Patent ID: 7089555
Filing Date: 2006-08-08
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. In an application system including, one or more shared resources each controlled by a unique semaphore, a plurality of processors adapted to perform similar tasks on assigned segments of a continuous data flow in the data flow sequence, using one or more shared resources controlled by semaphores, a linked list of processor labels each identifying a processor and defining the order in which the processed data is to be assembled, each said label including, a data flow ID, a data flow head field, a data flow tail field and a pointer field pointing to the next label in the linked list, an ordered semaphore management subsystem comprising: first logic circuit responsive to the creation of a label included in the linked list for generating and encoding one of a plurality of predetermined states in an ordered semaphore field (OSF) corresponding to the created label; second logic circuit responsive to an ordered semaphore request from a processor for examining the encoded OSF corresponding to the processor's label and granting the semaphore request when the field is in a first predetermined state; and, third logic circuit responsive to a change in the status of a processor for updating the ordered semaphore field corresponding to the label associated with the processor and for updating the ordered semaphore field corresponding to the label identified by the pointer in the label of the processor whose status changed.