JP2018180805A - Management device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To shorten a waiting time for a circuit module mounted on a reconfigurable electronic device resource to restart interrupted processing.SOLUTION: According to one embodiment, a management device includes a parameter management unit and a parameter adjustment unit. The parameter management unit saves a first parameter to be used in processing performed by a first circuit module in a storage unit before the first circuit module mounted in a first area of a reconfigurable resource is eliminated from the resource. The parameter adjustment unit adjusts the first parameter saved in the storage unit to acquire a second parameter in the case that a second circuit module to be associated with processing is mounted in a second area of the resource for restarting the processing. The parameter management unit sets the second parameter in the second circuit module mounted in the second area to restart first processing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to managing the implementation of circuit modules in reconfigurable electronic device resources.

  By mounting a circuit module in a programmable logic device such as an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), function addition, bug correction, and the like of the circuit module can be easily performed. Furthermore, it is also proposed to use a logical device having reconfigurable resources in a time division manner with a plurality of different circuit modules.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a technique aimed at reducing the reconfiguration time of reconfigurable logic circuits. Specifically, Patent Document 1 holds difference circuit information between logic circuit A and logic circuit B, and uses the difference circuit information when the logic circuit B is reconfigured after the logic circuit A is reconfigured. It discloses technology.

JP, 2009-123129, A

  There is a case where a circuit module mounted on a reconfigurable resource is temporarily deleted in the middle of processing, and then the circuit module is remounted to restart the processing. In this case, the internal state of the circuit module is initialized and implemented. Therefore, there may be a waiting time for reproducing the internal state just before deleting the circuit module after the circuit module is mounted until the processing can be properly restarted. For example, if the process to be resumed is an operation requiring a past output value of a circuit module, the process is appropriately resumed unless the operation up to immediately before deleting the circuit module is re-executed. It is not possible. When the waiting time becomes long, there are problems such as delaying restart of processing by the circuit module, occupation of resources by the circuit module for a long period of time, and shortening of a period during which the circuit module can execute processing.

  An object of the present invention is to reduce the waiting time for resuming processing that has been interrupted by a circuit module implemented in a reconfigurable electronic device resource.

  According to one aspect of the present invention, the management device includes a parameter management unit and a parameter adjustment unit. The parameter manager is used in a first process performed by the first circuit module before the first circuit module mounted in the first area of the reconfigurable electronic device resource is removed from the resource The first parameter to be stored is saved in the storage unit. When the second circuit module associated with the first process is implemented in the second region of the resource for resuming the first process, the parameter adjustment unit is the first program saved in the storage unit. Adjust the parameters to get the second parameter. The parameter management unit sets a second parameter in the second circuit module mounted in the second area to resume the first process.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the waiting time for resuming processing that has been interrupted by a circuit module implemented in a reconfigurable electronic device resource.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a reconfiguration management apparatus according to a first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating the periphery of the reconfiguration management device of FIG. 1; The timing chart which shows a time-dependent change of the circuit module mounted in the field of the resource of Drawing 2, and the parameter stored in a parameter storage part. The figure which illustrates an infinite impulse response (IIR: Infinite Impulse Response) filter. The figure which shows another example of IIR filter. Explanatory drawing of the example of evacuation of a parameter. Explanatory drawing of the example of return of a parameter. Explanatory drawing of the example of return of a parameter.

  Hereinafter, the description of the embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. Hereinafter, elements which are the same as or similar to the already described elements are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals, and redundant descriptions will be basically omitted.

First Embodiment
The reconfiguration management device 100 according to the first embodiment may be, for example, a circuit stacked on a (semiconductor) integrated circuit 200 as shown in FIG. In the example of FIG. 2, the integrated circuit 200 includes the application execution unit 210, the reconfigurable electronic device resource 220, and the parameter storage unit 230 in addition to the reconfiguration management device 100. It is only an example.

  In response to a request from the application execution unit 210, the reconfiguration management apparatus 100 mounts a circuit module in any of a plurality of (reconfiguration) areas of the reconfigurable electronic device resource 220 (writes circuit data). . The reconfiguration management device 100 can read circuit data for mounting a desired circuit module in an area from a configuration ROM (Read Only Memory) 240. Also, the reconfiguration management device 100 deletes the circuit module mounted in the area of the resource 220 as necessary. Here, deletion of a circuit module means processing for discarding an old circuit module and releasing an area for rewriting the circuit module. The reconfiguration management apparatus 100 manages whether each area is in a rewritable state (can be deleted), and can appropriately select an area for rewriting a circuit module. The reconfiguration management device 100 notifies the application execution unit 210 that the implementation of the circuit module requested from the application execution unit 210 has ended normally or has not ended normally. The application execution unit 210 performs an operation defined by the application software being executed according to the notified implementation result of the circuit module.

  Furthermore, as described later, the reconfiguration management apparatus 100 saves the parameter used in the process performed by the circuit module in the parameter storage unit 230 before deleting the circuit module from the area of the resource 220, or When mounting a circuit module associated with the process in the area of the resource 220 to restart the process, the parameter saved in the past is set in the circuit module (this process is also called parameter return) . The circuit module implemented to resume the process may be the same as the circuit module deleted for the interruption of the process, or may be different as described later. Here, the parameter indicates information inside the circuit module to be deleted. When the circuit module mounted to resume the process can not use the saved parameter as it is, the reconfiguration management device 100 adjusts the parameter.

  Note that saving and restoring of parameters can be omitted under certain conditions. That is, even if parameters are saved and restored, if the waiting time from mounting of the circuit module to resumption of processing by the circuit module is not shortened, and if there is no need to reduce the waiting time, etc. Reversion may be omitted.

  As a circuit module whose latency is reduced by saving and restoring parameters, for example, a circuit provided with an output feedback path can be mentioned. Specifically, a (digital) IIR filter, a PID (Proportional Integral Differential) control circuit, and the like have an output feedback path. When processing by a circuit module corresponding to a circuit including such an output feedback path is interrupted, waiting time can be shortened by saving and restoring parameters.

  An example of an IIR filter is shown in FIG. In the following description, the IIR filter 300 of FIG. 4 may be referred to as a circuit (module) A. The IIR filter 300 includes an adder 301, a register 311, a register 312, a coefficient register 321, a coefficient register 322, a multiplier 331, and a multiplier 332. The IIR filter 300 uses, for example, 16 bits in width. That is, all signals handled in the IIR filter 300 are 16 bits.

  The register 311 stores the immediately preceding output value (of the IIR filter 300). The register 312 stores the second previous output value. A register not shown may be prepared to store three or more previous output values. Note that in the IIR filter, all past output values are used for calculation to generate the current output value.

  The coefficient register 321 stores the coefficient to be multiplied by the previous output value. The coefficient register 322 stores the coefficient to be multiplied by the two previous output value. A coefficient register, not shown, may be provided to store the coefficients to be multiplied by three or more previous output values. These coefficients are fixed values.

  The multiplier 331 reads the immediately preceding output value from the register 311 and reads the coefficient from the coefficient register 321. The multiplier 331 multiplies the previous output value by a coefficient, and sends the multiplication result to the adder 301. The multiplier 332 reads the second previous output value from the register 312 and reads the coefficient from the coefficient register 322. The multiplier 332 multiplies the second previous output value by a coefficient, and sends the multiplication result to the adder 301. A multiplier not shown may be provided to multiply the three or more previous output values by the coefficient.

  The adder 301 generates the current output value by adding the current input value and the product of the past output value and the coefficient (ie, the output of the multiplier 331 and the multiplier 332 (+ α)). Do. The current output value is sent to the outside of the IIR filter 300 and stored in the register 311. On the other hand, the immediately preceding output value stored in the register 311 is shifted to the register 312. Similarly, the previous two output values stored in the register 312 may be shifted to a register not shown.

  Thus, the values stored in the register 311 and the register 312 (+ α) are updated each time a new input value is given (in other words, each time a new output value is generated). .

  It is assumed that the IIR filter process is performed n times (n is an arbitrary natural number) times, the circuit module corresponding to the IIR filter 300 is deleted without saving the parameter, and then the circuit module is remounted. In this case, since the values stored in the register 311 and the register 312 are initialized, the interrupted IIR filter processing is properly performed unless the IIR filter processing is to be performed n times from the initial state again. Can not resume.

  On the other hand, if the values stored in the register 311 and the register 312 (+ α) are saved, the circuit module can be restored immediately after the circuit module is re-mounted. It is possible to restart the IIR filter processing. In short, the waiting time for resuming interrupted processing can be shortened. In this example, the parameter is a value stored in the register included in the circuit module, but the parameter to be saved and restored is not limited to this.

  The application execution unit 210 is, for example, a processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The application execution unit 210 executes the application software developed in the application memory 250. The application execution unit 210 requests the reconfiguration management device 100 to mount a circuit module in the area of the resource 220 as necessary when executing application software.

  The resource 220 is, for example, a reconfigurable electronic device resource such as an FPGA. The resource 220 has a plurality of areas in which circuit modules can be implemented individually. In the area of the resource 220, the reconfiguration management apparatus 100 mounts a circuit module or deletes the mounted circuit module. In the example of FIG. 2, the resource 220 has a total of three areas 1, 2 and 3. However, practically, the number of regions may be two or less or four or more, and the size of each region may not be uniform.

  The parameter storage unit 230 stores the parameter saved by the reconfiguration management device 100. This parameter is read by the reconfiguration management device 100 for recovery when the circuit module is mounted in the area of the resource 220 for resumption of processing using the parameter. The parameter storage unit 230 is preferably separate from the resource 220 from the viewpoint of effectively utilizing the resource 220, for example. However, it is also possible to provide the parameter storage unit 230 inside the resource 220.

  The configuration ROM 240 stores circuit data for mounting a circuit module in the area of the resource 220. The circuit data is read by the reconfiguration management device 100 and written to the area of the resource 220 as necessary.

  The application memory 250 is a RAM (Random Access Memory) connected to the application execution unit 210. The application memory 250 is loaded with application software to be executed by the application execution unit 210. The application software is stored, for example, in an auxiliary storage device (HDD (Hard Disk Drive), SSD (Solid State Drive), etc.) not shown.

  Specifically, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the reconfiguration management apparatus 100 includes a reconfiguration management unit 110, a parameter management unit 120, and a parameter adjustment unit 130. The function division of FIG. 1 is merely an example. The parameter adjustment unit 130 can be regarded as a part of the parameter management unit 120, or the parameter management unit 120 can be regarded as a part of the reconfiguration management unit 110.

  The reconfiguration management unit 110 receives, from the application execution unit 210, a request for mounting a circuit module. In response to the request, the reconfiguration management unit 110 selects an area in which the circuit module as the target of the request is to be mounted, from the areas in the rewritable state among the areas 1 to 3. Note that the area in which a certain circuit is mounted and the area in which the circuit (or another circuit that performs the same process as the circuit) is remounted later may be the same as or different from each other.

  Circuit modules implemented in the selected area will be deleted. When it is necessary to save the parameters for this circuit module, the reconfiguration management unit 110 instructs the parameter management unit 120 to save the parameters. Similarly, when it is necessary to restore the parameters for the circuit module that has become the request target, the reconfiguration management unit 110 instructs the parameter management unit 120 to restore the parameters. Whether or not it is necessary to save / restore a parameter can be determined, for example, by referring to a predetermined table. Such a table is illustrated in Table 1 below.

  The reconfiguration management unit 110 mounts the circuit module by reading out circuit data for mounting the circuit module that is the target of the request from the configuration ROM and writing the circuit data in the selected area. The reconfiguration management unit 110 notifies the application execution unit 210 of the mounting result of the circuit module (whether or not the mounting is completed normally).

  The parameter management unit 120 is instructed by the reconfiguration management unit 110 to save or restore the parameter. When instructed to save the parameter, the parameter managing unit 120 acquires the parameter of the instructed circuit module (for example, reads the value of the register), and stores the parameter in the parameter storage unit 230. On the other hand, when instructed to restore the parameter, the parameter managing unit 120 reads the instructed parameter from the parameter storage unit 230 and sets it in the instructed circuit module (for example, writes a value in the register). However, when it is necessary to adjust the parameters at the time of restoration, the parameter management unit 120 passes the parameters read from the parameter storage unit 230 to the parameter adjustment unit 130. Then, the parameter managing unit 120 receives the adjusted parameter from the parameter adjusting unit 130 and sets the parameter in the instructed circuit module. Note that whether or not adjustment of the parameter is necessary at the time of return can be determined, for example, by referring to a predetermined table.

  For example, if the circuit module that used the parameter before saving and the circuit module that uses the parameter after returning are different and the bit width used by both is different, change the bit width of the parameter It will be necessary. In addition, when the parameter changes with time during execution of the process, the saved parameter does not reflect the time change in the period during which the process was interrupted. Therefore, it is necessary to apply a correction to the parameter to simulate a time change that would have occurred in the parameter assuming that the processing was being performed in a period in which the processing was interrupted. In addition, for example, the time change which can be formulated such as count-up and count-down is suitable for simulation.

  The parameter adjustment unit 130 receives the parameter from the parameter management unit 120, adjusts the parameter, and returns the adjusted parameter to the parameter management unit 120. The adjustment that can be performed by the parameter adjustment unit 130 may be one type or may be selected from a plurality of types.

  For example, the parameter adjustment unit 130 may change the bit width of the parameter to obtain the adjusted parameter. In this case, the parameter adjustment unit 130 may change the bit width of the parameter so as to conform to the bit width used by the circuit module that restores the adjusted parameter.

  In general, in digital signal processing, as the bit width used increases, the calculation accuracy improves but the power consumption also increases. The reverse is also true. In consideration of such a trade-off between calculation accuracy and power consumption, a plurality of circuit modules which perform the same processing but use different bit widths may be prepared. For example, by causing a circuit module that uses a smaller bit width to perform processing, low power consumption operation is possible although it is necessary to allow reduction in calculation accuracy.

  FIG. 5 illustrates an IIR filter 400 that uses a different bit width than that of FIG. In the following description, the IIR filter 400 may be referred to as a circuit (module) A '. Although the bit width used by the IIR filter 300 of FIG. 4 was 16 bits, the bit width used by the IIR filter 400 is 14 bits. That is, the IIR filter 300 is a circuit module directed to high calculation accuracy, and the IIR filter 400 is a circuit module directed to low power consumption. Although the description is omitted, an IIR filter using a bit width larger than that of the IIR filter 300 may be prepared.

  The IIR filter 400 shown in FIG. 5 includes an adder 401, a register 411, a register 412, a coefficient register 421, a coefficient register 422, a multiplier 431, a multiplier 432, a bit width converter 441, and a bit width. And a conversion unit 442.

  The IIR filter 400 uses, for example, 14 bits in width. However, even if reconfiguration is performed, the interface at the boundary of the area can not be changed. Therefore, the interface of the input and the output needs to be common between the IIR filter 300 and the IIR filter 400. That is, the bit widths of the input signal and the output signal of the IIR filter 400 are both 16 bits the same as the IIR filter 300. The signals handled in the region sandwiched by the bit width conversion unit 441 and the bit width conversion unit 442 in the IIR filter 400 are all 14 bits.

  4 except that adder 401, register 411, register 412, coefficient register 421, coefficient register 422, multiplier 431 and multiplier 432 handle 14-bit signals. , Coefficient register 321, coefficient register 322, multiplier 331 and multiplier 332.

  The bit width conversion unit 441 receives a 16-bit signal (input signal of the IIR filter 400) and reduces the bit width to obtain a 14-bit signal. For example, the bit width conversion unit 441 can realize a reduction of N bits by right-shifting the signal by N bits and discarding a total of N bits in order from MSB (Most Significant Bit). Here, N is an arbitrary natural number, and is 2 in this example. Furthermore, an offset may be added as needed. The bit width conversion unit 441 outputs the 14-bit signal to the adder 401.

  The bit width conversion unit 442 receives the 14-bit signal from the adder 401 and extends the bit width to obtain a 16-bit signal. For example, the bit width conversion unit 442 can realize an extension of N bits by shifting the signal to the left by N bits. Furthermore, an offset may be added as needed. The bit width conversion unit 442 externally outputs the 16-bit signal as an output signal of the IIR filter 400.

  Alternatively, the parameter adjustment unit 130 applies a correction to the parameter to simulate a time change that would have occurred in the parameter, assuming that the processing was performed in the period in which the processing was interrupted, and the adjusted parameter You may get it.

  Circuit modules mounted in areas 1 to 3 of the resource 220 when four kinds of processing A, processing B, processing C and processing D are sequentially and repeatedly executed using FIG. 3 and FIG. 6 to FIG. And how parameters stored in the parameter storage unit 230 change will be described. In FIG. 3, the processing times of the processing A, the processing B, the processing C, and the processing D are all the same for simplification of the description, but they may be different in practice.

  Process A corresponds to IIR filtering and is executed by a circuit module A corresponding to the IIR filter 300 of FIG. 4 or a circuit module A ′ corresponding to the IIR filter 400 of FIG. The process B, the process C and the process D are respectively executed by the circuit module B, the circuit module C and the circuit module D. The saving / restoring of parameters is performed for processing A and processing B, but is not performed for processing C and processing D. Process A may have a change in circuit module. For example, the process A may be performed by the circuit module A and then performed by the circuit module A 'with an interruption, and vice versa. On the other hand, in the processes B, C and D, the circuit module is not changed. The above information is summarized in Table 1 below.

  Processing A is executed by the circuit module A mounted in the area 1 at time 0 in FIG. 3. Therefore, prior to time 0, the reconfiguration management device 100 has mounted the circuit module A in the area 1. In addition, circuit module B and circuit module D are already mounted in area 2 and area 3 and are in a standby state for processes B and C to be performed subsequently. No parameters are saved in the parameter storage unit 230 (ie, they are empty).

  The process B is executed by the circuit module B mounted in the area 2 at time 1 in FIG. 3. On the other hand, the circuit module A mounted in the area 1 is rewritten to the circuit module D. When processing A is interrupted, it is necessary to save parameters. Therefore, as exemplified in FIG. 6, the reconfiguration management device 100 saves the parameters of the circuit module A in the parameter storage unit 230, and then rewrites the circuit module A to the circuit module D.

  Process C is executed by the circuit module C mounted in the area 3 at time 2 in FIG. 3. On the other hand, the circuit module B mounted in the area 2 is rewritten to the circuit module A. When processing B is interrupted, it is necessary to save parameters. Therefore, the reconfiguration management device 100 saves the parameters of the circuit module B in the parameter storage unit 230. In addition, when processing A resumes, it is necessary to restore the parameters. Therefore, as exemplified in FIG. 7, the reconfiguration management device 100 mounts the circuit module A in the area 2, reads the parameter of the circuit module A from the parameter storage unit 230, and sets the parameter in the circuit module A.

  At time 3 in FIG. 3, the process D is executed by the circuit module D mounted in the area 1. On the other hand, the circuit module C mounted in the area 3 is rewritten to the circuit module B. When processing B resumes, it is necessary to restore the parameters. Therefore, the reconfiguration management device 100 mounts the circuit module B in the area 3, reads the parameter of the circuit module B from the parameter storage unit 230, and sets the parameter in the circuit module B.

  Processing A is executed by the circuit module A mounted in the area 2 at time 4 in FIG. 3. On the other hand, the reconfiguration management device 100 rewrites the circuit module D mounted in the area 1 into a circuit module C.

  The process B is executed by the circuit module B mounted in the area 3 at time 5 in FIG. On the other hand, the circuit module A mounted in the area 2 is rewritten to the circuit module D. When processing A is interrupted, it is necessary to save parameters. Therefore, as exemplified in FIG. 6, the reconfiguration management device 100 saves the parameters of the circuit module A in the parameter storage unit 230, and then rewrites the circuit module A to the circuit module D.

  The process C is executed by the circuit module C mounted in the area 1 at time 6 in FIG. On the other hand, it is assumed that the application execution unit 210 requests the implementation of the circuit module A ′ instead of the circuit module A in order to execute the process A. That is, the circuit module B mounted in the area 3 is rewritten not to the circuit module A but to the circuit module A '. When processing B is interrupted, it is necessary to save parameters. Therefore, the reconfiguration management device 100 saves the parameters of the circuit module B in the parameter storage unit 230. In addition, when processing A resumes, it is necessary to restore the parameters. Therefore, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the reconfiguration management device 100 mounts the circuit module A ′ in the area 2, reads the parameters of the circuit module A from the parameter storage unit 230, and adjusts the circuit module A ′ for the circuit module A ′. After the bit width is reduced in the example of FIG. 8, the circuit module A ′ is set.

  At time 7 in FIG. 3, the process D is executed by the circuit module D mounted in the area 2. On the other hand, the circuit module C mounted in the area 1 is rewritten to the circuit module B. When processing B resumes, it is necessary to restore the parameters. Therefore, the reconfiguration management device 100 mounts the circuit module B in the area 1, reads the parameters of the circuit module B from the parameter storage unit 230, and sets the parameters in the circuit module B.

  The processing A is executed by the circuit module A ′ mounted in the area 3 at time 8 in FIG. On the other hand, the reconfiguration management device 100 rewrites the circuit module D mounted in the area 2 into a circuit module C.

  The process B is executed by the circuit module B mounted in the area 1 at time 9 in FIG. 3. On the other hand, the circuit module A ′ mounted in the area 3 is rewritten to the circuit module D. When processing A is interrupted, it is necessary to save parameters. Therefore, the reconfiguration management device 100 saves the parameters of the circuit module A 'in the parameter storage unit 230, and then rewrites the circuit module A' to the circuit module D.

  As described above, the reconfiguration management apparatus according to the first embodiment is configured to remove the first circuit module mounted on the reconfigurable electronic device resource from the resource before the first circuit module is deleted. The first parameter used in the process associated with the module is saved in the parameter storage unit. Then, when the second circuit module associated with the process is mounted on the resource for resuming the process, the reconfiguration management apparatus adjusts the first parameter and obtains the second parameter, This is set to the second circuit module.

  Therefore, according to this reconfiguration management device, the internal state immediately before deleting the first circuit module can be reproduced immediately at the time of mounting the second circuit module, so that the interrupted process can be resumed properly. be able to. That is, the waiting time for resuming the interrupted process can be shortened. In addition, even if the second circuit module performs the same processing as the first circuit module but differs in configuration, the processing can be resumed without any problem. That is, even in the case where the second circuit module is caused to perform the processing performed by the first circuit module, the waiting time can be shortened.

  The embodiments described above are merely illustrative examples to assist in understanding the inventive concept, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. Embodiments can add, delete, or convert various components without departing from the scope of the present invention.

  The various functional units described in the above embodiments may be realized by using a circuit. The circuit may be a dedicated circuit that implements a specific function or may be a general-purpose circuit such as a processor.

100 ... Reconfiguration management apparatus 110 ... Reconfiguration management unit 120 ... Parameter management unit 130 ... Parameter adjustment unit 200 ... Integrated circuit 210 ... Application execution unit 220 ... Resource 230 · .. Parameter storage unit 240 ... configuration ROM
250: Application memory 300, 400: IIR filter 301, 401: Adder 311, 312, 411, 412: Register 321, 322, 421, 422: Coefficient register 331, 332, 431 , 432 ... multipliers 441, 442 ... bit width conversion unit

Claims (5)

A first circuit module used in the first process performed by the first circuit module before the first circuit module implemented in the first area of the reconfigurable electronic device resource is deleted from the resource A parameter management unit that saves the parameter 1 into the storage unit;
The first parameter saved in the storage unit when a second circuit module associated with the first process is mounted on a second area of the resource for resumption of the first process. And a parameter adjustment unit for adjusting the second parameter
The parameter management unit sets the second parameter in the second circuit module mounted in the second area for resumption of the first process.
Management device.   The management device according to claim 1, wherein the first circuit module corresponds to a circuit including an output feedback path. The second circuit module uses a different bit width than the first circuit module,
The parameter adjustment unit changes the bit width of the first parameter so as to conform to the bit width used by the second circuit module, and obtains the second parameter. Management device described in. The first parameter changes with time during execution of the first process,
The parameter adjustment unit is a correction that simulates a time change that would have occurred in the first parameter when it was assumed that the first process was being performed in a period in which the first process was interrupted. The management apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the second parameter is obtained by applying the first parameter to the first parameter.   The management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the first parameter is a value of a register included in the first circuit module.