JP2881234B2 - Loosely coupled multiprocessor system - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a loosely-coupled multiprocessor system, in particular, to assign processing of an application such as a program or data to each of a plurality of processing devices, and to assign an operation state of each processing device to a software bus. A loosely-coupled multiprocessor system characterized by increasing the data processing capability and reliability of the entire system by allocating a function of detecting configuration and managing configuration control and a function of controlling transfer of messages between processing devices. .

(Prior Art) A multiprocessor system connects a plurality of processing devices to each other, and distributes an application such as a program or data to be processed to each processing device to perform parallel processing. It is used for various systems such as an expert system which needs to process a huge amount of applications.

The multiprocessor system is generally roughly classified into a tightly coupled multiprocessor system and a loosely coupled multiprocessor system. The tightly coupled multisystem includes a plurality of processing units 2, 2,. Connects and configures resources 3, 3,... Such as peripheral devices, and a single OS
In this way, it is easy to share the application and the resource with each other, so that the applications can be shared among the processing units in a short time to enhance the processing capacity of the system. Can be.

However, the tightly-coupled multiprocessor system has a drawback that the whole system cannot be stopped or operate normally if one processing unit fails or a failure such as program runaway occurs due to the high relevance of each processing unit. .

Loosely coupled multiprocessor systems can compensate for this drawback and increase the reliability of the entire system, and have recently been used in various systems.

Conventionally, as a loosely coupled multiprocessor system, the third
As shown in the figure, there is a system in which a plurality of processing devices 2, 2,... Are connected to each other by connecting channels or resources 3 other than the main storage device, and each processing device is controlled by an individual OS. Even if a failure occurs in one processing unit, the connection state between the processing units is controlled so that another processing unit is used instead, that is, configuration control is performed, and normal operation of the system can be continued. It is possible to increase.

However, in such a loosely-coupled multiprocessor system, each processing device processes an application based on an individual OS and, in addition, a control device for transferring a message such as a program or data between the processing devices, that is, a communication device. It is necessary to perform processing, and when the processing unit fails, the configuration control processing must be performed so that a substitute processing unit is used. There is a disadvantage that the processing time of the entire system is reduced due to a decrease in the time to be allocated.

In such a case, as a method of increasing the application processing capability, a plurality of processing devices 2, 2,... Are connected to a switch network 4 as shown in FIG. There is a means for switching and transferring messages in a time-division manner. According to this means, the connection state between the processing devices is determined by the elapsed time, and each processing device needs to determine whether the transferred message is addressed to its own processing device. However, since the processing devices can reduce the time required for communication processing and increase the processing capability of the entire system, when the processing devices transfer and output messages to each other, a deadlock occurs in both processing devices and the system There was a drawback that it did not work properly.

Further, the one similar to FIG. 4 is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-70837. However, in this case, as described above, a plurality of processing devices must perform communication processing, and the number of message transfers increases. However, there is a disadvantage that the processing capacity of the entire system is reduced.

(Object of the Invention) The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned drawbacks of the loosely-coupled multiprocessor system, and is intended to process a user's request even if the number of message transfers between the processing devices increases. It is an object of the present invention to provide a loosely-coupled multiprocessor system capable of increasing the reliability of the entire system without reducing the performance.

(Summary of the Invention) In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is configured as follows.

In a loosely-coupled multiprocessor system that connects a plurality of processing devices each having a function of processing an application such as a program or data and a function of generating and processing a packet, a software bus for connecting the plurality of processing devices is one. A router and a plurality of communication control units, wherein the plurality of communication control units are connected to the router, respectively, and the communication control unit and the router
A software bus comprising a CPU, a memory, and an I / O, each configured to operate based on an individual OS, wherein the plurality of processing devices are respectively connected to the communication processing unit of the software bus; Each communication control unit detects the operation state of the connected processing device, and determines whether or not to output a packet from another communication control unit to the processing device connected to the own communication processing unit according to the detected operation state. A loosely-coupled multiprocessor system, wherein the router functions to determine a predetermined packet transfer route in accordance with transfer destination information from the communication control unit.

In addition, each communication control unit detects the operation state of the connected processing device, and determines whether the transfer destination information transferred from another communication control unit via the router specifies the processing device connected to the own communication control unit. And outputs a packet from another communication control unit to the processing device connected to the own communication processing unit according to the detected operation state, or substitutes the transfer destination information of the packet transfer source communication control unit for a substitute. Characterized in that the function is changed to designated information indicating a processing device to perform transfer control, and the router is made to function to select a predetermined packet transfer path corresponding to a packet transfer source. Assume a multiprocessor system.

(Examples) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on examples shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a loosely coupled multiprocessor system showing one embodiment of the present invention.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 5 denotes a software bus connecting the processing devices 2a to 2c. The software bus 5 detects the operation state of each of the processing devices 2a to 2c and controls the communication of packets. The units 6a to 6c are connected to a router 7 for performing route processing between them. Here, each of the processing devices 2a to 2c, the communication control units 6a to 6c, and the router 7 includes a CUP, a memory, and an I / O, and operates based on an individual OS.

Each component of the loosely-coupled multiprocessor system configured as described above functions as follows.

That is, each of the processing devices 2a to 2c processes an application, and when a message is transferred to another processing device as necessary, a message to be transferred, transfer source information indicating a transfer source processing device, and transfer destination processing. It is made to function to generate a packet constituted by the transfer destination information indicating the device and output it to the predetermined communication control units 6a to 6c connected to each other. Furthermore, each of the processing devices 2a to 2c functions to input a packet from a predetermined communication control unit 6a to 6c connected thereto as needed.

Each of the communication control units 6a to 6c constantly detects the operation state thereof in accordance with the output signal from the predetermined processing device connected as described above, and designates an alternative processing device when an abnormal operation of the processing device is detected. When a packet is input from the processing devices 2a to 2c, the packet is stored, and the transfer destination information is output to the router 7. When the transfer destination information is input from the router 7, it is determined whether or not the information specifies the processing device to which the own communication control unit is connected. If the transfer destination information specifies the processing device to which the own communication control unit is connected, a signal indicating that there is a packet request is output to the router 7,
If not specified, a signal indicating no packet request is output to the router 7. Further, each of the communication control units 6a to 6c stores the designation information due to the abnormal operation of the processing device connected as described above, and the transfer destination information from the router 7 designates the processing device connected to the own communication control unit. If so, the router 7 is made to function to output change information for changing the transfer destination information, that is, designation information indicating an alternative processing device.

The router 7 sequentially stores the transfer destination information from each of the communication control units 6a to 6c in its memory, reads the transfer destination information from the memory in accordance with the storage order, and, when reading, transfers the transfer destination information to the communication control unit other than the transfer source. Each is output in a predetermined order. Each time the router 7 outputs the transfer destination information to each communication control unit, the router 7 waits for a return signal indicating whether or not there is a packet request. When a signal indicating that a packet request is input is input, the router 7 transfers the packet of the transfer source communication control unit. Processing device indicated by the destination information,
That is, this is transferred to the connected communication control unit. When a signal indicating that there is no packet request is input, the router 7 outputs transfer destination information from the memory to the next communication control unit, and functions so as to perform the above-described operation.

Therefore, the loosely-coupled multiprocessor system configured as described above and making each component function is provided by each of the processing devices 2a to 2a.
When transferring messages between 2c, for example,
If 2a forwards the message to processing unit 2c, the processing unit
If 2a outputs the packet to the communication control unit 6a, the router 7 outputs the packet transfer destination information in the order of the communication control units 6b and 6c to search for the packet transfer destination, and the packet is transmitted to the communication control unit 6a.
Transfer from 6a to 6c. That is, if the processing device simply outputs the packet to the communication control unit to which each is connected, the time required for the communication process can be reduced since the software bus performs the message transfer process, and the time allocated to the application process can be increased.

Further, in the multiprocessor system, when a failure occurs in a processing device to which a message is transferred, a communication control unit connected thereto stores designation information indicating a substitute processing device,
The transfer destination information of the communication control unit that connects the transfer source processing device via the router is rewritten to the designated information, thereby enabling the transfer of the message between the transfer source processing device and the substitute processing device. That is, in this multiprocessor system, the software bus manages the configuration control of the system, so that the time allocated for the processing device to the application processing can be increased and the normal operation of the system can be continued even if a failure occurs.

Further, in this multiprocessor system, even if messages are transferred between the processing devices, each message is temporarily stored in each communication control unit, and the router sequentially follows a packet transfer path predetermined according to the communication control unit of the packet transfer source. Selection can prevent system deadlock.

In the above-described embodiment, when the software bus detects an abnormal operation of the predetermined processing device connected to each of the communication control units, the transfer destination information is changed as described above, and the alternative processing device and the transfer source processing device are switched. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the software bus detects the execution rate of the application of the processing device connected by each communication control unit, and this operating rate is high. If it is not possible to receive a message from another processing device, it is necessary to change the transfer destination information as described above so that the message can be transferred between the alternative processing device and the transfer source processing device. It would be convenient for the system to process applications efficiently. Further, according to the present invention, the communication control unit detects an operation state of the connected processing device and determines whether or not to output a packet from another communication control unit to the processing device connected to the own communication control unit in accordance with the operation state. The control may be performed such that the router transfers the packet to the processing device according to the transfer destination information from the communication control unit.

In the above-described embodiment, the communication control unit and the router are each configured by a separate CPU, memory, and I / O on the software bus. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the software bus may be configured by a required number of CPUs and memories. It is obvious that it is only necessary to have a packet transfer control processing function and a configuration control function.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiment, the packet output from the processing device to the communication control unit is constituted by the message to be transferred, the transfer source information indicating the transfer source processing device, and the transfer destination information indicating the transfer destination processing device. The present invention is not limited to this, and if control information for controlling each component is added to the packet, for example, information for controlling the start or stop of the execution operation of the transfer source processing device is added to the packet of the transfer source processing device, the system function. It would be convenient to increase

In the multiprocessor system described above, three processing devices are connected to the software bus, but the present invention is not limited to this, and a plurality of processing devices or resources such as peripheral devices may be connected.
For example, as shown in FIG. 5, a processing unit 2a-2d and peripheral devices 8a-8c such as a floppy disk
And the software bus 5 may be configured by connecting a router 7 to each of these processing devices and peripheral devices via communication control devices 6a to 6g. The loosely coupled multiprocessor system of the present invention As shown in FIG. 6, it is obvious that routers 7, 7... Of a plurality of software buses 5, 5,... May be connected to each other via channels 9, 9,. Further, the processing device may have a function of processing a plurality of applications. In this case, it is convenient if the transfer destination information specifies these applications and the software bus has a function of detecting the operation state of each application. Would be good.

(Effect of the Invention) As described above, the present invention assigns application processing to each of a plurality of processing devices or resources, and assigns management of message transfer control and configuration control between them to a software bus. Therefore, even if the number of message transfers between processing devices or resources increases, the system always controls the configuration control of the system, and the processing devices or resources simply output the packet to the software bus, and the communication process ends. In order to provide a loosely coupled multiprocessor system capable of improving the processing performance of the entire system by increasing the time allotted to the system, and increasing the reliability of the system because the message transfer path is determined by the router. effective.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a multiprocessor system showing an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a conventional general tightly-coupled multiprocessor system, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are conventional loosely-coupled systems. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a multiprocessor system, and FIGS. 5 and 6 are block diagrams of a multiprocessor system showing a modified embodiment of the present invention. 5. Software bus, 2a to 2c processing device, 6a to 6c communication control unit, 7 router.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-63-37457 (JP, A) JP-A-63-257052 (JP, A) JP-A-64-26966 (JP, A) JP-A-63-26966 163562 (JP, A) JP-A-57-83838 (JP, A) (58) Fields investigated (Int. Cl. ⁶ , DB name) G06F 15/16

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A loosely coupled multiprocessor system for connecting a plurality of processing devices each having a function of processing an application such as a program or data and a function of generating and processing a packet. A software bus includes one router and a plurality of communication control units, and the plurality of communication control units are connected to the router, respectively. Further, the communication control unit and the router have a required number of CPUs, memories, and I / Os. A software bus configured to operate on the basis of an individual OS, wherein each of the plurality of processing devices is connected to the communication processing unit of the software bus. Detects the operating state of the connected processing device, and processes packets from other communication control units according to the detected operating state. The router controls the transfer of whether or not to output to the connected processing device, and the router functions to determine a predetermined packet transfer route according to transfer destination information from the communication control unit. Loosely coupled multiprocessor system. 2. A loosely-coupled multiprocessor system for connecting a plurality of processing devices each having a function of processing an application such as a program or data and a function of generating and processing a packet. A software bus includes one router and a plurality of communication control units, and the plurality of communication control units are connected to the router, respectively. Further, the communication control unit and the router have a required number of CPUs, memories, and I / Os. A software bus configured to operate on the basis of an individual OS, wherein each of the plurality of processing devices is connected to the communication processing unit of the software bus. Indicates the operating state of the connected processing device, and the transfer destination information transferred from another communication control unit via the router It is determined whether or not the connected processing device is designated, and a packet from another communication control unit is output to the processing device to which the own communication processing unit is connected, or the packet transfer source is determined according to the detected operation state. The router controls the transfer by changing the transfer destination information of the communication control unit to designation information indicating an alternative processing device, and the router selects a predetermined packet transfer path corresponding to the transfer source of the packet. A loosely coupled multiprocessor system characterized by functioning.