Event Management Device for Digital Signal Processor Reaction Time

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional event management techniques in digital signal processing units introduce reaction delays due to context transition and interpretation mechanisms, which exceed the reaction time required by reactivity-sensitive applications like motor controls.

Innovation Solution

An integrated circuit with an event management device that associates event data with trigger signals and tasks, allowing immediate task execution without context transition or interpretation, using a correspondence table for data association and prioritization.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of time

If conventional event management techniques with context transition and interpretation mechanisms are used, then application flexibility is maintained, but reaction time increases beyond acceptable limits for responsiveness-sensitive applications

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvereaction timeVSAvoidcontext transition and interpretation mechanisms
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and removes the context transition and interpretation mechanisms from the event management path. By taking out these complex processing steps, the system achieves direct task execution upon trigger signal reception, reducing reaction time to nearly zero while maintaining flexibility through pre-configured task associations stored in memory.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements preliminary action by pre-associating tasks with event data before runtime. The digital signal processor configures task associations in advance and stores them in memory, so that when a trigger signal is received, the corresponding task can be executed immediately without requiring interpretation or context transitions at runtime.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Adaptability or versatility

If context transition mechanisms are implemented for interrupt handling, then task management flexibility is improved, but responsiveness to trigger signals deteriorates due to additional processing delays

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetask management flexibilityVSAvoidtrigger signal response speed
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSSpeed

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the system into two independent configuration layers: hardware-level trigger-to-event-data associations and software-level task-to-event-data associations. This segmentation allows task management flexibility to be configured in advance without affecting the speed of trigger signal response, as the actual execution path contains no interpretation or context transition steps.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces event data as an intermediary that bridges trigger signals and tasks. Instead of directly interpreting trigger signals or performing context transitions, the system uses pre-configured event data as a mediator that directly maps triggers to executable tasks, eliminating processing delays while maintaining adaptability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Adaptability or versatility

If interpretation mechanisms are used to analyze trigger signals, then command decoding flexibility is improved, but reaction time increases due to analysis and decoding overhead

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecommand decoding flexibilityVSAvoidanalysis and interpretation time
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent uses copying by storing pre-configured task associations in memory as reusable templates. Instead of interpreting and decoding trigger signals at runtime, the system copies the pre-associated task directly from memory to execution, eliminating analysis time while maintaining flexibility through the stored association tables that can be configured for various command types.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentEP4187383A1Method for managing events and corresponding integrated circuit
Publication Date: 2023.05.31 STMICROELECTRONICS (GRENOBLE 2) SAS
  • EP4187383A1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4187383A1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4187383A1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

The integrated circuit includes a digital signal processing unit (HSP) comprising an event control device (EVTC) configured to associate respective event data (Evt0, Evt1, ..., EvtN) with respective trigger signals (HST, Rx, Tx, ADC, DMA), and a digital signal processor (DSP) configured to associate a respective task (Tsk0, Tsk1, ..., TskN) with each event data (Evt0, Evt1, ..., EvtN). The event control device (EVTC) is adapted to receive the trigger signals (HST, Rx, Tx, ADC, DMA) at input terminals (I0, I1, ..., IN), and, upon receiving a trigger signal, to store the event data associated with the received trigger signal in an event register (EvtReg). The digital signal processor (DSP) is configured to execute the task (Tsk0, Tsk1, ..., TskN) associated with the event data stored in the event register.