Data processing system and method for high-efficiency multitasking

1. A method in a data processing system for dynamically executing a plurality of simultaneous tasks, said method comprising the steps of:

identifying tasks that are available for execution;

determining an order in which said identified tasks will execute;

for each said identified task, generating a sequence of instructions based on instructions contained in each said identified task;

for each said generated sequence of instructions:

identifying one or more endpoints, wherein said endpoints mark possible termination points of each said generated sequence of instructions;

generating any additional instructions needed for restoring any necessary state information; and

for each said identified endpoint, generating any additional instructions needed for saving any necessary state information;

generating an aggregate super sequence of instructions via ordering said identified tasks in the order determined in said determining step, the aggregate super sequence of instructions thereby including: said sequences of instructions generated for each identified task, any additional instructions needed for restoring any necessary state information and any additional instructions needed for saving any necessary state information; and

executing the aggregate super sequence of instructions.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of generating a sequence of instructions for each said identified task comprises copying appropriate sequences of instructions from said identified tasks.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a length of each said generated sequence of instructions is determined via estimating a required amount of execution time.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said estimating step comprises providing estimates which are maximum run-time guarantees calculated to provide a real-time environment.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of caching at least some of information used in generating the sequences of instructions.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of generating a sequence of instructions for each said identified task comprises employing some information obtained from pre-computed data.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of generating a sequence of instructions for each said identified task comprises generating sequences of instructions when each said identified task is loaded into memory.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of determining an order in which said identified tasks will execute is performed by an operating system's scheduler.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of adjusting lengths of at least one of said generated sequences of instructions to reduce overhead in switching between tasks.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scheduler is a virtual machine.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said step of generating a sequence of instructions for each identified task comprises generating sequences of instructions via a code translator or recompiler.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of generating any additional instructions necessary to enforce a memory protection model.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of optimizing said generated sequences of instructions to increase efficiency.

14. A data processing system for dynamically executing a plurality of simultaneous tasks, comprising:

means for identifying tasks that are available for execution;

means for determining an order in which said identified tasks will execute;

means for generating, for each identified task, a sequence of instructions based on instructions contained in each said identified task;

means for identifying, for each said generated sequence of instructions, one or more endpoints, wherein said endpoints mark possible termination points of each said generated sequence of instructions;

means for generating, for each said generated sequence of instructions, any additional instructions needed for restoring any necessary state information;

means for generating, for each said identified endpoint, any additional instructions needed for saving any necessary state information;

means for generating an aggregate super sequence of instructions via ordering said identified tasks in the order determined by said determining means, the aggregate super sequence of instructions thereby including: said sequences of instructions generated for each identified task, any additional instructions needed for restoring any necessary state information and any additional instructions needed for saving any necessary state information; and

means for executing the aggregate super sequence of instructions.

15. The system according to claim 14 , further comprising means for estimating a required amount of execution time for a generated sequence of instructions.

16. The system according to claim 14 , further comprising means for caching at least some information used in the generation of a sequence of instructions.

17. The system according to claim 14 , wherein said means for generating instructions for each identified task further comprise means for reducing overhead in switching between tasks.

18. The system according to claim 14 , wherein said means for generating a sequence of instructions for each identified task further comprises means for translating or recompiling instructions.

19. The system according to claim 14 , further comprising means for generating any additional instructions necessary to enforce a memory protection model.

20. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

generating additional instructions needed, at possible termination points of the aggregate super sequence of instructions, for transferring execution of the aggregate super sequence of instructions to a scheduler; and

thereafter transferring execution of the aggregate super sequence of instructions to a scheduler;

said step of executing the aggregate super sequence of instructions comprising executing the aggregate super sequence of instructions with the scheduler.