Patent ID: 8156364

Claim:
A method for assigning starting times to a plurality of parallel processors processing a plurality of rows of data units, each of said plurality of parallel processors processing one or more of said rows of data units, said method comprising the steps of: within a group of rows having inter-row dependencies, identifying a first given data unit in a first one of said rows in said group; in each of said rows in said group of rows except said first one of said rows, identifying a relative left-most data unit on which said first given data unit is dependent, to obtain a relative left-most data unit set; identifying a relative right-most data unit in said relative left-most data unit set; identifying a second given data unit in a last one of said rows in said group; in each of said rows in said group except said last one of said rows, identifying a relative right-most data unit that is dependent on said second given data unit, to obtain a relative right-most data unit set; identifying a relative left-most data unit in said relative right-most data unit set; and determining said starting times based, at least in part, on said relative right-most data unit in said relative left-most data unit set and said relative left-most data unit in said relative right-most data unit set.