Process-Aware Interrupt Scheduling and Accounting

In most operating systems, the handling of interrupts is typically performed within the address space of the kernel. Moreover, interrupt handlers are invoked asynchronously during the execution of arbitrary processes. Unfortunately, this allows for a process’s time quantum to be consumed by arbitrary interrupt handling. To avoid significant impact to process execution and also to respond quickly enough to interrupts, interrupt servicing is usually split into two parts: a “top” and “bottom” half. The top half executes at interrupt time and is meant to be short enough to complete all necessary actions at the time of the interrupt. In contrast, the bottom half can be deferred to a more suitable point in time to complete servicing of a prior interrupt. Systems such as Linux may defer bottom half handling to a schedulable thread that may be arbitrarily delayed until there are no other processes to execute. A better approach would be to schedule bottom halves in accordance with t...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: RTSS
• Authors: Yuting Zhang, Richard West
• Keywords: Applied Computing, Arbitrary Interrupt Handling, Interrupt Servicing, Interrupts, RTSS 2006