Patent ID: 8463971

Claim:
A machine-implemented method comprising: determining that a particular device is capable of using an N number of interrupt channels to send interrupts generated by the particular device, where N is an integer greater than one; generating a first mapping that maps the N interrupt channels to one or more processors of a plurality of processors, wherein the first mapping is set as a baseline heuristic; causing interrupts sent by the particular device to be distributed according to the first mapping; monitoring a load on the one or more processors of the plurality of processors resulting from interrupts being received, using the first mapping, from the particular device; generating a device heuristic for the particular device based on the monitoring; determining that the device heuristic is one selected from a group consisting of greater than a sum of the baseline heuristic and a margin and less than a result of the baseless heuristic minus the margin; based on the determination: generating a second mapping, wherein the second mapping requires the particular device to use an M number of interrupt channels instead of an N number of interrupt channels, where M is a positive integer less than N, and wherein the second mapping maps the M interrupt channels to one or more processors of the plurality of processors; and causing interrupts sent by the particular device to be distributed according to the second mapping instead of the first mapping, thereby causing the particular device to change from using N interrupt channels to using M interrupt channels.