Partitioned Control Memory Layout for Inter-Application Communication
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing methods for configuring control devices with multiple applications face inefficiencies due to computationally intensive system calls and increased memory requirements when using shared memory for communication, particularly in priority-based memory protection scenarios, which can lead to safety-critical issues and increased costs.
Innovation Solution
A method that analyzes communication behavior to identify applications with different safety requirement levels and configures a shared memory area outside of these partitions, creating a communication data structure to facilitate communication without system calls, thereby reducing processor load and memory usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If shared memory is used for communication between applications with different security requirement levels, then communication between applications is enabled, but system calls and memory copying are required which increase processor load and computation time
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the shared memory area with the partitioned memory structure by creating a unified memory space that includes both partitioned and shared regions. This merging eliminates the need for separate system calls and memory copying operations, as applications can directly access the shared memory area through the unified memory map, thereby reducing processor load and computation time while maintaining communication efficiency.
2Productivity
If shared memory is used for communication between applications, then communication is enabled, but memory requirements increase due to the need for separate shared memory allocation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the shared memory area with the partitioned memory structure to create a unified memory space. This integration allows the shared memory to be part of the overall memory architecture rather than a separate allocation, optimizing memory usage by eliminating redundant memory structures and reducing total memory requirements while maintaining full communication capability between applications.
3Device complexity
If multiple applications are integrated in a single control unit, then the number of control units is reduced and networking effort is lowered, but security problems arise when applications access the same memory area
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the memory space into distinct partitioned areas and shared memory regions, with each partition assigned to specific applications based on security requirement levels. This segmentation enables controlled access where high-security applications are isolated in dedicated partitions while still allowing safe communication through the shared memory area, thereby maintaining memory access security while integrating multiple applications in a single control unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different access permissions and security characteristics to different memory regions. The partitioned memory areas have restricted access for high-security applications, while the shared memory area has appropriate access controls for communication. This localized security approach allows each memory region to have optimized access rights, maintaining reliability while enabling application integration.
Data Source
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AI summary
The method involves analyzing the communication behavior of the applications assigned to the different memory partitions in order to identify the data-writing application and written data reading application which are not located in the same partition. A shared memory area in the partition of the writing application is configured and a communication data structure (80) is generated for communication between the data-writing application and the data-reading application. The communication data structure is provided for partial arrangement in the shared memory area. An independent claim is included for a device for computer-assisted configuration of control device for intercommunicating applications.