Patent ID: 7590774

Claim:
A method for transferring context between processing elements, comprising: transferring a context from a first storage location to a second storage location using first Direct Memory Access (DMA) logic of a first processing element, wherein the first storage location is in the first processing element of a multi-core microprocessor having a plurality of substantially identical processing elements and the context is configured to be executed by any of the plurality of processing elements, wherein the second storage location is a context area accessible by the second processing element and the transfer from the first storage location to the context area associated with the second processing element is done asynchronously to the operation of the second processing element; transferring the context from the second storage location into a context buffer of a second processing element of the multi-core processor using second Direct Memory Access (DMA) logic of the second processing element, wherein the transfer of context from the second storage location into the context buffer is done asynchronously to the operation of the first processing element; receiving a DMA finish signal from the second DMA logic at a context restore controller of the second processing element when the second DMA logic completes the transfer of context from the second storage location into the context buffer; receiving a second signal at the context controller; and in response to the DMA finish signal and the second signal, restoring the context from the context buffer of the second processing element such that the second processing element can process using the context.