simultaneously. The watchdog circuit is configured to receive task state information from multiple tasks and generate watchdog errors for any task that fails to meet its timing requirements, eliminating the need for separate watchdog timers for each task and reducing software overhead.
Solution Approach 2:
The shared watchdog timer is designed to serve multiple functions by monitoring multiple different tasks through a unified interface. The watchdog circuit can selectively monitor different tasks based on their state information and generate appropriate watchdog errors, making a single watchdog resource universal enough to replace multiple task-specific watchdog timers.
2Productivity
If sequential strobe signals are used to monitor task activity, then software overhead is reduced, but the monitoring mechanism becomes more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The watchdog mechanism operates autonomously by automatically generating sequential strobe signals and comparing them with task state information without requiring software intervention. The circuit self-manages the monitoring process, generating watchdog errors automatically when tasks fail to respond, which eliminates software overhead while the hardware complexity is contained within the dedicated watchdog circuit.
3Duration of action of moving object
If the duration between strobe signals is set longer than expected task duration, then task completion is accommodated, but detection of inactive tasks is delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The watchdog mechanism dynamically adapts to different task durations by configuring the strobe signal interval according to the specific timing requirements of each monitored task. The system can adjust the monitoring parameters to match the expected execution time of different tasks, ensuring that active tasks are given sufficient time to complete while still enabling timely detection of inactive tasks through the sequential strobe comparison mechanism.
Data Source
AI summary
Each task assigned to a core can be considered an “active” task. Sequential strobe signals of a watchdog signal can be spaced apart in time by a certain duration. The duration between strobe signals is longer than the expected duration of an active task. By knowing that all tasks being monitored are expected to execute within an expected amount of time, the duration between the strobe signals can be set to be longer than that expected amount of time. If a task has not transitioned to inactive by a next strobe, a watchdog error has occurred.