US 7,490,178 B2
Threshold on unblocking a processing node that is blocked due data packet passing
Egidius Gerardus Petrus van Doren, Lommel (Belgium); and Hendrikus Christianus Wilhelmus van Heesch, Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Assigned to Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V., Eindhoven (Netherlands)
Appl. No. 10/555,831
PCT Filed Apr. 29, 2004, PCT No. PCT/IB2004/001447
§ 371(c)(1), (2), (4) Date Nov. 07, 2005,
PCT Pub. No. WO2004/099983, PCT Pub. Date Nov. 18, 2004.
Claims priority of provisional application 60/469068, filed on May 08, 2003.
Prior Publication US 2007/0008983 A1, Jan. 11, 2007
Int. Cl. G06F 3/00 (2006.01); G06F 5/00 (2006.01); G06F 9/00 (2006.01); G06F 15/167 (2006.01)
U.S. Cl. 710—52  [710/29; 710/57; 710/58; 712/225; 712/228; 712/229; 709/213] 14 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus, including a processor, for controlling a switch of context between an execution context of a producer of a packet and an execution context of a consumer of the packet, comprising:
a buffer for storage said packet produced by said producer and removal of said packet by said consumer;
a count for incrementing and decrementing, respectively responsive to storage of said packet in the buffer and removal of said packet from the buffer;
a threshold imposed on said count, said threshold having a threshold pre-set value and an on and off state;
a limit on the count, said limit having a limit pre-set value;
a first means for
(a) delaying said producer from a switch of said producer context to the execution context of the consumer if said threshold is on and said count is less than the pre-set value of the threshold, wherein said first means set the threshold off before said producer context is switched, and
(b) stopping said delaying said producer from a switch of said context to the execution context of the consumer if said threshold is on and a buffer flush is required to allow the consumer to process any remaining packets in the buffer, wherein said first means set the threshold off before said context is switched;
if said count is zero, a second means for setting said threshold on and forcing said context switch to said producer.