U.S. patent application number 09/885456 was filed with the patent office on 2002-11-21 for system and method for debugging distributed software environments.
Invention is credited to Hines, Kenneth J..
Application Number | 20020174415 09/885456 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 22795323 |
Filed Date | 2002-11-21 |
United States Patent
Application |
20020174415 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hines, Kenneth J. |
November 21, 2002 |
System and method for debugging distributed software
environments
Abstract
A software system and method, using a coordination-centric
approach, for debugging distributed software environments is
described, wherein the distributed software environment produces
event traces to be analyzed by a debugging host. Distributed
software environments are connected to debugging hosts either
directly or indirectly. In a direct connection, a processing
element's runtime system collects event records and sends them to a
primary runtime debugging architecture, where the event records are
time-stamped and causality-stamped and transferred to an event
queue on the debugging host. An indirect connection uses an
intermediate runtime debugging architecture, which facilitates the
transfer of event records from the processing element to the event
queue. Event records also may be collected and stored on a flash
memory for post-mortem distributed debugging. Event traces are made
visible to the runtime system by inserting event recording calls at
significant source lines in the distributed software
environment.
Inventors: |
Hines, Kenneth J.; (Bothell,
WA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
STOEL RIVES LLP
900 SW FIFTH AVENUE
SUITE 2600
PORTLAND
OR
97204
US
|
Family ID: |
22795323 |
Appl. No.: |
09/885456 |
Filed: |
June 19, 2001 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
60213496 |
Jun 23, 2000 |
|
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Current U.S.
Class: |
717/127 ;
714/E11.21; 714/E11.218 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 11/3664 20130101;
G06F 11/3608 20130101; G06F 9/547 20130101; G06F 11/3632 20130101;
G06F 9/54 20130101; G06F 9/4488 20180201; G06F 11/3612 20130101;
G06F 11/3636 20130101; G06F 9/465 20130101; G06F 8/36 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
717/127 |
International
Class: |
G06F 009/44 |
Claims
1. A software system for debugging a distributed software
environment, the software system comprising: a primary processing
element having a software program that generates a corresponding
event record in response to a selected event; and a communication
channel that links the primary processing element to a debugging
host.
2. A software system according to claim 1 wherein the software
program comprises: at least two components; a coordinator that
manages control and data flow interactions between the components;
an interface between the coordinator and the component, the
interface having a port that exposes an event; a runtime system
that collects the event record; and a primary runtime debugging
architecture that receives the event record from the runtime system
and forwards the event record to the debugging host along the
communication channel.
3. A software system according to claim 2 wherein the primary
runtime debugging architecture comprises: a time stamper to provide
a time stamp to the event record generated by the software program;
and a causality stamper to provide an identification of a cause of
the event associated with the corresponding event record.
4. A software system according to claim 3 wherein the primary
runtime debugging architecture further comprises: a primary uplink
component to enable communication between the primary processing
element and the debugging host along the communication channel; and
a primary transfer component coupled to the uplink component to
collect and transfer the event record from the primary processing
element to the debugging host along the communication channel.
5. A software system according to claim 3 wherein the software
system further comprises: an intermediate processing element
disposed along the communication channel between the primary
processing element and the debugging host to enable communication
with the debugging host; and the primary runtime debugging
architecture further comprises a primary uplink component to enable
communication between the primary processing element and the
intermediate processing element.
6. A software system according to claim 5 wherein the intermediate
processing element comprises; an intermediate uplink component to
enable communication between the intermediate processing element
and the debugging host along the communication channel; and an
intermediate transfer component coupled to the intermediate uplink
component to collect and transfer the event record from the
intermediate processing element to the debugging host along the
communication channel.
7. A software system according to claim 3 wherein the primary
runtime debugging architecture further comprises a flash driver for
interfacing with a flash memory to facilitate collection of the
event record from the primary processing element and storage of the
event record for subsequent transfer to a remote debugging
host.
8. A software system according to claim 1 wherein the distributed
software environment implements a predetermined design model having
an explicitly defined event; and the software program generates the
event record in response to an occurrence of the explicitly defined
event.
9. A software system according to claim 1 wherein the distributed
software environment comprises an explicit event recording call;
and the software program generates the event record in response to
an occurrence of the explicit event recording call.
10. A software system according to claim 1 wherein: the distributed
software environment executes on a target hardware platform; and
the target hardware platform comprises a probe for monitoring a
selected bus trace on the target hardware platform and for
generating an event record responsive to a predetermined activity
on the bus trace.
11. A software system according to claim 1 wherein the software
program generates a token representative of a predetermined
sequence of events.
Description
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. Provisional
Application No. 60/213,496 filed Jun. 23, 2000, incorporated herein
by refernece.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The present invention relates to a system and method for
debugging distributed software environments and, in particular to a
coordination-centric approach in which a distributed software
environment produces event traces to be analyzed by a debugging
host.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0003] A system design and programming methodology is most
effective when it is closely integrated and coheres tightly with
its corresponding debugging techniques. In distributed and embedded
system methodologies, the relationship between debugging approaches
and design methodologies has traditionally been one-sided in favor
of the design and programming methodologies. Design and programming
methodologies are typically developed without any consideration for
the debugging techniques that will later be applied to software
systems designed using that design and programming methodology.
While these typical debugging approaches attempt to exploit
features provided by the design and programming methodologies, the
debugging techniques will normally have little or no impact on what
the design and programming features are in the first place. This
lack of input from debugging approaches to design and programming
methodologies serves to maintain the role of debugging as an
afterthought, even though in a typical system design, debugging
consumes a majority of the design time. The need remains for a
design and programming methodology that reflects input from, and
consideration of, potential debugging approaches in order to
enhance the design and reduce the implementation time of software
systems.
[0004] 1. Packaging of Software Elements
[0005] Packaging refers to the set of interfaces a software element
presents to other elements in a system. Software packaging has many
forms in modern methodologies. Some examples are programming
language procedure call interfaces (as with libraries), TCP/IP
socket interfaces with scripting languages (as with mail and Web
servers), and file formats. Several typical prior art packaging
styles are described below, beginning with packaging techniques
used in object-oriented programming languages and continuing with a
description of more generalized approaches to packaging.
[0006] A. Object-oriented Approaches to Packaging
[0007] One common packaging style is based on object-oriented
programming languages and provides procedure-based (method-based)
packaging for software elements (objects within this framework).
These procedure-based packages allow polymorphism (in which several
types of objects can have identical interfaces) through subtyping,
and code sharing through inheritance (deriving a new class of
objects from an already existing class of objects). In a typical
object-oriented programming language, an object's interface is
defined by the object's methods.
[0008] Object-oriented approaches are useful in designing
concurrent systems (systems with task level parallelism and
multiple processing resources?) because of the availability of
active objects (objects with a thread of control). Some common,
concurrent object-oriented approaches are shown in actor languages
and in concurrent Eiffel.
[0009] Early object-oriented approaches featured anonymity of
objects through dynamic typechecking. This anonymity of objects
meant that a first object did not need to know anything about a
second object in order to send a message to the second object. One
unfortunate result of this anonymity of objects was that the second
object could unexpectedly respond to the first object that the sent
message was not understood, resulting in a lack of predictability,
due to this disruption of system executions, for systems designed
with this object-oriented approach.
[0010] Most modern object-oriented approaches opt to sacrifice the
benefits flowing from anonymity of objects in order to facilitate
stronger static typing (checking to ensure that objects will
properly communicate with one another before actually executing the
software system). The main result of stronger static typing is
improved system predictability. However, an unfortunate result of
sacrificing the anonymity of objects is a tighter coupling between
those objects, whereby each object must explicitly classify, and
include knowledge about, other objects to which it sends messages.
In modern object-oriented approaches the package (interface) has
become indistinguishable from the object and the system in which
the object is a part.
[0011] The need remains for a design and programming methodology
that combines the benefits of anonymity for the software elements
with the benefits derived from strong static typing of system
designs.
[0012] B. Other Approaches to Packaging
[0013] Other packaging approaches provide higher degrees of
separation between software elements and their respective packages
than does the packaging in object-oriented systems. For example,
the packages in event-based frameworks are interfaces with ports
for transmitting and receiving events. These provide loose coupling
for inter-element communication. However, in an event-based
framework, a software designer must explicitly implement
inter-element state coherence between software elements as
communication between those software elements. This means that a
programmer must perform the error-prone task of designing,
optimizing, implementing, and debugging a specialized communication
protocol for each state coherence requirement in a particular
software system.
[0014] The common object request broker architecture (CORBA)
provides an interface description language (IDL) for building
packages around software elements written in a variety of
languages. These packages are remote procedure call (RPC) based and
provide no support for coordinating state between elements. With
flexible packaging, an element's package is implemented as a set of
co-routines that can be adapted for use with applications through
use of adapters with interfaces complementary to the interface for
the software element. These adapters can be
application-specific-used only when the elements are composed into
a system.
[0015] The use of co-routines lets a designer specify transactions
or sequences of events as part of an interface, rather than just as
atomic events. Unfortunately, co-routines must be executed in
lock-step, meaning a transition in one routine corresponds to a
transition in the other co-routine. If there is an error in one or
if an expected event is lost, the interface will fail because its
context will be incorrect to recover from the lost event and the
co-routines will be out of sync.
[0016] The need remains for a design and programming methodology
that provides software packaging that supports the implementation
of state coherence in distributed concurrent systems without
packaging or interface failure when an error or an unexpected event
occurs.
[0017] 2. Approaches to Coordination
[0018] Coordination, within the context of this application, means
the predetermined ways through which software components interact.
In a broader sense, coordination refers to a methodology for
composing concurrent components into a complete system. This use of
the term coordination differs slightly from the use of the term in
the parallelizing compiler literature, in which coordination refers
to a technique for maintaining program-wide semantics for a
sequential program decomposed into parallel subprograms.
[0019] A. Coordination Languages
[0020] Coordination languages are usually a class of tuple-space
programming languages, such as Linda. A tuple is a data object
containing two or more types of data that are identified by their
tags and parameter lists. In tuple-space languages, coordination
occurs through the use of tuple spaces, which are global multisets
of tagged tuples stored in shared memory. Tuple-space languages
extend existing programming languages by adding six operators: out,
in, read, eval, inp, and readp. The out, in, and read operators
place, fetch and remove, and fetch without removing tuples from
tuple space. Each of these three operators blocks until its
operation is complete. The out operator creates tuples containing a
tag and several arguments. Procedure calls can be included in the
arguments, but since out blocks, the calls must be performed and
the results stored in the tuple before the operator can return.
[0021] The operators eval, inp, and readp are nonblocking versions
of out, in, and read, respectively. They increase the expressive
power of tuple-space languages. Consider the case of eval, the
nonblocking version of out. Instead of evaluating all arguments of
the tuple before returning, it spawns a thread to evaluate them,
creating, in effect, an active tuple (whereas tuples created by out
are passive). As with out, when the computation is finished, the
results are stored in a passive tuple and left in tuple space.
Unlike out, however, the eval call returns immediately, so that
several active tuples can be left outstanding.
[0022] Tuple-space coordination can be used in concise
implementations of many common interaction protocols.
Unfortunately, tuple-space languages do not separate coordination
issues from programming issues. Consider the annotated Linda
implementation of RPC in Listing 1.
[0023] Listing 1: Linda Used to Emulate RPC:
1 rpcCall(args) { /* C */ out("RPCToServer", "Client", args...);
in("Client, "ReturnFromServer", &returnValue); return
returnValue; /* C */ } /* C */ Server: ... while(true) { /* C */
in("RPCToServer", &returnAddress, args...); returnValue =
functionCall(args); /* C */ out(returnAddress, "ReturnFromServer",
returnValue); } /* C */
[0024] Although the implementation depicted in Listing 1 is a
compact representation of an RPC protocol, the implementation still
depends heavily on an accompanying programming language (in this
case, C). This dependency prevents designers from creating a new
Linda RPC operator for arbitrary applications of RPC. Therefore,
every time a designer uses Linda for RPC, they must copy the source
code for RPC or make a C-macro. This causes tight coupling, because
the client must know the name of the RPC server. If the server name
is passed in as a parameter, flexibility increases; however, this
requires a binding phase in which the name is obtained and applied
outside of the Linda framework.
[0025] The need remains for a design and programming methodology
that allows implementation of communication protocols without tight
coupling between the protocol implementation and the software
elements with which the protocol implementation works.
[0026] A tuple space can require large quantities of dynamically
allocated memory. However, most systems, and especially embedded
systems, must operate within predictable and sometimes small memory
requirements. Tuple-space systems are usually not suitable for
coordination in systems that must operate within small predictable
memory requirements because once a tuple has been generated, it
remains in tuple space until it is explicitly removed or the
software element that created it terminates. Maintaining a global
tuple space can be very expensive in terms of overall system
performance. Although much work has gone into improving the
efficiency of tuple-space languages, system performance remains
worse with tuple-space languages than with message-passing
techniques.
[0027] The need remains for a design and programming methodology
that can effectively coordinate between software elements while
respecting performance and predictable memory requirements.
[0028] B. Fixed Coordination Models
[0029] In tuple-space languages, much of the complexity of
coordination remains entangled with the functionality of
computational elements. An encapsulating coordination formalism
decouples inter-component interactions from the computational
elements.
[0030] This type of formalism can be provided by fixed coordination
models in which the coordination style is embodied in an entity and
separated from computational concerns. Synchronous coordination
models coordinate activity through relative schedules. Typically,
these approaches require the coordination protocol to be manually
constructed in advance. In addition, computational elements must be
tailored to the coordination style used for a particular system
(which may require intrusive modification of the software
elements).
[0031] The need remains for a design and programming methodology
that allows for coordination between software elements without
tailoring the software elements to the specific coordination style
used in a particular software system while allowing for
interactions between software elements is a way that facilitates
debugging complex systems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0032] The present invention provides a coordination-centric
debugging approach and programming methodology to facilitate the
debugging of distributed software environments. This approach
includes using "cooperative execution," in which the software
produces event traces to be analyzed by a debugging host.
[0033] A distributed software environment contains multiple
processing elements, which are loaded with software, as well as
sensors, displays, and other hardware. In accordance with the
present invention, these processing elements contain software
programs that generate corresponding event records in response to
selected events. A software program includes components, runtime
systems, coordinators, interfaces, and runtime debugging
architectures. The coordinator manages control and data flow
interactions between components, and the interface between the
coordinator and a component facilitates the exposure of an event.
The runtime system of a processing element collects the event
record and transfers it to the runtime debugging architecture. The
runtime debugging architecture facilitates the transfer of the
event record from the processing element to a debugging host, along
a communication channel. The communication channel facilitates
either a direct or an indirect connection between the processing
element and the debugging host.
[0034] In a direct connection, the runtime system of a processing
element sends an event record to the runtime debugging
architecture, which in turn connects to the debugging host and
transfers the event record to the debugging host, which queues all
event records and writes them to disk. In an indirect connection,
an event record is routed from a primary runtime debugging
architecture to an intermediate processing element that collects
the event record and transfers it to the debugging host.
[0035] When it is not possible or practical to connect directly or
indirectly to a debugging host, event records may still be
collected and debugged at a later time. A processing element may
include a flash driver that interfaces with a flash memory. The
processing element's runtime system sends the event records to a
flash driver that facilitates the collection and storage of event
records in a flash memory for subsequent distributed debugging
(i.e., "post-mortem" debugging).
[0036] Each event record, whether for direct or indirect
connections or for post-mortem debugging, is time-stamped and
causality-stamped by the runtime debugging architecture before it
is transferred to the debugging host, the intermediate processing
element, or flash memory. Time-stamping and causality-stamping
facilitate coordination-centric debugging by stamping each event
with a time in which the event was generated and with an
identification of the cause of the event, allowing designers to
debug a complex distributed software environment without having to
guess at the proper event ordering.
[0037] In accordance with the present invention, any event made
visible to the runtime system of a distributed software
environment, either by being identified as an explicit event in the
software or by event recording calls at runtime, is a candidate for
recording. A distributed software environment contains instrumented
distributed code, which produces the events to be captured by the
runtime system. The code includes information about how different
software components interact. Instrumentation may consist of
inserting event recording calls at each significant source line,
which can cause a probe effect in the software but which effect can
be minimized by selectively focusing the instrumentation. Also,
events often occur in specific, predetermined, partially ordered
sequences; in some instances, a token representing the sequence may
be recorded, rather than every single event in the sequence,
thereby leaving the debugging host to expand the token.
[0038] In accordance with the present invention, the
coordination-centric debugging approach makes complex distributed
software environments more debuggable. The debugging approach of
the present invention facilitates the debugging of complex
distributed systems and lets a designer isolate the cause, or
causes, of unexpected system performance without having looked at,
or modified, any of the underlying source code and avoid the
time-consuming and error-prone process of source level
debugging.
[0039] Additional aspects and advantages of this invention will be
apparent from the following detailed description of preferred
embodiments thereof, which proceeds with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0040] FIG. 1 is a component in accordance with the present
invention.
[0041] FIG. 2 is the component of FIG. 1 further having a set of
coordination interfaces.
[0042] FIG. 3A is a prior art round-robin resource allocation
protocol with a centralized controller.
[0043] FIG. 3B is a prior art round-robin resource allocation
protocol implementing a token-passing scheme.
[0044] FIG. 4A is a detailed view of a component and a coordination
interface connected to the component for use in round-robin
resource allocation in accordance with the present invention.
[0045] FIG. 4B depicts a round-robin coordinator in accordance with
the present invention.
[0046] FIG. 5 shows several typical ports for use in a coordination
interface in accordance with the present invention.
[0047] FIG. 6A is a unidirectional data transfer coordinator in
accordance with the present invention.
[0048] FIG. 6B is a bidirectional data transfer coordinator in
accordance with the present invention.
[0049] FIG. 6C is a state unification coordinator in accordance
with the present invention.
[0050] FIG. 6D is a control state mutex coordinator in accordance
with the present invention.
[0051] FIG. 7 is a system for implementing subsumption resource
allocation having components, a shared resource, and a subsumption
coordinator.
[0052] FIG. 8 is a barrier synchronization coordinator in
accordance with the present invention.
[0053] FIG. 9 is a rendezvous coordinator in accordance with the
present invention.
[0054] FIG. 10 depicts a dedicated RPC system having a client, a
server, and a dedicated RPC coordinator coordinating the activities
of the client and the server.
[0055] FIG. 11 is a compound coordinator with both preemption and
round-robin coordination for controlling the access of a set of
components to a shared resource.
[0056] FIG. 12A is software system with two data transfer
coordinators, each having constant message consumption and
generation rules and each connected to a separate data-generating
component and connected to the same data-receiving component.
[0057] FIG. 12B is the software system of FIG. 12A in which the two
data transfer coordinators have been replaced with a merged data
transfer coordinator.
[0058] FIG. 13 is a system implementing a first come, first served
resource allocation protocol in accordance with the present
invention.
[0059] FIG. 14 is a system implementing a multiclient RPC
coordination protocol formed by combining the first come, first
served protocol of FIG. 13 with the dedicated RPC coordinator of
FIG. 10.
[0060] FIG. 15 depicts a large system in which the
coordination-centric design methodology can be employed having a
wireless device interacting with a cellular network.
[0061] FIG. 16 shows a top-level view of the behavior and
components of a system for a cell phone.
[0062] FIG. 17A is a detailed view of a GUI component of the cell
phone of FIG. 16.
[0063] FIG. 17B is a detailed view of a call log component of the
cell phone of FIG. 16.
[0064] FIG. 18A is a detailed view of a voice subsystem component
of the cell phone of FIG. 16.
[0065] FIG. 18B is a detailed view of a connection component of the
cell phone of FIG. 16.
[0066] FIG. 19 depicts the coordination layers between a wireless
device and a base station, and between the base station and a
switching center, of FIG. 15.
[0067] FIG. 20 depicts a cell phone call management component, a
master switching center call management component, and a call
management coordinator connecting the respective call management
components.
[0068] FIG. 21A is a detailed view of a transport component of the
connection component of FIG. 18B.
[0069] FIG. 21B is a CDMA data modulator of the transport component
of FIG. 18B.
[0070] FIG. 22 is a detailed view of a typical TDMA and a typical
CDMA signal for the cell phone of FIG. 16.
[0071] FIG. 23A is a LCD touch screen component for a Web browser
GUI for a wireless device.
[0072] FIG. 23B is a Web page formatter component for the Web
browser GUI for the wireless device.
[0073] FIG. 24A is a completed GUI system for a handheld Web
browser.
[0074] FIG. 24B shows the GUI system for the handheld Web browser
combined with the connection subsystem of FIG. 18B in order to
access the cellular network of FIG. 15.
[0075] FIG. 25 is a typical space/time diagram with space
represented on a vertical axis and time represented on a horizontal
axis.
[0076] FIG. 26 is a space/time diagram depicting a set of system
events and two different observations of those system events.
[0077] FIG. 27 is a space/time diagram depicting a set of system
events and an ideal observation of the events taken by a real-time
observer.
[0078] FIG. 28 is a space/time diagram depicting two different yet
valid observations of a system execution.
[0079] FIG. 29 is a space/time diagram depicting a system execution
and an observation of that execution take by a discrete lamport
observer.
[0080] FIG. 30 is a space/time diagram depicting a set of events
that each include a lamport time stamp.
[0081] FIG. 31 is a space/time diagram illustrating the
insufficiency of scalar timestamps to characterize causality
between events.
[0082] FIG. 32 is a space/time diagram depicting a set of system
events that each include a vector time stamp.
[0083] FIG. 33 depicts a display from a partial order event tracer
(POET).
[0084] FIG. 34 is a space/time diagram depicting two compound
events that are neither causal nor concurrent.
[0085] FIG. 35 is a POET display of two convex event clusters.
[0086] FIG. 36 is a basis for distributed event environments (BEE)
abstraction facility for a single client.
[0087] FIG. 37 is a hierarchical tree construction of process
clusters.
[0088] FIG. 38A depicts a qualitative measure of cohesion and
coupling between a set of process clusters that have heavy
communication or are instantiated from the same source code.
[0089] FIG. 38B depicts a qualitative measure of cohesion and
coupling between a set of process clusters that do not have heavy
communication or are not instances of the same source code.
[0090] FIG. 38C depicts a qualitative measure of cohesion and
coupling between an alternative set of process clusters that have
heavy communication or are instantiated from the same source
code.
[0091] FIG. 39 depicts a consistent and an inconsistent cut of a
system execution on a space/time diagram.
[0092] FIG. 40A is a space/time diagram depicting a system
execution.
[0093] FIG. 40B is a lattice representing all possible consistent
cuts of the space/time diagram of FIG. 40A.
[0094] FIG. 40C is a graphical representation of the possible
consistent cuts of FIG. 40B.
[0095] FIG. 41A is a space/time diagram depicting a system
execution.
[0096] FIG. 41B is the space/time diagram of FIG. 41A after
performing a global-step.
[0097] FIG. 41C is the space/time diagram of FIG. 41A after
performing a step-over.
[0098] FIG. 41D is the space/time diagram of FIG. 41A after
performing a step-in.
[0099] FIG. 42 is a space/time diagram depicting a system that is
subject to a domino effect whenever the system is rolled back in
time to a checkpoint.
[0100] FIG. 43 depicts the coordination-centric debugging approach
in accordance with the present invention.
[0101] FIG. 44 is a detailed view of a direct connection between
the primary processing element and the debugging host in accordance
with the present invention.
[0102] FIG. 45 is a detailed view of an indirect connection between
the primary processing element and the debugging host in accordance
with the present invention.
[0103] FIG. 46 depicts capturing event records in flash memory for
post-mortem distributed debugging in accordance with the present
invention.
[0104] FIG. 47 shows how flash memory may be allocated.
[0105] FIG. 48 shows a distributed software environment being
executed on a hardware platform and placement of a probe for
monitoring bus traces on the platform and for generating event
records.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0106] Coordination-centric Software Design
[0107] FIG. 1 is an example of a component 100, which is the basic
software element within the coordination-centric design framework,
in accordance with the present invention. With reference to FIG. 1,
component 100 contains a set of modes 102. Each mode 102
corresponds to a specific behavior associated with component 100.
Each mode 102 can either be active or inactive, respectively
enabling or disabling the behavior corresponding to that mode 102.
Modes 102 can make the conditional aspects of the behavior of
component 100 explicit. The behavior of component 100 is
encapsulated in a set of actions 104, which are discrete,
event-triggered behavioral elements within the coordination-centric
design methodology. Component 100 can be copied and the copies of
component 100 can be modified, providing the code-sharing benefits
of inheritance.
[0108] Actions 104 are enabled and disabled by modes 102, and hence
can be thought of as effectively being properties of modes 102. An
event (not shown) is an instantaneous condition, such as a timer
tick, a data departure or arrival, or a mode change. Actions 104
can activate and deactivate modes 102, thereby selecting the future
behavior of component 100. This is similar to actor languages, in
which methods are allowed to replace an object's behavior.
[0109] In coordination-centric design, however, all possible
behaviors must be identified and encapsulated before runtime. For
example, a designer building a user interface component for a cell
phone might define one mode for looking up numbers in an address
book (in which the user interface behavior is to display complete
address book entries in formatted text) and another mode for
displaying the status of the phone (in which the user interface
behavior is to graphically display the signal power and the battery
levels of the phone). The designer must define both the modes and
the actions for the given behaviors well before the component can
be executed.
[0110] FIG. 2 is component 100 further including a first
coordination interface 200, a second coordination interface 202,
and a third coordination interface 204. Coordination-centric
design's components 100 provide the code-sharing capability of
object-oriented inheritance through copying. Another aspect of
object-oriented inheritance is polymorphism through shared
interfaces. In object-oriented languages, an object's interface is
defined by its methods. Although coordination-centric design's
actions 104 are similar to methods in object-oriented languages,
they do not define the interface for component 100. Components
interact through explicit and separate coordination interfaces, in
this figure coordination interfaces 200, 202, and 204. The shape of
coordination interfaces 200, 202, and 204 determines the ways in
which component 100 may be connected within a software system. The
way coordination interfaces 200, 202, and 204 are connected to
modes 102 and actions 104 within component 100 determines how the
behavior of component 100 can be managed within a system.
Systemwide behavior is managed through coordinators (see FIG. 4B
and subsequent).
[0111] For our approach to be effective, several factors in the
design of software elements must coincide: packaging, internal
organization, and how elements coordinate their behavior. Although
these are often treated as independent issues, conflicts among them
can exacerbate debugging. We handle them in a unified framework
that separates the internal activity from the external relationship
of component 100. This lets designers build more modular components
and encourages them to specify distributable versions of
coordination protocols. Components can be reused in a variety of
contexts, both distributed, and single processor 1.
[0112] 1. Introduction to Coordination
[0113] Within this application, coordination refers to the
predetermined ways by which components interact. Consider a common
coordination activity: resource allocation. One simple protocol for
this is round-robin: participants are lined up, and the resource is
given to each participant in turn. After the last participant is
served, the resource is given back to the first. There is a
resource-scheduling period during which each participant gets the
resource exactly once, whether or not it is needed.
[0114] FIG. 3A is prior art round-robin resource allocation
protocol with a centralized controller 300, which keeps track of
and distributes the shared resource (not shown) to each of software
elements 302, 304, 306, 308, and 310 in turn. With reference to
FIG. 3A, controller 300 alone determines which software element
302, 304, 306, 308, or 310 is currently allowed to use the resource
and which has it next. This implementation of a round-robin
protocol permits software elements 302, 304, 306, 308, and 310 to
be modular, because only controller 300 keeps track of the software
elements. Unfortunately, when this implementation is implemented on
a distributed architecture (not shown), controller 300 must
typically be placed on a single processing element (not shown). As
a result, all coordination requests must go through that processing
element, which can cause a communication performance bottleneck.
For example, consider the situation in which software elements 304
and 306 are implemented on a first processing element (not shown)
and controller 300 is implemented on a second processing element.
Software element 304 releases the shared resource and must send a
message indicating this to controller 300. Controller 300 must then
send a message to software element 306 to inform software element
306 that it now has the right to the shared resource. If the
communication channel between the first processing resource and the
second processing resource is in use or the second processing
element is busy, then the shared resource must remain idle, even
though both the current resource holder and the next resource
holder (software elements 304 and 306 respectively) are implemented
on the first processing element (not shown). The shared resource
must typically remain idle until communication can take place and
controller 300 can respond. This is an inefficient way to control
access to a shared resource.
[0115] FIG. 3B is a prior art round-robin resource allocation
protocol implementing a token passing scheme. With reference to
FIG. 3B, this system consists of a shared resource 311 and a set of
software elements 312, 314, 316, 318, 320, and 322. In this system
a logical token 324 symbolizes the right to access resource 311,
i.e., when a software element holds token 324, it has the right to
access resource 311. When one of software elements 312, 314, 316,
318, 320, or 322 finishes with resource 311, it passes token 324,
and with token 324 the access right, to a successor. This
implementation can be distributed without a centralized controller,
but as shown in FIG. 3B, this is less modular, because it requires
each software element in the set to keep track of a successor.
[0116] Not only must software elements 312, 314, 316, 318, 320, and
322 keep track of successors, but each must implement a potentially
complicated and error-prone protocol for transferring token 324 to
its successor. Bugs can cause token 324 to be lost or introduce
multiple tokens 324. Since there is no formal connection between
the physical system and complete topology maps (diagrams that show
how each software element is connected to others within the
system), some software elements might erroneously be serviced more
than once per cycle, while others are completely neglected.
However, these bugs can be extremely difficult to track after the
system is completed. The protocol is entangled with the
functionality of each software element, and it is difficult to
separate the two for debugging purposes. Furthermore, if a few of
the software elements are located on the same machine, performance
of the implementation can be poor. The entangling of computation
and coordination requires intrusive modification to optimize the
system.
[0117] 2. Coordination-centric Design's Approach to
Coordination
[0118] The coordination-centric design methodology provides an
encapsulating formalism for coordination. Components such as
component 100 interact using coordination interfaces, such as
first, second, and third coordination interfaces 200, 202, and 204,
respectively. Coordination interfaces preserve component modularity
while exposing any parts of a component that participate in
coordination. This technique of connecting components provides
polymorphism in a similar fashion to subtyping in object-oriented
languages.
[0119] FIG. 4A is a detailed view of a component 400 and a resource
access coordination interface 402 connected to component 400 for
use in a round-robin coordination protocol in accordance with the
present invention. With reference to FIG. 4A, resource access
coordination interface 402 facilitates implementation of a
round-robin protocol that is similar to the token-passing
round-robin protocol described above. Resource access coordination
interface 402 has a single bit of control state, called access,
which is shown as an arbitrated control port 404 that indicates
whether or not component 400 is holding a virtual token (not
shown). Component 400 can only use a send message port 406 on
access coordination interface 402 when arbitrated control port 404
is true. Access coordination interface 402 further has a receive
message port 408.
[0120] FIG. 4B show a round-robin coordinator 410 in accordance
with the present invention. With reference to FIG. 4B, round-robin
coordinator 410 has a set of coordinator coordination interfaces
412 for connecting to a set of components 400. Each component 400
includes a resource access coordination interface 402. Each
coordinator coordination interface 412 has a coordinator arbitrated
control port 414, an incoming send message port 416 and an outgoing
receive message port 418. Coordinator coordination interface 412 in
complimentary to resource access coordination interface 402, and
vice versa, because the ports on the two interfaces are compatible
and can function to transfer information between the two
interfaces.
[0121] The round-robin protocol requires round-robin coordinator
410 to manage the coordination topology. Round-robin coordinator
410 is an instance of more general abstractions called coordination
classes, in which coordination classes define specific coordination
protocols and a coordinator is a specific implementation of the
coordination class. Round-robin coordinator 410 contains all
information about how components 400 are supposed to coordinate.
Although round-robin coordinator 410 can have a distributed
implementation, no component 400 is required to keep references to
any other component 400 (unlike the distributed round-robin
implementation shown in FIG. 3B). All required references are
maintained by round-robin coordinator 410 itself, and components
400 do not even need to know that they are coordinating through
round-robin. Resource access coordination interface 402 can be used
with any coordinator that provides the appropriate complementary
interface. A coordinator's design is independent of whether it is
implemented on a distributed platform or on a monolithic single
processor platform.
[0122] 3. Coordination Interfaces
[0123] Coordination interfaces are used to connect components to
coordinators. They are also the principle key to a variety of
useful runtime debugging techniques. Coordination interfaces
support component modularity by exposing all parts of the component
that participate in the coordination protocol. Ports are elements
of coordination interfaces, as are guarantees and requirements,
each of which will be described in turn.
[0124] A. Ports
[0125] A port is a primitive connection point for interconnecting
components. Each port is a five-tuple (T; A; Q; D; R) in which:
[0126] T represents the data type of the port. T can be one of int,
boolean, char, byte, float, double, or cluster, in which cluster
represents a cluster of data types (e.g., an int followed by a
float followed by two bytes).
[0127] A is a boolean value that is true if the port is arbitrated
and false otherwise.
[0128] Q is an integer greater than zero that represents logical
queue depth for a port.
[0129] D is one of in, out, inout, or custom and represents the
direction data flows with respect to the port.
[0130] R is one of discard-on-read, discard-on-transfer, or hold
and represents the policy for data removal on the port.
Discard-on-read indicates that data is removed immediately after it
is read (and any data in the logical queue are shifted),
discard-on-transfer indicates that data is removed from a port
immediately after being transferred to another port, and hold
indicates that data should be held until it is overwritten by
another value. Hold is subject to arbitration.
[0131] Custom directionality allows designers to specify ports that
accept or generate only certain specific values. For example, a
designer may want a port that allows other components to activate,
but not deactivate, a mode. While many combinations of port
attributes are possible, we normally encounter only a few. The
three most common are message ports (output or input), state ports
(output, input, or both; sometimes arbitrated), and control ports
(a type of state port). FIG. 5 illustrates the visual syntax used
for several common ports throughout this application. With
reference to FIG. 5, this figure depicts an exported state port
502, an imported state port 504, an arbitrated state port 506, an
output data port 508, and an input data port 510.
[0132] 1. Message Ports
[0133] Message ports (output and input) data ports 508 and 510
respectively) are either send (T; false; 1; out;
discard-on-transfer) or receive (T; false; Q; in; discard-on-read).
Their function is to transfer data between components. Data passed
to a send port is transferred immediately to the corresponding
receive port, thus it cannot be retrieved from the send port later.
Receive data ports can have queues of various depths. Data arrivals
on these ports are frequently used to trigger and pass data
parameters into actions. Values remain on receive ports until they
are read.
[0134] 2. State Ports
[0135] State ports take one of three forms:
[0136] 1. (T; false; 1; out; hold)
[0137] 2. (T; false; 1; in; hold)
[0138] 3. (T; true; 1; inout; hold)
[0139] State ports, such as exported state port 502, imported state
port 504, and arbitrated state port 506, hold persistent values,
and the value assigned to a state port may be arbitrated. This
means that, unlike message ports, values remain on the state ports
until changed. When multiple software elements simultaneously
attempt to alter the value of arbitrated state port 506, the final
value is determined based on arbitration rules provided by the
designer through an arbitration coordinator (not shown).
[0140] State ports transfer variable values between scopes. In
coordination-centric design, all variables referenced by a
component are local to that component, and these variables must be
explicitly declared in the component's scope. Variables can,
however, be bound to state ports that are connected to other
components. In this way, a variable value can be transferred
between components and the variable value achieves the system-level
effect of a multivariable.
[0141] 3. Control Ports
[0142] Control ports are similar to state ports, but a control port
is limited to having the boolean data type. Control ports are
typically bound to modes. Actions interact with a control port
indirectly, by setting and responding to the values of a mode that
is bound to the control port.
[0143] For example, arbitrated control port 404 shown in FIG. 4A is
a control port that can be bound to a mode (not shown) containing
all actions that send data on a shared channel. When arbitrated
control port 404 is false, the mode is inactive, disabling all
actions that send data on the channel.
[0144] B. Guarantees
[0145] Guarantees are formal declarations of invariant properties
of a coordination interface. There can be several types of
guarantees, such as timing guarantees between events, guarantees
between control state (e.g., state A and state B are guaranteed to
be mutually exclusive), etc. Although a coordination interface's
guarantees reflect properties of the component to which the
coordination interface is connected, the guarantees are not
physically bound to any internal portions of the component.
Guarantees can often be certified through static analysis of the
software system. Guarantees are meant to cache various properties
that are inherent in a component or a coordinator in order to
simplify static analysis of the software system.
[0146] A guarantee is a promise provided by a coordination
interface. The guarantee takes the form of a predicate promised to
be invariant. In principle, guarantees can include any type of
predicate (e.g., x>3, in which x is an integer valued state
port, or t.sub.ea-t.sub.eb<2 ms). Throughout the remainder of
this application, guarantees will be only event-ordering guarantees
(guarantees that specify acceptable orders of events) or
control-relationship guarantees (guarantees pertaining to
acceptable relative component behaviors).
[0147] C. Requirements
[0148] A requirement is a formal declaration of the properties
necessary for correct software system functionality. An example of
a requirement is a required response time for a coordination
interface-the number of messages that must have arrived at the
coordination interface before the coordination interface can
transmit, or fire, the messages. When two coordination interfaces
are bound together, the requirements of the first coordination
interface must be conservatively matched by the guarantees of the
second coordination interface (e.g., x<7 as a guarantee
conservatively matches x<8 as a requirement). As with
guarantees, requirements are not physically bound to anything
within the component itself. Guarantees can often be verified to be
sufficient for the correct operation of the software system in
which the component is used. In sum, a requirement is a predicate
on a first coordination interface that must be conservatively
matched with a guarantee on a complementary second coordination
interface.
[0149] D. Conclusion Regarding Coordination Interfaces
[0150] A coordination interface is a four-tuple (P; G; R; I) in
which:
[0151] P is a set of named ports.
[0152] G is a set of named guarantees provided by the
interface.
[0153] R is a set of named requirements that must be matched by
guarantees of connected interfaces.
[0154] I is a set of named coordination interfaces.
[0155] As this definition shows, coordination interfaces are
recursive. Coordinator coordination interface 412, shown in FIG.
4B, used for round-robin coordination is called AccessInterface and
is defined in Table 1.
2 Constituent Value ports P = { access:StatePort, s:outMessagePort,
r:inMessagePort } guarantees G = { access s.gen } requirements R =
.O slashed. interfaces I = .O slashed.
[0156] Related to coordination interfaces is a recursive
coordination interface descriptor, which is a five-tuple (P.sub.a;
G.sub.a; R.sub.a; I.sub.d; N.sub.d) in which:
[0157] P.sub.a is a set of abstract ports, which are ports that may
be incomplete in their attributes (i.e., they do not yet have a
datatype).
[0158] G.sub.a is a set of abstract guarantees, which are
guarantees between abstract ports.
[0159] R.sub.a is a set of abstract requirements, which are
requirements between abstract ports.
[0160] I.sub.d is a set of coordination interface descriptors.
[0161] N.sub.d is an element of Q.times.Q, where
Q={.infin.}.orgate.Z+ and Z+ denotes the set of positive integers.
N.sub.d indicates the number or range of numbers of permissible
interfaces.
[0162] Allowing coordination interfaces to contain other
coordination interfaces is a powerful feature. It lets designers
use common coordination interfaces as complex ports within other
coordination interfaces. For example, the basic message ports
described above are nonblocking, but we can build a blocking
coordination interface (not shown) that serves as a blocking port
by combining a wait state port with a message port.
[0163] 4. Coordinators
[0164] A coordinator provides the concrete representations of
intercomponent aspects of a coordination protocol. Coordinators
allow a variety of static analysis debugging methodologies for
software systems created with the coordination-centric design
methodology. A coordinator contains a set of coordination
interfaces and defines the relationships the coordination
interfaces. The coordination interfaces complement the component
coordination interfaces provided by components operating within the
protocol. Through matched interface pairs, coordinators effectively
describe connections between message ports, correlations between
control states, and transactions between components.
[0165] For example, round-robin coordinator 410, shown in FIG. 4B,
must ensure that only one component 400 has its component control
port 404's value, or its access bit, set to true. Round-robin
coordinator 410 must further ensure that the correct component 400
has its component control port 404 set to true for the chosen
sequence. This section presents formal definitions of the parts
that comprise coordinators: modes, actions, bindings, action
triples, and constraints. These definitions culminate in a formal
definition of coordinators.
[0166] A. Modes
[0167] A mode is a boolean value that can be used as a guard on an
action. In a coordinator, the mode is most often bound to a control
port in a coordination interface for the coordinator. For example,
in round-robin coordinator 410, the modes of concern are bound to a
coordinator control port 414 of each coordinator coordination
interface 412.
[0168] B. Actions
[0169] An action is a primitive behavioral element that can:
[0170] Respond to events.
[0171] Generate events.
[0172] Change modes.
[0173] Actions can range in complexity from simple operations up to
complicated pieces of source code. An action in a coordinator is
called a transparent action because the effects of the action can
be precomputed and the internals of the action are completely
exposed to the coordination-centric design tools.
[0174] C. Bindings
[0175] Bindings connect input ports to output ports, control ports
to modes, state ports to variables, and message ports to events.
Bindings are transparent and passive. Bindings are simply conduits
for event notification and data transfer. When used for event
notification, bindings are called triggers.
[0176] D. Action Triples
[0177] To be executed, an action must be enabled by a mode and
triggered by an event. The combination of a mode, trigger, and
action is referred to as an action triple, which is a triple (m; t;
a) in which:
[0178] m is a mode.
[0179] t is a trigger.
[0180] a is an action.
[0181] The trigger is a reference to an event type, but it can be
used to pass data into the action. Action triples are written:
mode: trigger: action
[0182] A coordinator's actions are usually either pure control, in
which both the trigger and action performed affect only control
state, or pure data, in which both the trigger and action performed
occur in the data domain. In the case of round-robin coordinator
410, the following set of actions is responsible for maintaining
the appropriate state:
[0183] accessi: -accessi: +access.sub.(i+1) mod n
[0184] The symbol "+" signifies a mode's activation edge (i.e., the
event associated with the mode becoming true), and the symbol "-"
signifies its deactivation edge. When any coordinator coordination
interface 412 deactivates its arbitrated control port 404's, access
bit, the access bit of the next coordinator coordination interface
412 is automatically activated.
[0185] E. Constraints
[0186] In this dissertation, constraints are boolean relationships
between control ports. They take the form:
[0187] Condition Effect
[0188] This essentially means that the Condition (on the left side
of the arrow) being true implies that Effect (on the right side of
the arrow) is also true. In other words, if Condition is true, then
Effect should also be true.
[0189] A constraint differs from a guarantee in that the guarantee
is limited to communicating in-variant relationships between
components without providing a way to enforce the in-variant
relationship. The constraint, on the other hand, is a set of
instructions to the runtime system dealing with how to enforce
certain relationships between components. When a constraint is
violated, two corrective actions are available to the system: (1)
modify the values on the left-hand side to make the left-hand
expression evaluate as false (an effect termed backpressure) or (2)
alter the right-hand side to make it true. We refer to these
techniques as LHM (left-hand modify) and RHM (right-hand modify).
For example, given the constraint xy and the value X A y, with RHM
semantics the runtime system must respond by disabling y or setting
y to false. Thus, the value of y is set to true.
[0190] The decision of whether to use LHM, to use RHM, or even to
suspend enforcement of a constraint in certain situations can
dramatically affect the efficiency and predictability of the
software system. Coordination-centric design does not attempt to
solve simultaneous constraints at runtime. Rather, runtime
algorithms use local ordered constraint solutions. This, however,
can result in some constraints being violated and is discussed
further below.
[0191] Round-robin coordinator 410 has a set of safety constraints
to ensure that there is never more than one token in the
system:
[0192] access.sub.i.A-inverted..sub..noteq.iaccess.sub.j
[0193] The above equation translates roughly as access.sub.i
implies not access.sub.j for the set of all access.sub.j where j is
not equal to i. Even this simple constraint system can cause
problems with local resolution semantics (as are LHM and RHM). If
the runtime system attempted to fix all constraints simultaneously,
all access modes would be shut down. If they were fixed one at a
time, however, any duplicate tokens would be erased on the first
pass, satisfying all other constraints and leaving a single token
in the system.
[0194] Since high-level protocols can be built from combinations of
lower-level protocols, coordinators can be hierarchically composed.
A coordinator is a six-tuple (I; M; B; N; A; X) in which:
[0195] I is a set of coordination interfaces.
[0196] M is a set of modes.
[0197] B is a set of bindings between interface elements (e.g.,
control ports and message ports) and internal elements (e.g., modes
and triggers).
[0198] N is a set of constraints between interface elements.
[0199] A is a set of action triples for the coordinator.
[0200] X is a set of subcoordinators.
[0201] FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C, and 6D show a few simple coordinators
highlighting the bindings and constraints of the respective
coordinators. With reference to FIG. 6A, a unidirectional data
transfer coordinator 600 transfers data in one direction between
two components (not shown) by connecting incoming receive message
port 408 to outgoing receive message port 418 with a binding 602.
With reference to FIG. 6B, bidirectional data transfer coordinator
604 transfers data back and forth between two components (not
shown) by connecting incoming receive message port 408 to outgoing
receive message port 418 with binding 602 and connecting send
message port 406 to incoming send message port 416 with a second
binding 602. Unidirectional data transfer coordinator 600 and
bidirectional data transfer coordinator 604 simply move data from
one message port to another. Thus, each coordinator consists of
bindings between corresponding ports on separate coordination
interfaces.
[0202] With reference to FIG. 6C, state unification coordinator 606
ensures that a state port a 608 and a state port b 610 are always
set to the same value. State unification coordinator 606 connects
state port a 608 to state port b 610 with binding 602. With
reference to FIG. 6D, control state mutex coordinator 612 has a
first constraint 618 and a second constraint 620 as follows:
[0203] (1) cd and
[0204] (2) dc.
[0205] Constraints 618 and 620 can be restated as follows:
[0206] (1) A state port c 614 having a true value implies that a
state port d 616 has a false value, and
[0207] (2) State port d 616 having a true value implies that state
port c 614 has a false value.
[0208] A coordinator has two types of coordination interfaces: up
interfaces that connect the coordinator to a second coordinator,
which is at a higher level of design hierarchy and down interfaces
that connect the coordinator either to a component or to a third
coordinator, which is at a lower level of design hierarchy. Down
interfaces have names preceded with ".sup..about.". Round-robin
coordinator 410 has six down coordination interfaces (previously
referred to as coordinator coordination interface 412), with
constraints that make the turning off of any coordinator control
port 414 (also referred to as access control port) turn on the
coordinator control port 414 of the next coordinator coordination
interface 412 in line. Table 2 presents all constituents of the
round-robin coordinator.
3 Constituent Value coordination interfaces I =
AccessInterface.sub.1-6 modes M = access.sub.1-6 bindings B =
.A-inverted..sub.1.ltoreq.i.ltoreq.6(.about.AccessInterface.-
sub.i.access, access.sub.i) .orgate. constraints N =
.A-inverted..sub.1.ltoreq.i.ltoreq.6(.A-inverted..sub.(1.ltoreq.j.ltoreq.-
6){circumflex over ( )}(i.noteq.j) access.sub.t access.sub.j)
actions A = .A-inverted..sub.1.ltoreq.i.ltoreq.6 access.sub.i :
-access.sub.i : +access(i+1) mod 6 subcoordinators X = .O
slashed.
[0209] This tuple describes an implementation of a round-robin
coordination protocol for a particular system with six components,
as shown in round-robin coordinator 410. We use a coordination
class to describe a general coordination protocol that may not have
a fixed number of coordinator coordination interfaces. The
coordination class is a six-tuple (Ic; Mc; Bc; Nc; Ac; Xc) in
which:
[0210] Ic is a set of coordination interface descriptors in which
each descriptor provides a type of coordination interface and
specifies the number of such interfaces allowed within the
coordination class.
[0211] Mc is a set of abstract modes that supplies appropriate
modes when a coordination class is instantiated with a fixed number
of coordinator coordination interfaces.
[0212] Bc is a set of abstract bindings that forms appropriate
bindings between elements when the coordination class is
instantiated.
[0213] Nc is a set of abstract constraints that ensures appropriate
constraints between coordination interface elements are in place as
specified at instantiation.
[0214] Ac is a set of abstract action triples for the
coordinator.
[0215] Xc is a set of coordination classes (hierarchy).
[0216] While a coordinator describes coordination protocol for a
particular application, it requires many aspects, such as the
number of coordination interfaces and datatypes, to be fixed.
Coordination classes describe protocols across many applications.
The use of the coordination interface descriptors instead of
coordination interfaces lets coordination classes keep the number
of interfaces and datatypes undetermined until a particular
coordinator is instantiated. For example, a round-robin coordinator
contains a fixed number of coordinator coordination interfaces with
specific bindings and constraints between the message and state
ports on the fixed number of coordinator coordination interfaces. A
round-robin coordination class contains descriptors for the
coordinator coordination interface type, without stating how many
coordinator coordination interfaces, and instructions for building
bindings and constraints between ports on the coordinator
coordination interfaces when a particular round-robin coordinator
is created.
[0217] 5. Components
[0218] A component is a six-tuple (I; A; M; V; S; X) in which:
[0219] I is a set of coordination interfaces.
[0220] A is a set of action triples.
[0221] M is a set of modes.
[0222] V is a set of typed variables.
[0223] S is a set of subcomponents.
[0224] X is a set of coordinators used to connect the subcomponents
to each other and to the coordination interfaces.
[0225] Actions within a coordinator are fairly regular, and hence a
large number of actions can be described with a few simple
expressions. However, actions within a component are frequently
diverse and can require distinct definitions for each individual
action. Typically, a component's action triples are represented
with a table that has three columns: one for the mode, one for the
trigger, and one for the action code. Table 3 shows some example
actions from a component that can use round-robin coordination.
4 Mode Trigger Action access tick AccessInterface.s.send("Test
message"); -access; access tick waitCount + +;
[0226] A component resembles a coordinator in several ways (for
example, the modes and coordination interfaces in each are
virtually the same). Components can have internal coordinators, and
because of the internal coordinators, components do not always
require either bindings or constraints. In the following
subsections, various aspects of components are described in greater
detail. Theses aspects of components include variable scope, action
transparency, and execution semantics for systems of actions.
[0227] A. Variable Scope
[0228] To enhance a component's modularity, all variables accessed
by an action within the component are either local to the action,
local to the immediate parent component of the action, or accessed
by the immediate parent component of the action via state ports in
one of the parent component's coordination interfaces. For a
component's variables to be available to a hierarchical child
component, they must be exported by the component and then imported
by the child of the component.
[0229] B. Action Transparency
[0230] An action within a component can be either a transparent
action or an opaque action. Transparent and opaque actions each
have different invocation semantics. The internal properties, i.e.
control structures, variable, changes in state, operators, etc., of
transparent actions are visible to all coordination-centric design
tools. The design tools can separate, observe, and analyze all the
internal properties of opaque actions. Opaque actions are source
code. Opaque actions must be executed directly, and looking at the
internal properties of opaque actions can be accomplished only
through traditional, source-level debugging techniques. An opaque
action must explicitly declare any mode changes and coordination
interfaces that the opaque action may directly affect.
[0231] C. Action Execution
[0232] An action is triggered by an event, such as data arriving or
departing a message port, or changes in value being applied to a
state port. An action can change the value of a state port,
generate an event, and provide a way for the software system to
interact with low-level device drivers. Since actions typically
produce events, a single trigger can be propagated through a
sequence of actions.
[0233] 6. Protocols Implemented with Coordination Classes
[0234] In this section, we describe several coordinators that
individually implement some common protocols: subsumption, barrier
synchronization, rendezvous, and dedicated RPC.
[0235] A. Subsumption Protocol
[0236] A subsumption protocol is a priority-based, preemptive
resource allocation protocol commonly used in building small,
autonomous robots, in which the shared resource is the robot
itself.
[0237] FIG. 7 shows a set of coordination interfaces and a
coordinator for implementing the subsumption protocol. With
reference to FIG. 7, a subsumption coordinator 700 has a set of
subsumption coordinator coordination interfaces 702, which have a
subsume arbitrated coordinator control port 704 and an incoming
subsume message port 706. Each subsume component 708 has a subsume
component coordination interface 710. Subsume component
coordination interface 710 has a subsume arbitrated component
control port 712 and an outgoing subsume message port 714.
Subsumption coordinator 700 and each subsume component 708 are
connected by their respective coordination interfaces, 702 and 710.
Each subsumption coordinator coordination interface 702 in
subsumption coordinator 700 is associated with a priority. Each
subsume component 708 has a behavior that can be applied to a robot
(not shown). At any time, any subsume component 708 can attempt to
assert its behavior on the robot. The asserted behavior coming from
the subsume component 708 connected to the subsumption coordinator
coordination interface 702 with the highest priority is the
asserted behavior that will actually be performed by the robot.
Subsume components 708 need not know anything about other
components in the system. In fact, each subsume component 708 is
designed to perform independently of whether their asserted
behavior is performed or ignored.
[0238] Subsumption coordinator 700 further has a slave coordinator
coordination interface 716, which has an outgoing slave message
port 718. Outgoing slave message port 718 is connected to an
incoming slave message port 720. Incoming slave message port 720 is
part of a slave coordination interface 722, which is connected to a
slave 730. When a subsume component 708 asserts a behavior and that
component has the highest priority, subsumption coordinator 700
will control slave 730 (which typically controls the robot) based
on the asserted behavior.
[0239] The following constraint describes the basis of the
subsumption coordinator 700's behavior: 1 subsume p i = 1 p - 1
subsume i
[0240] This means that if any subsume component 708 has a subsume
arbitrated component control port 712 that has a value of true,
then all lower-priority subsume arbitrated component control ports
712 are set to false. An important difference between round-robin
and subsumption is that in round-robin, the resource access right
is transferred only when surrendered. Therefore, round-robin
coordination has cooperative release semantics. However, in
subsumption coordination, a subsume component 708 tries to obtain
the resource whenever it needs to and succeeds only when it has
higher priority than any other subsume component 708 that needs the
resource at the same time. A lower-priority subsume component 708
already using the resource must surrender the resource whenever a
higher-priority subsume component 708 tries to access the resource.
Subsumption coordination uses preemptive release semantics, whereby
each subsume component 708 must always be prepared to relinquish
the resource.
[0241] Table 4 presents the complete tuple for the subsumption
coordinator.
5 Constituent Value coordination interfaces I = (Subsume.sub.1-n)
.orgate. (Output) modes M = subsume.sub.1-n bindings B =
.A-inverted..sub.1.ltoreq.i.ltoreq.n (Subsume.sub.i.subsume,
subsume.sub.i) .orgate. constraints N =
.A-inverted..sub.1.ltoreq.i.ltoreq.n
(.A-inverted..sub.(1.ltoreq.j.ltoreq- .i) subsume.sub.i
subsume.sub.j) actions A = .O slashed. subcoordinators X = .O
slashed.
[0242] B. Barrier Synchronization Protocol
[0243] Other simple types of coordination that components might
engage in enforce synchronization of activities. An example is
barrier synchronization, in which each component reaches a
synchronization point independently and waits. FIG. 8 depicts a
barrier synchronization coordinator 800. With reference to FIG. 8,
barrier synchronization coordinator 800 has a set of barrier
synchronization coordination interfaces 802, each of which has a
coordinator arbitrated state port 804, named wait. Coordinator
arbitrated state port 804 is connected to a component arbitrated
state port 806, which is part of a component coordination interface
808. Component coordination interface 808 is connected to a
component 810. When all components 810 reach their respective
synchronization points, they are all released from waiting. The
actions for a barrier synchronization coordinator with n interfaces
are: 2 0 i < n wait i : : 0 j < n - wait j
[0244] In other words, when all wait modes (not shown) become
active, each one is released. The blank between the two colons
indicates that the trigger event is the guard condition becoming
true.
[0245] C. Rendezvous Protocol
[0246] A resource allocation protocol similar to barrier
synchronization is called rendezvous. FIG. 9 depicts a rendezvous
coordinator 900 in accordance with the present invention. With
reference to FIG. 9, rendezvous coordinator 900 has a rendezvous
coordination interface 902, which has a rendezvous arbitrated state
port 904. A set of rendezvous components 906, each of which may
perform different functions or have vastly different actions and
modes, has a rendezvous component coordination interface 908, which
includes a component arbitrated state port 910. Rendezvous
components 906 connect to rendezvous coordinator 900 through their
respective coordination interfaces, 908 and 902. Rendezvous
coordinator 900 further has a rendezvous resource coordination
interface 912, which has a rendezvous resource arbitrated state
port 914, also called available. A resource 916 has a resource
coordination interface 918, which has a resource arbitrated state
port 920. Resource 916 is connected to rendezvous coordinator 900
by their complementary coordination interfaces, 918 and 912
respectively.
[0247] With rendezvous-style coordination, there are two types of
participants: resource 916 and several resource users, here
rendezvous components 916. When resource 916 is available, it
activates its resource arbitrated state port 920, also referred to
as its available control port. If there are any waiting rendezvous
components 916, one will be matched with the resource; both
participants are then released. This differs from subsumption and
round-robin in that resource 916 plays an active role in the
protocol by activating its available control port 920.
[0248] The actions for rendezvous coordinator 900 are:
[0249] available.sub.iwait.sub.j: : -available.sub.l,
-wait.sub.j
[0250] This could also be accompanied by other modes that indicate
the status after the rendezvous. With rendezvous coordination, it
is important that only one component at a time be released from
wait mode.
[0251] D. Dedicated RPC Protocol
[0252] A coordination class that differs from those described above
is dedicated RPC. FIG. 10 depicts a dedicated RPC system. With
reference to FIG. 10, a dedicated RPC coordinator 1000 has an RPC
server coordination interface 1002, which includes an RPC server
imported state port 1004, an RPC server output message port 1006,
and an RPC server input message port 1008. Dedicated RPC
coordinator 1000 is connected to a server 1010. Server 1010 has a
server coordination interface 1012, which has a server exported
state port 1014, a server input data port 1016, and a server output
data port 1018. Dedicated RPC coordinator 1000 is connected to
server 1010 through their complementary coordination interfaces,
1002 and 1012 respectively. Dedicated RPC coordinator 1000 further
has an RPC client coordination interface 1020, which includes an
RPC client imported state port 1022, an RPC client input message
port 1024, and an RPC client output message port 1026. Dedicated
RPC coordinator 1000 is connected to a client 1028 by connecting
RPC client coordination interface 1020 to a complementary client
coordination interface 1030. Client coordination interface 1030 has
a client exported state port 1032, a client output message port
1034, and a client input message port 1036.
[0253] The dedicated RPC protocol has a client/server protocol in
which server 1010 is dedicated to a single client, in this case
client 1028. Unlike the resource allocation protocol examples, the
temporal behavior of this protocol is the most important factor in
defining it. The following transaction listing describes this
temporal behavior:
[0254] Client 1028 enters blocked mode by changing the value stored
at client exported state port 1032 to true.
[0255] Client 1028 transmits an argument data message to server
1010 via client output message port 1034.
[0256] Server 1010 receives the argument (labeled "a") data message
via server input data port 1016 and enters serving mode by changing
the value stored in server exported state port 1014 to true.
[0257] Server 1010 computes return value.
[0258] Server 1010 transmits a return (labeled "r") message to
client 1020 via server output data port 1018 and exits serving mode
by changing the value stored in server exported state port 1014 to
false.
[0259] Client 1028 receives the return data message via client
input message port 1036 and exits blocked mode by changing the
value stored at client exported state port 1032 to false.
[0260] This can be presented more concisely with an expression
describing causal relationships: 3 T RPC = + client . blocked ->
client . transmits -> + server . serving -> server .
transmits -> ( - server . serving ; client . receives ) -> -
client . blocked
[0261] The transactions above describe what is supposed to happen.
Other properties of this protocol must be described with temporal
logic predicates.
[0262] server.servingclient.blocked
[0263] server.servingF(server.r.output)
[0264] server.a.inputF(server.serving)
[0265] The r in server.r.output refers to the server output data
port 1018, also labeled as the r event port on the server, and the
a in serving.a.input refers to server input data port 1016, also
labeled as the a port on the server (see FIG. 10).
[0266] Together, these predicates indicate that (1) it is an error
for server 1010 to be in serving mode if client 1028 is not
blocked; (2) after server 1010 enters serving mode, a response
message is sent or else an error occurs; and (3) server 1010
receiving a message means that server 1010 must enter serving mode.
Relationships between control state and data paths must also be
considered, such as:
[0267] (client.aclient.blocked)
[0268] In other words, client 1028 must be in blocked mode whenever
it sends an argument message.
[0269] The first predicate takes the same form as a constraint;
however, since dedicated RPC coordinator 1000 only imports the
client:blocked and server:serving modes (i.e., through RPC client
imported state port 1022 and RPC server imported state port 1004
respectively), dedicated RPC coordinator 1000 is not allowed to
alter these values to comply. In fact, none of these predicates is
explicitly enforced by a runtime system. However, the last two can
be used as requirements and guarantees for interface
type-checking.
[0270] 7. System-level Execution
[0271] Coordination-centric design methodology lets system
specifications be executed directly, according to the semantics
described above. When components and coordinators are composed into
higher-order structures, however, it becomes essential to consider
hazards that can affect system behavior. Examples include
conflicting constraints, in which local resolution semantics may
either leave the system in an inconsistent state or make it cycle
forever, and conflicting actions that undo one another's behavior.
In the remainder of this section, the effect of composition issues
on system-level executions is explained.
[0272] A. System Control Configurations
[0273] A configuration is the combined control state of a
system-basically, the set of active modes at a point in time. In
other words, a configuration in coordination-centric design is a
bit vector containing one bit for each mode in the system. The bit
representing a control state is true when the control state is
active and false when the control state is inactive. Configurations
representing the complete system control state facilitate reasoning
on system properties and enable several forms of static analysis of
system behavior.
[0274] B. Action-trigger Propagation
[0275] Triggers are formal parameters for events. As mentioned
earlier, there are two types of triggers: (1) control triggers,
invoked by control events such as mode change requests, and (2)
data flow triggers, invoked by data events such as message arrivals
or departures. Components and coordinators can both request mode
changes (on the modes visible to them) and generate new messages
(on the message ports visible to them). Using actions, these events
can be propagated through the components and coordinators in the
system, causing a cascade of data transmissions and mode change
requests, some of which can cancel other requests. When the
requests, and secondary requests implied by them, are all
propagated through the system, any requests that have not been
canceled are confirmed and made part of the system's new
configuration.
[0276] Triggers can be immediately propagated through their
respective actions or delayed by a scheduling step. Recall that
component actions can be either transparent or opaque. Transparent
actions typically propagate their triggers immediately, although it
is not absolutely necessary that they do so. Opaque actions
typically must always delay propagation.
[0277] 1. Immediate Propagation
[0278] Some triggers must be immediately propagated through
actions, but only on certain types of transparent actions.
Immediate propagation can often involve static precomputation of
the effect of changes, which means that certain actions may never
actually be performed. For example, consider a system with a
coordinator that has an action that activates mode A and a
coordinator with an action that deactivates mode B whenever A is
activated. Static analysis can be used to determine in advance that
any event that activates A will also deactivate B; therefore, this
effect can be executed immediately without actually propagating it
through A.
[0279] 2. Delayed Propagation
[0280] Trigger propagation through opaque actions must typically be
delayed, since the system cannot look into opaque actions to
precompute their results. Propagation may be delayed for other
reasons, such as system efficiency. For example, immediate
propagation requires tight synchronization among software
components. If functionality is spread among a number of
architectural components, immediate propagation is impractical.
[0281] C. A Protocol Implemented with a Compound Coordinator
[0282] Multiple coordinators are typically needed in the design of
a system. The multiple coordinators can be used together for a
single, unified behavior. Unfortunately, one coordinator may
interfere with another's behavior.
[0283] FIG. 11 shows a combined coordinator 1100 with both
preemption and round-robin coordination for controlling access to a
resource, as discussed above. With reference to FIG. 11, components
1102, 1104, 1106, 1108, and 1110 primarily use round-robin
coordination, and each includes a component coordination interface
1112, which has a component arbitrated control port 1114 and a
component output message port 1116. However, when a preemptor
component 1120 needs the resource, preemptor component 1120 is
allowed to grab the resource immediately. Preemptor component 1120
has a preemptor component coordination interface 1122. Preemptor
component coordination interface 1122 has a preemptor arbitrated
state port 1124, a preemptor output message port 1126, and a
preemptor input message port 1128.
[0284] All component coordination interfaces 1112 and preemptor
component coordination interface 1122 are connected to a
complementary combined coordinator coordination interface 1130,
which has a coordinator arbitrated state port 1132, a coordinator
input message port 1134, and a coordinator output message port
1136. Combined coordinator 1100 is a hierarchical coordinator and
internally has a round-robin coordinator (not shown) and a
preemption coordinator (not shown). Combined coordinator
coordination interface 1130 is connected to a coordination
interface to round-robin 1138 and a coordination interface to
preempt 1140. Coordinator arbitrated state port 1132 is bound to
both a token arbitrated control port 1142, which is part of
coordination interface to round-robin 1138, and to a preempt
arbitrated control port 1144, which is part of coordination
interface to preempt 1140. Coordinator input message port 1134 is
bound to an interface to a round-robin output message port 1146,
and coordinator output message port 1136 is bound to an interface
to round-robin input message port 1148.
[0285] Thus, preemption interferes with the normal round-robin
ordering of access to the resource. After a preemption-based
access, the resource moves to the component that in
round-robin-ordered access would be the successor to preemptor
component 1120. If the resource is preempted too frequently, some
components may starve.
[0286] D. Mixing Control and Data in Coordinators
[0287] Since triggers can be control-based, data-based, or both,
and actions can produce both control and data events, control and
dataflow aspects of a system are coupled through actions. Through
combinations of actions, designers can effectively employ modal
data flow, in which relative schedules are switched on and off
based on the system configuration.
[0288] Relative scheduling is a form of coordination. Recognizing
this and understanding how it affects a design can allow a powerful
class of optimizations. Many data-centric systems (or subsystems)
use conjunctive firing, which means that a component buffers
messages until a firing rule is matched. When matching occurs, the
component fires, consuming the messages in its buffer that caused
it to fire and generating a message or messages of its own.
Synchronous data flow systems are those in which all components
have only firing rules with constant message consumption and
generation.
[0289] FIG. 12A shows a system in which a component N1 1200 is
connected to a component N3 1202 by a data transfer coordinator
1204 and a component N2 1206 is connected to component N3 1202 by a
second data transfer coordinator 1208. Component N3 1202 fires when
it accumulates three messages on a port c 1210 and two messages on
a port d 1212. On firing, component N3 1202 produces two messages
on a port o 1214. Coordination control state tracks the logical
buffer depth for these components. This is shown with numbers
representing the logical queue depth of each port in FIG. 12.
[0290] FIG. 12B shows the system of FIG. 12A in which data transfer
coordinator 1204 and second data transfer coordinator 1208 have
been merged to form a merged data transfer coordinator 1216.
Merging the coordinators in this example provides an efficient
static schedule for component firing. Merged data transfer
coordinator 1216 fires component N1 1200 three times and component
N2 1206 twice. Merged data transfer coordinator 1216 then fires
component N3 1202 twice (to consume all messages produced by
component N1 1200 and component N2 1206).
[0291] Message rates can vary based on mode. For example, a
component may consume two messages each time it fires in one mode
and four each time it fires in a second mode. For a component like
this, it is often possible to merge schedules on a configuration
basis, in which each configuration has static consumption and
production rates for all affected components.
[0292] E. Coordination Transformations
[0293] In specifying complete systems, designers must often specify
not only the coordination between two objects, but also the
intermediate mechanism they must use to implement this
coordination. While this intermediate mechanism can be as simple as
shared memory, it can also be another coordinator; hence
coordination may be, and often is, layered. For example, RPC
coordination often sits on top of a TCP/IP stack or on an IrDA
stack, in which each layer coordinates with peer layers on other
processing elements using unique coordination protocols. Here, each
layer provides certain capabilities to the layer directly above it,
and the upper layer must be implemented in terms of them.
[0294] In many cases, control and communication synthesis can be
employed to automatically transform user-specified coordination to
a selected set of standard protocols. Designers may have to
manually produce transformations for nonstandard protocols.
[0295] F. Dynamic Behavior with Compound Coordinators
[0296] Even in statically bound systems, components may need to
interact in a fashion that appears dynamic. For example, RPC-style
coordination often has multiple clients for individual servers.
Here, there is no apparent connection between client and server
until one is forged for a transaction. After the connection is
forged, however, the coordination proceeds in the same fashion as
dedicated RPC.
[0297] Our approach to this is to treat the RPC server as a shared
resource, requiring resource allocation protocols to control
access. However, none of the resource allocation protocols
described thus far would work efficiently under these
circumstances. In the following subsections, an appropriate
protocol for treating the RPC as a shared resource will be
described and how that protocol should be used as part of a
complete multiclient RPC coordination class-one that uses the same
RPC coordination interfaces described earlier-will be
discussed.
[0298] 1. First Come/First Serve protocol (FCFS)
[0299] FIG. 13 illustrates a first come/first serve (FCFS) resource
allocation protocol, which is a protocol that allocates a shared
resource to the requester that has waited longest. With reference
to FIG. 13, a FCFS component interface 1300 for this protocol has a
request control port 1302, an access control port 1304 and a
component outgoing message port 1306. A FCFS coordinator 1308 for
this protocol has a set of FCFS interfaces 1310 that are
complementary to FCFS component interfaces 1300, having a FCFS
coordinator request control port 1312, a FCFS coordinator access
port 1314, and a FCFS coordinator input message port 1316. When a
component 1318 needs to access a resource 1320, it asserts request
control port 1302. When granted access, FCFS coordinator 1308
asserts the appropriate FCFS coordinator access port 1314,
releasing FCFS coordinator request control port 1312.
[0300] To do this, FCFS coordinator 1308 uses a rendezvous
coordinator and two round-robin coordinators. One round-robin
coordinator maintains a list of empty slots in which a component
may be enqueued, and the other round-robin coordinator maintains a
list showing the next component to be granted access. When an FCFS
coordinator request control port 1312 becomes active, FCFS
coordinator 1308 begins a rendezvous access to a binder action.
When activated, this action maps the appropriate component 1318 to
a position in the round-robin queues. A separate action cycles
through one of the queues and selects the next component to access
the server. As much as possible, FCFS coordinator 1308 attempts to
grant access to resource 1320 to the earliest component 1318 having
requested resource 1320, with concurrent requests determined based
on the order in the rendezvous coordinator of the respective
components 1318.
[0301] 2. Multiclient RPC
[0302] FIG. 14 depicts a multiclient RPC coordinator 1400 formed by
combining FCFS coordinator 1308 with dedicated RPC coordinator
1000. With reference to FIG. 14, a set of clients 1402 have a set
of client coordination interfaces 1030, as shown in FIG. 10. In
addition, multiclient RPC coordinator 1400 has a set of RPC client
coordination interfaces 1020, as shown in FIG. 10. For each RPC
client coordination interface 1020, RPC client input message port
1024, of RPC client coordination interface 1020, is bound to the
component outgoing message port 1306 of FCFS coordinator 1308.
Message transfer action 1403 serves to transfer messages between
RPC client input message port 1024 and component outgoing message
port 1306. For coordinating the actions of multiple clients 1402,
multiclient RPC coordinator 1400 must negotiate accesses to a
server 1404 and keep track of the values returned by server
1404.
[0303] F. Monitor Modes and Continuations
[0304] Features such as blocking behavior and exceptions can be
implemented in the coordination-centric design methodology with the
aid of monitor modes. Monitor modes are modes that exclude all but
a selected set of actions called continuations, which are actions
that continue a behavior started by another action.
[0305] 1. Blocking Behavior
[0306] With blocking behavior, one action releases control while
entering a monitor mode, and a continuation resumes execution after
the anticipated response event. Monitor mode entry must be
immediate (at least locally), so that no unexpected actions can
execute before they are blocked by such a mode.
[0307] Each monitor mode has a list of actions that cannot be
executed when it is entered. The allowed (unlisted) actions are
either irrelevant or are continuations of the action that caused
entry into this mode. There are other conditions, as well. This
mode requires an exception action if forced to exit. However, this
exception action is not executed if the monitor mode is turned off
locally.
[0308] When components are distributed over a number of processing
elements, it is not practical to assume complete synchronization of
the control state. In fact, there are a number of synchronization
options available as detailed in Chou, P "Control Composition and
Synthesis of Distributed Real-Time Embedded Systems", Ph.D.
dissertation, University of Washington, 1998.
[0309] 2. Exception Handling
[0310] Exception actions are a type of continuation. When in a
monitor mode, exception actions respond to unexpected events or
events that signal error conditions. For example, multiclient RPC
coordinator 1400 can bind client.blocked to a monitor mode and set
an exception action on +server.serving. This will signal an error
whenever the server begins to work when the client is not blocked
for a response.
[0311] 8. A Complete System Example
[0312] FIG. 15 depicts a large-scale example system under the
coordination-centric design methodology. With reference to FIG. 15,
the large scale system is a bimodal digital cellular network 1500.
Network 1500 is for the most part a simplified version of a GSM
(global system for mobile communications) cellular network. This
example shows in greater detail how the parts of
coordination-centric design work together and demonstrates a
practical application of the methodology. Network 1500 has two
different types of cells, a surface cell 1502 (also referred to as
a base station 1502) and a satellite cell 1504. These cells are not
only differentiated by physical position, but by the technologies
they use to share network 1500. Satellite cells 1504 use a code
division multiple access (CDMA) technology, and surface cells 1502
use a time division multiple access (TDMA) technology. Typically,
there are seven frequency bands reserved for TDMA and one band
reserved for CDMA. The goal is for as much communication as
possible to be conducted through the smaller TDMA cells, here
surface cells 1502, because power requirements for a CDMA cells,
here satellite cell 1504, increase with the number of users in the
CDMA cell. Mobile units 1506, or wireless devices, can move between
surface cells 1502, requiring horizontal handoffs between surface
cells 1502. Several surface cells 1502 are typically connected to a
switching center 1508. Switching center 1508 is typically connected
to a telephone network or the Internet 1512. In addition to
handoffs between surface cells 1502, the network must be able to
hand off between switching centers 1508. When mobile units 1506
leave the TDMA region, they remain covered by satellite cells 1504
via vertical handoffs between cells. Since vertical handoffs
require changing protocols as well as changing base stations and
switching centers, they can be complicated in terms of control.
[0313] Numerous embedded systems comprise the overall system. For
example, switching center 1508 and base stations, surface cells
1502, are required as part of the network infrastructure, but
cellular phones, handheld Web browsers, and other mobile units 1506
may be supported for access through network 1500. This section
concentrates on the software systems for two particular mobile
units 1506: a simple digital cellular phone (shown in FIG. 16) and
a handheld Web browser (shown in FIG. 24). These examples require a
wide variety of coordinators and reusable components. Layered
coordination is a feature in each system, because a function of
many subsystems is to perform a layered protocol. Furthermore, this
example displays how the hierarchically constructed components can
be applied in a realistic system to help manage the complexity of
the overall design.
[0314] To begin this discussion, we describe the cellular phone in
detail, focusing on its functional components and the formalization
of their interaction protocols. We then discuss the handheld Web
browser in less detail but highlight the main ways in which its
functionality and coordination differ from those of the cellular
phone. In describing the cellular phone, we use a top-down approach
to show how a coherent system organization is preserved, even at a
high level. In describing the handheld Web browser, we use a
bottom-up approach to illustrate component reuse and bottom-up
design.
[0315] A. Cellular Phone
[0316] FIG. 16 shows a top-level coordination diagram of the
behavior of a cell phone 1600. Rather than using a single
coordinator that integrates the components under a single protocol,
we use several coordinators in concert. Interactions between
coordinators occur mainly within the components to which they
connect.
[0317] With reference to FIG. 16, cell phone 1600 supports digital
encoding of voice streams. Before it can be used, it must be
authenticated with a home master switching center (not shown). This
authentication occurs through a registered master switch for each
phone and an authentication number from the phone itself. There are
various authentication statuses, such as full access, grey-listed,
or blacklisted. For cell phone 1600, real-time performance is more
important than reliability. A dropped packet is not retransmitted,
and a late packet is dropped since its omission degrades the signal
less than its late incorporation.
[0318] Each component of cell phone 1600 is hierarchical. A GUI
1602 lets users enter phone numbers while displaying them and query
an address book 1604 and a logs component 1606. Address book 1604
is a database that can map names to phone numbers and vice versa.
GUI 1602 uses address book 1604 to help identify callers and to
look up phone numbers to be dialed. Logs 1606 track both incoming
and outgoing calls as they are dialed. A voice component 1608
digitally encodes and decodes, and compresses and decompresses, an
audio signal. A connection component 1610 multiplexes, transmits,
receives, and demultiplexes the radio signal and separates out the
voice stream and caller identification information.
[0319] Coordination among the above components makes use of several
of the coordinators discussed above. Between connection component
1610 and a clock 1612, and between logs 1606 and connection
component 1610, are unidirectional data transfer coordinators 600
as described with reference to FIG. 6A. Between voice component
1608 and connection component 1610, and between GUI 1602 and
connection component 1610, are bidirectional data transfer
coordinators 604, as described with reference to FIG. 6B. Between
clock 1612 and GUI 1602 is a state unification coordinator 606, as
described with reference to FIG. 6C. Between GUI 1602 and address
book 1604 is a dedicated RPC coordinator 1000 as described with
reference to FIG. 10, in which address book 1604 has client 1028
and GUI 1602 has server 1010.
[0320] There is also a custom GUI/log coordinator 1614 between logs
1606 and GUI 1602. GUI/log coordinator 1614 lets GUI 1602 transfer
new logged information through an r output message port 1616 on a
GUI coordination interface 1618 to an r input message port 1620 on
a log coordination interface 1622. GUI/log coordinator 1614 also
lets GUI 1602 choose current log entries through a pair of c output
message ports 1624 on GUI coordination interface 1618 and a pair of
c input message ports 1626 on log coordination interface 1622. Logs
1606 continuously display one entry each for incoming and outgoing
calls.
[0321] 1. GUI Component
[0322] FIG. 17A is a detailed view of GUI component 1602, of FIG.
16. With reference to FIG. 17A, GUI component 1602 has two inner
components, a keypad 1700 and a text-based liquid crystal display
1702, as well as several functions of its own (not shown). Each
time a key press occurs, it triggers an action that interprets the
press, depending on the mode of the system. Numeric presses enter
values into a shared dialing buffer. When a complete number is
entered, the contents of this buffer are used to establish a new
connection through connection component 1610. Table 5 shows the
action triples for GUI 1602.
6 Mode Trigger Action Idle numBuffer.append(keypress.val) Send
radio.send(numBuffer.val) +outgoingCall Disconnect Nil Leftarrow
AddressBook.forward() +lookupMode Rightarrow log.lastcall() +outlog
LookupMode Leftarrow AddressBook.forward() Rightarrow
AddressBook.backward()
[0323] An "Addr Coord" coordinator 1704 includes an address book
mode (not shown) in which arrow key presses are transformed into
RPC calls.
[0324] 2. Logs Component
[0325] FIG. 17B is a detailed view of logs component 1606, which
tracks all incoming and outgoing calls. With reference to FIG. 17B,
both GUI component 1602 and connection component 1610 must
communicate with logs component 1606 through specific message
ports. Those specific message ports include a transmitted number
message port 1720, a received number message port 1722, a change
current received message port 1724, a change current transmitted
message port 1726, and two state ports 1728 and 1729 for presenting
the current received and current transmitted values,
respectively.
[0326] Logs component 1606 contains two identical single-log
components: a send log 1730 for outgoing calls and a receive log
1740 for incoming calls. The interface of logs component 1606 is
connected to the individual log components by a pair of adapter
coordinators, Adap1 1750 and Adap2 1752. Adap1 1750 has an adapter
receive interface 1754, which has a receive imported state port
1756 and a receive output message port 1758. Adap1 1750 further has
an adapter send interface 1760, which has a send imported state
port 1762 and a send output message port 1764. Within Adap1, state
port 1728 is bound to receive imported state port 1756, change
current received message port 1724 is bound to receive output
message port 1758, received number message port 1722 is bound to a
received interface output message port 1766 on a received number
coordination interface 1768, change current transmitted message
port 1726 is bound to send output message port 1764, and state port
1729 is bound to Up.rc is bound to send imported state port
1762.
[0327] 3. Voice Component
[0328] FIG. 18A is a detailed view of voice component 1608 of FIG.
16. Voice component 1608 has a compression component 1800 for
compressing digitized voice signals before transmission, a
decompression component 1802 for decompressing received digitized
voice signals, and interfaces 1804 and 1806 to analog transducers
(not shown) for digitizing sound to be transmitted and for
converting received transmissions into sound. Voice component 1608
is a pure data flow component containing sound generator 1808 which
functions as a white-noise generator, a ring tone generator, and
which has a separate port for each on sound generator interface
1810, and voice compression functionality in the form of
compression component 1800 and decompression component 1802.
[0329] 4. Connection Component
[0330] FIG. 18B is a detailed view of connection component 1610 of
FIG. 16. With reference to FIG. 18B, connection component 1610
coordinates with voice component 1608, logs component 1606, clock
1612, and GUI 1602. In addition, connection component 1610 is
responsible for coordinating the behavior of cell phone 1600 with a
base station that owns the surface cell 1502 (shown in FIG. 15), a
switching center 1508 (shown in FIG. 15), and all other phones (not
shown) within surface cell 1502. Connection component 1610 must
authenticate users, establish connections, and perform handoffs as
needed--including appropriate changes in any low-level protocols
(such as a switch from TDMA to CDMA).
[0331] FIG. 19 depicts a set of communication layers between
connection component 1610 of cell phone 1600 and base station 1502
or switching center 1508. With reference to FIG. 19, has several
subcomponents, or lower-level components, each of which coordinates
with an equivalent, or peer, layer on either base station 1502 or
switching center 1508. The subcomponents of connection component
1610 include a cell phone call manager 1900, a cell phone mobility
manager 1902, a cell phone radio resource manager 1904, a cell
phone link protocol manager 1906, and a cell phone transport
manager 1908 which is responsible for coordinating access to and
transferring data through the shared airwaves TDMA and CDMA
coordination. Each subcomponent will be described in detail
including how each fits into the complete system.
[0332] Base station 1502 has a call management coordinator 1910, a
mobility management coordinator 1912, a radio resource coordinator
1914 (BSSMAP 1915), a link protocol coordinator 1916 (SCCO 1917),
and a transport coordinator 1918 (MTP 1919). Switching center 1508
has a switching center call manager 1920, a switching center
mobility manager 1922, a BSSMAP 1924, a SCCP 1926, and an MTP
1928.
[0333] a. Call Management
[0334] FIG. 20 is a detailed view of a call management layer 2000
consisting of cell phone call manager 1900, which is connected to
switching center call manager 1920 by call management coordinator
1910. With reference to FIG. 20, call management layer 2000
coordinates the connection between cell phone 1600 and switching
center 1508. Call management layer 2000 is responsible for dialing,
paging, and talking. Call management layer 2000 is always present
in cell phone 1600, though not necessarily in Internet appliances
(discussed later). Cell phone call manager 1900 includes a set of
modes (not shown) for call management coordination that consists of
the following modes:
[0335] Standby
[0336] Dialing
[0337] RingingRemote
[0338] Ringing
[0339] CallInProgress
[0340] Cell phone call manager 1900 has a cell phone call manager
interface 2002. Cell phone call manager interface 2002 has a port
corresponding to each of the above modes. The standby mode is bound
to a standby exported state port 2010. The dialing mode is bound to
a dialing exported state port 2012. The RingingRemote mode is bound
to a RingingRemote imported state port 2014. The Ringing mode is
bound to a ringing imported state port 2016. The CallInProgress
mode is bound to a CallInProgress arbitrated state port 2018.
[0341] Switching center call manager 1920 includes the following
modes (not shown) for call management coordination at the switching
center:
[0342] Dialing
[0343] RingingRemote
[0344] Paging
[0345] CallInProgress
[0346] Switching center call manager 1920 has a switching center
call manager coordination interface 2040, which includes a port for
each of the above modes within switching center call manager
1920.
[0347] When cell phone 1600 requests a connection, switching center
1508 creates a new switching center call manager and establishes a
call management coordinator 1910 between cell phone 1600 and
switching center call manager 1920.
[0348] b. Mobility Management
[0349] A mobility management layer authenticates mobile unit 1506
or cell phone 1600. When there is a surface cell 1502 available,
mobility manager 1902 contacts the switching center 1508 for
surface cell 1502 and transfers a mobile unit identifier (not
shown) for mobile unit 1506 to switching center 1508. Switching
center 1508 then looks up a home motor switching center for mobile
unit 1506 and establishes a set of permissions assigned to mobile
unit 1506. This layer also acts as a conduit for the call
management layer. In addition, the mobility management layer
performs handoffs between base stations 1502 and switching centers
1508 based on information received from the radio resource
layer.
[0350] C. Radio Resource
[0351] In the radio resource layer, radio resource manager 1904,
chooses the target base station 1502 and tracks changes in
frequencies, time slices, and CDMA codes. Cell phones may negotiate
with up to 16 base stations simultaneously. This layer also
identifies when handoffs are necessary.
[0352] d. Link Protocol
[0353] The link layer manages a connection between cell phone 1600
and base station 1502. In this layer, link protocol manager 1906
packages data for transfer to base station 1502 from cell phone
1600.
[0354] e. Transport
[0355] FIG. 21A is a detailed view of transport component 1908 of
connection component 1610. Transport component 1908 has two
subcomponents, a receive component 2100 for receiving data and a
transmit component 2102 for transmitting data. Each of these
subcomponents has two parallel data paths a CDMA path 2104 and a
TDMA/FDMA path 2106 for communicating in the respective network
protocols.
[0356] FIG. 21B is a detailed view of a CDMA modulator 2150, which
implements a synchronous data flow data path. CDMA modulator 2150
takes the dot-product of an incoming data signal along path 2152
and a stored modulation code for cell phone 1600 along path 2154,
which is a sequence of chips, which are measured time signals
having a value of -1 or +1.
[0357] Transport component 1908 uses CDMA and TDMA technologies to
coordinate access to a resource shared among several cell phones
1600, i.e., the airwaves. Transport components 1908 supersede the
FDMA technologies (e.g., AM and FM) used for analog cellular phones
and for radio and television broadcasts. In FDMA, a signal is
encoded for transmission by modulating it with a carrier frequency.
A signal is decoded by demodulation after being passed through a
band pass filter to remove other carrier frequencies. Each base
station 1502 has a set of frequencies-chosen to minimize
interference between adjacent cells. (The area covered by a cell
may be much smaller than the net range of the transmitters within
it.)
[0358] TDMA, on the other hand, coordinates access to the airwaves
through time slicing. Cell phone 1600 on the network is assigned a
small time slice, during which it has exclusive access to the
media. Outside of the small time slice, cell phone 1600 must remain
silent. Decoding is performed by filtering out all signals outside
of the small time slice. The control for this access must be
distributed. As such, each component involved must be synchronized
to observe the start and end of the small time slice at the same
instant.
[0359] Most TDMA systems also employ FDMA, so that instead of
sharing a single frequency channel, cell phones 1600 share several
channels. The band allocated to TDMA is broken into frequency
channels, each with a carrier frequency and a reasonable separation
between channels. Thus user channels for the most common
implementations of TDMA can be represented as a two-dimensional
array, in which the rows represent frequency channels and the
columns represent time slices.
[0360] CDMA is based on vector arithmetic. In a sense, CDMA
performs inter-cell-phone coordination using data flow. Instead of
breaking up the band into frequency channels and time slicing
these, CDMA regards the entire band as an n-dimensional vector
space. Each channel is a code that represents a basis vector in
this space. Bits in the signal are represented as either 1 or -1,
and the modulation is the inner product of this signal and a basis
vector of mobile unit 1506 or cell phone 1600. This process is
called spreading, since it effectively takes a narrowband signal
and converts it into a broadband signal.
[0361] Demultiplexing is simply a matter of taking the dot-product
of the received signal with the appropriate basis vector, obtaining
the original 1 or -1. With fast computation and the appropriate
codes or basis vectors, the signal can be modulated without a
carrier frequency. If this is not the case, a carrier and analog
techniques can be used to fill in where computation fails. If a
carrier is used, however, all units use the same carrier in all
cells.
[0362] FIG. 22 shows TDMA and CDMA signals for four cell phones
1600. With reference to FIG. 22, for TDMA, each cell phone 1600 is
assigned a time slice during which it can transmit. Cell phone 1 is
assigned time slice t0, cell phone 2 is assigned time slice t1,
cell phone 3 is assigned time slice t2, and cell phone 4 is
assigned time slice t3. For CDMA, each cell phone 1600 is assigned
a basis vector that it multiplies with its signal. Cell phone 1 is
assigned the vector: 4 ( - 1 1 - 1 1 )
[0363] Cell phone 2 is assigned the vector: 5 ( 1 - 1 1 - 1 )
[0364] Cell phone 3 is assigned the vector: 6 ( 1 1 - 1 - 1 )
[0365] Cell phone 4 is assigned the vector: 7 ( - 1 - 1 1 1 )
[0366] Notice that these vectors form an orthogonal basis.
[0367] B. Handheld Web Browser
[0368] In the previous subsection, we demonstrated our methodology
on a cell phone with a top-down design approach. In this
subsection, we demonstrate our methodology with a bottom-up
approach in building a handheld Web browser.
[0369] FIG. 23A is a LCD touch screen component 2300 for a Web
browser GUI (shown in FIG. 24A) for a wireless device 1506. With
reference to FIG. 23A, a LCD touch screen component 2300, has an
LCD screen 2302 and a touch pad 2304.
[0370] FIG. 23B is a Web page access component 2350 for fetching
and formatting web pages. With reference to FIG. 23B, web access
component 2350 has a page fetch subcomponent 2352 and a page format
subcomponent 2354. Web access component 2350 reads hypertext markup
language (HTML) from a connection interface 2356, sends word
placement requests to a display interface 2358, and sends image
requests to the connection interface 2356. Web access component
2350 also has a character input interface to allow users to enter
page requests directly and to fill out forms on pages that have
forms.
[0371] FIG. 24A shows a completed handheld Web browser GUI 2400.
With reference to FIG. 24A, handheld Web browser GUI 2400, has LCD
touch screen component 2300, web access component 2350, and a pen
stroke recognition component 2402 that translates pen strokes
entered on touch pad 2304 into characters.
[0372] FIG. 24B shows the complete component view of a handheld Web
browser 2450. With reference to FIG. 24B, handheld Web browser 2450
is formed by connecting handheld Web browser GUI 2400 to connection
component 1610 of cell phone 1600 (described with reference to FIG.
16) with bi-directional data transfer coordinator 604 (described
with reference to FIG. 6B). Handheld Web browser 2450 is an example
of mobile unit 1506, and connects to the Internet through the
cellular infrastructure described above. However, handheld Web
browser 2450 has different access requirements than does cell phone
1600. For handheld Web browser 2450, reliability is more important
than real-time delivery. Dropped packets usually require
retransmission, so it is better to deliver a packet late than to
drop it. Real-time issues primarily affect download time and are
therefore secondary. Despite this, handheld Web browser 2450 must
coordinate media access with cell phones 1600, and so it must use
the same protocol as cell phones 1600 to connect to the network.
For that reason, handheld Web browser 2450 can reuse connection
component 1610 from cell phone 1600.
[0373] Debugging Techniques
[0374] In concept, debugging is a simple process. A designer
locates the cause of undesired behavior in a system and fixes the
cause. In practice, debugging--even of sequential software--remains
difficult. Embedded systems are considerably more complicated to
debug than sequential software, due to factors such as concurrence,
distributed architectures, and real-time concerns. Issues taken for
granted in sequential software, like a schedule that determines the
order of all events (the program), are nonexistent in a typical
distributed system. Locating and fixing bugs in these complex
systems requires many factors including an understanding of the
thought processes underpinning the design.
[0375] Prior art research into debugging distributed systems is
diverse, eclectic, and lacks any standard notations. This
application uses a standardized notation both to describe the prior
art and the present invention. As a result of this standardized
notation, the principles in the prior art follow those published in
the referenced works. However, the specific notation, theorems,
etc. may differ.
[0376] The two general classes of debugging techniques are event
based debugging and state based debugging. Most debugging
techniques for general-purpose distributed systems are event based.
Event based debugging techniques operate by collecting event traces
from individual system components and causally relating those event
traces. These techniques require an ability to determine
efficiently the causal ordering among any given pair of events.
Determining the causal order can be difficult and costly.
[0377] Events may be primitive, or they may be hierarchical
clusters of other events. Primitive events are abstractions for
individual local occurrences that might be important to a debugger.
Examples of primitive events in sequential programs are variable
assignments and subroutine entry or returns. Primitive events for
distributed systems include message send and receive events.
[0378] State-based debugging techniques are less commonly used in
debugging distributed systems. State-based debugging techniques
typically operate by presenting designers with views or snapshots
of process state. Distributed systems are not tightly synchronized,
and so these techniques traditionally involve only the state of
individual processes. However, state-based debugging techniques can
be applied more generally by relaxing the concept of an "instant in
time" so that it can be effectively applied to asynchronous
processes.
[0379] 1. Event-based Debugging
[0380] In this section, prior art systems for finding and tracking
meaningful event orderings, despite limits in observation, are
described. Typical ways in which event orderings are used in
visualization tools through automated space/time diagrams are then
described.
[0381] A. Event Order Determination and Observation
[0382] The behavior of a software system is determined by the
events that occur and the order in which they occur. For sequential
systems, this seems almost too trivial to mention; of course, a
given set of events, such as
[0383] {x:=2, x:=x*2, x=5, y:=x},
[0384] arranged in two different ways may describe two completely
different behaviors. However, since a sequential program is
essentially a complete schedule of events, ordering is explicit.
Sequential debugging tools depend on the invariance of this event
schedule to let programmers reproduce failures by simply using the
same inputs. In distributed systems, as in any concurrent system,
it is neither practical nor efficient to completely schedule all
events. Concurrent systems typically must be designed with flexible
event ordering.
[0385] Determining the order in which events occur in a distributed
system is subject to the limits of observation. An observation is
an event record collected by an observer. An observer is an entity
that watches the progress of an execution and records events, but
does not interfere with the system. To determine the order in which
two events occur, an observer must measure them both against a
common reference.
[0386] FIG. 25 shows a typical space/time diagram 2500, with space
represented on a vertical axis 2502 and time represented on a
horizontal axis 2504. With reference to FIG. 25, space/time diagram
2500 provides a starting point for discussing executions in
distributed systems. Space/time diagram 2500 gives us a visual
representation for discussing event ordering and for comparing
various styles of observation. A set of horizontal world lines
2506, 2508, and 2510 each represent an entity that is stationary in
space. The entities represented by horizontal world lines 2506,
2508, and 2510 are called processes and typically represent
software processes in the subject system. The entities can also
represent any entity that generates events in a sequential fashion.
The spatial separation in the diagram, along vertical axis 2502,
represents a virtual space, since several processes might execute
on the same physical hardware. A diagonal world line 2512 is called
a message and represents discrete communications that pass between
two processes. A sphere 2514 represents an event. In subsequent
figures vertical axis 2502 and horizontal axis 2504 are omitted
from any space/time diagrams, unless vertical axis 2502 and
horizontal axis 2504 provide additional clarity to a particular
figure.
[0387] FIG. 26 shows a space/time diagram 2600 of two different
observations of a single system execution, taken by a first
observer 2602 and a second observer 2604. With reference to FIG.
26, first observer 2602 and second observer 2604 are entities that
record event occurrence. First observer 2602 and second observer
2604 must each receive distinct notifications of each event that
occurs and each must record the events in some total order. First
observer 2602 and second observer 2604 are represented in
space/time diagram 2600 as additional processes, or horizontal
world lines. Each event recorded requires a signal from its
respective process to both first observer 2602 and second observer
2604. The signals from an event x 2606 on a process 2608 to both
first observer 2602 and second observer 2604 are embodied in
messages 2610 and 2612, respectively. First observer 2602 records
event x 2606 as preceding an event y 2614. However, second observer
2604 records event y 2614 as preceding event x 2606. Such effects
may be caused by nonuniform latencies within the system.
[0388] However, the observations of first observer 2602 and second
observer 2604 are not equally valid. A valid observation is
typically an observation that preserves the order of events that
depend on each other. Second observer 2604 records the receipt of a
message 2616 before that message is transmitted. Thus the
observation from second observer 2604 is not valid.
[0389] FIG. 27 shows a space/time diagram 2700 for a special, ideal
observer, called the real-time observer (RTO) 2702. With reference
to FIG. 27, RTO 2702 can view each event immediately as it occurs.
Due to the limitations of physical clocks, and efficiency issues in
employing them, it is usually not practical to implement RTO 2702.
However, RTO 2702 represents an upper bound on precision in
event-order determination.
[0390] FIG. 28 shows a space/time graph 2800 showing two valid
observations of a system taken by two separate observers: RTO 2702
and a third observer 2802. With reference to FIG. 28, there is
nothing special about the ordering of the observation taken by RTO
2702. Events d 2804, e 2806, and f 2808 are all independent events
in this execution. Therefore, the observation produced by RTO 2702
and the observation produced by third observer 2802 can each be
used to reproduce equivalent executions of the system. Any
observation in which event dependencies are preserved is typically
equal in value to an observation by RTO 2702. However, real-time
distributed systems may need additional processes to emulate timing
constraints.
[0391] FIG. 29, is a space/time diagram 2900 of a methodological
observer, called the discrete Lamport Observer (DLO) 2902, that
records each event in a set of ordered bins. With reference to FIG.
29, DLO 2902 records an event 2904 in an ordered bin 2906 based on
the following rule: each event is recorded in the leftmost bin that
follows all events on which it depends. DLO 2902 views events
discretely and does not need a clock. DLO 2902 does however require
explicit knowledge of event dependency. To determine the bin in
which each event must be placed, DLO 2902 needs to know the bins of
the immediately preceding events. The observation produced by DLO
2902 is also referred to as a topological sort of the system
execution's event graph.
[0392] In the following, E is the set of all events in an
execution. The immediate predecessor relation, E.times.E, includes
all pairs (e.sub.a, e.sub.b) such that:
[0393] a) If e.sub.a and e.sub.b are on the same process, e.sub.a,
precedes e.sub.b with no intermediate events.
[0394] b) If e.sub.b is a receive event, e.sub.a is the send event
that generated the message.
[0395] Given these conditions, e.sub.a is called the immediate
predecessor of e.sub.b.
[0396] Each event has at most two immediate predecessors.
Therefore, DLO 2902 need only find the bins of at most two records
before each placement. The transitive closure of the immediate
predecessor relation forms a causal relation. The causal relation,
E.times.E; is the smallest transitive relation such that
e.sub.i.fwdarw.e.sub.je.sub.le.sub.j.
[0397] This relation defines a partial order of events and further
limits the definition of a valid observation. A valid observation
is an ordered record of events from a given execution, i.e., (R, ),
where e.epsilon.E(record(e)).epsilon.R, and is an ordering
operator. A valid observation has:
[0398] e.sub.i; e.sub.j.epsilon.E, e.sub.ie.sub.jrecord
(e.sub.i)record (e.sub.j)
[0399] The dual of the causal relation is a concurrence relation.
The concurrence relation, E.times.E, includes all pairs (e.sub.a;
e.sub.b) such that neither e.sub.ae.sub.b nor e.sub.be.sub.a. While
the causal relation is transitive, the concurrence relation is not.
The concurrence relation is symmetric, where the causal relation is
not.
[0400] B. Event Order Tracking
[0401] Debugging typically requires an understanding of the order
in which events occur. Above, observers were presented as separate
processes, while that treatment simplified the discussion of
observers it is typically not a practical implementation of an
observer. When the observer is implemented as a physical process
the signals to indicate events would have to be transformed into
physical messages, and the system would have to be synchronized to
enable all messages to arrive in a valid order.
[0402] FIG. 30, depicts a space/time graph 3000 with each event
having a label 3002. With reference to FIG. 30, DLO 2902 can
accurately place event records in their proper bins--even if
received out of order--as long as it knows the bins of the
immediate predecessors. If we know the bins in which events are
recorded, we can determine something about their causality.
Fortunately, it is easy to label each event with the number of its
intended bin. Labels 3002 are analogous to time and are typically
called Lamport timestamps.
[0403] A Lamport timestamp is an integer t associated with an event
e.sub.i such that
[0404] ee.sub.jt(e.sub.i)<t(e.sub.j)
[0405] Lamport timestamps can be assigned as needed, provided the
labels of an event's immediate predecessors are known. This
information can be maintained with a local counter, called a
Lamport clock (not shown), t.sub.Pl, on each process, P.sub.l. The
clock's value is transmitted with each message M.sub.j as t.sub.Mj.
Clock value t.sub.Pl is updated with each event, as follows: 8 tpi
= { max ( tMj , tpi ) + 1 ; if e is a receive event tpi + 1 ;
otherwise }
[0406] A labeling mechanism is said to characterize the causal
relation if, based on their labels alone, it can be determined
whether two events are causal or concurrent. Although Lamport
timestamps are consistent with causality (if
t(e.sub.l).gtoreq.t(e.sub.j), then e.sub.le.sub.j, they do not
characterize the causal relation.
[0407] FIG. 31 is a space/time graph 3100 that demonstrates the
inability of scalar time stamps to characterize causality between
events. With reference to FIG. 31, space/time graph 3100 shows
event e.sub.1 3102, event e.sub.2 3104, and event e.sub.3 3106.
[0408] e.sub.1 3102 e.sub.2 3104, and also (e.sub.1
3102.parallel.e.sub.3 3106) (e.sub.2 3104.parallel.e.sub.3 3106)
with scalar time stamps, label(e.sub.i), that characterize
causality. It can be shown that e.sub.3 3106 appears, when scalar
timestamps are used, concurrent with both e.sub.1 3102 and e.sub.2
3104. However, since e.sub.1 3102e.sub.2 3104 it is not possible
for e.sub.3 3106 to be concurrent with both.
[0409] Event causality can be tracked completely using explicit
event dependence graphs, with directed edges from each event to its
immediate predecessors. Unfortunately, this method cannot store
enough information with each record to determine whether two
arbitrarily chosen events are causally related without traversing
the dependence graph.
[0410] Other labeling techniques, such as vector timestamps, can
characterize causality. The typical formulation of vector
timestamps is based on the cardinality of event histories. A basis
for vector timestamp is established based on the following
definitions and theorems. An event history, H(e.sub.j), of an event
e.sub.j is the set of all events, e.sub.i, such that either since
ee.sub.j or e.sub.le.sub.i=e.sub.j. The event history can be
projected against specific processes. For a process P.sub.j: the
P.sub.j history projection of H(e.sub.i), H.sub.Pj (e.sub.i), is
the intersection of H(e.sub.i) and the set of events local to
P.sub.j. The event graph represented by a space/time diagram can be
partitioned into equivalence classes, with one class for each
process. The set of events local to P.sub.j is just the P.sub.j
equivalence class.
[0411] The intersection of any two projections from the same
process is identical to at least one of the two projections. Two
history projections from a single process, Hp(a) and Hp(b), must
satisfy one of the following:
[0412] a) Hp(a)Hp(b)
[0413] b) Hp(a)=Hp(b)
[0414] c) Hp(a)Hp(b)
[0415] The cardinality of H.sub.Pj (e.sub.i) is thus the number of
events local to P.sub.j that causally precede e.sub.i, and e.sub.i
itself. Since local events always occur in sequence, we can
uniquely identify an event by its process and the cardinality of
its local history.
[0416] For events e.sub.a; e.sub.b with e.sub.a.noteq.e.sub.b,
H.sub.Pea(e.sub.a)H.sub.Pea(e.sub.b)e.sub.ae.sub.b
[0417] FIG. 32 shows a space/time diagram 3200 with vector
timestamped events. A vector timestamp 3202 is a vector label,
t.sub.e, assigned to each event, e.epsilon.E, such that the
i.sup.th element represents [H.sub.Pi(e)]. Given two events,
e.sub.1 and e.sub.2, we can determine their causal ordering: if
vector t.sub.ei has a smaller value for its own process's entry
than the other, t.sub.ej, has at that same position, then eiej. If
both vectors have larger values for their own process entries, then
e.sub.i.parallel.e.sub.j. It is not possible for both events to
have smaller values for their own entries because for events
e.sub.a and e.sub.b, e.sub.ae.sub.b implies
H.sub.Pea(e.sub.a)H.sub.Pea(e.sub.b). It is not necessary to know
the local processes of events to determine their causal order using
vector timestamps.
[0418] The causal order of two vector timestamped events, e.sub.a
and e.sub.b, from unknown processes can be determined with an
element-by-element comparison of their vector timestamps: 9 i = 1 n
t ea [ i ] t ea [ i ] e a -> e a i = 1 n t ea [ i ] t eb [ i ] i
= 1 n t eb [ i ] t ea [ i ] e a ; e b
[0419] Thus, vector timestamps both fully characterize causality
and uniquely identify each event in an execution.
[0420] Computing vector timestamps at runtime is similar to Lamport
timestamp A computation. Each process (P.sub.s) contains a vector
clock ({circumflex over (t)}.sub.Ps) with elements for every
process in the system, where {circumflex over (t)}.sub.Ps[s] always
equals the number of events local to P.sub.s. Snapshots of this
vector counter are used to label each event, and snapshots are
transmitted with each message. The recipient of a message with a
vector snapshot can update its own vector counter ({circumflex over
(t)}.sub.Pr) by replacing it with sup({circumflex over (t)}.sub.Ps,
{circumflex over (t)}.sub.Pr), the element-wise A A maximum of
{circumflex over (t)}.sub.Ps and {circumflex over (t)}.sub.Pr.
[0421] This technique places enough information with each message
to determine message ordering. It is performed by comparing
snapshots attached to each message. However, transmission of entire
snapshots is usually not practical, especially if the system
contains a large number of processes.
[0422] Vector clocks can however be maintained without transmitting
complete snapshots. A transmitting process, P.sub.s, can send a
list that includes only those vector clock values that have changed
since its last message. A recipient, P.sub.r, then compares the
change list to its current elements and updates those that are
smaller. This requires each process to maintain several vectors:
one for itself, and one for each process to which it has sent
messages. However, change lists do not contain enough information
to independently track message order.
[0423] The expense of maintaining vector clocks can be a strong
deterrent to employing them. Unfortunately, no technique with
smaller labels can characterize causality. It has been proven that
the dimension of the causal relation for an N-process distributed
execution is N, and hence N-element vectors are the smallest labels
characterizing causality.
[0424] The problem results from concurrence, without which Lamport
time would be sufficient. Concurrence can be tracked with
concurrency maps, where each event keeps track of all events with
which it is concurrent. Since the maps characterize concurrency,
adding Lamport time lets them also characterize causality (the
concurrency information disambiguates the scalar time).
Unfortunately, concurrency maps can only be constructed
after-the-fact, since doing so requires examination of events from
all processes
[0425] In some situations, distinguishing between concurrency and
causality is not a necessity, but merely a convenience. There are
compact labeling techniques that allow better concurrence detection
than Lamport time. One such technique uses interval clocks, in
which each event record is labeled with its own Lamport time and
the Lamport time of its earliest successor. This label then
represents a Lamport time interval, during which the corresponding
event was the latest known by the process. This gives each event a
wider region with which to detect concurrence (indicated by
overlapping intervals).
[0426] In cases where there is little or no cross-process causality
(few messages), interval timestamps are not much better than
Lamport timestamps. In cases with large numbers of messages,
however, interval timestamps can yield better results.
[0427] C. Space/Time Displays in Debugging Tools
[0428] Space/time diagrams have typically proven useful in
discussing event causality and concurrence. Space/time diagrams are
also often employed as the user display in concurrent program
debugging tools.
[0429] The Los Alamos parallel debugging system uses a text based
time-process display, and Idd uses a graphic display. Both of
these, however, rely on an accurate global real-time clock
(impractical in most systems).
[0430] FIG. 33 shows a partial order event tracer (POET) display
3300. The partial order event tracer (POET) system supports several
different languages and run-time environments, including Hermes, a
high-level interpreted language for distributed systems, and Java.
With reference to FIG. 33, POET display 3300 distinguishes among
several types of events by shapes, shading, and alignment of
corresponding message lines.
[0431] A Distributed Program Debugger (DPD) is based on an Remote
Execution Manager (REM) framework. The REM framework is a set of
servers on interconnected Unix machines, where each server is a
Unix user-level process. Processes executing in this framework can
create and communicate with processes elsewhere in the network as
if they were all on the same machine. DPD uses space/time displays
for debugging communication only, and it relies on separate
source-level debuggers for individual processes.
[0432] 2. Abstraction in Event-based Debugging
[0433] Simple space/time displays can be used to present
programmers with a wealth of information about distributed
executions. Typically however, space/time diagrams are too abstract
to be an ultimate debugging solution. Space/time diagrams show
high-level events and message traffic, but they do not support
designer interaction with the source code. On the other hand,
simple space/time diagrams may sometimes have too much detail.
Space/time diagrams display each distinct low-level message that
contributes to a high-level transaction without support for
abstracting the transaction.
[0434] FIG. 34 is a space/time diagram 3400 having a first compound
event 3402 and a second compound event 3404. With reference to FIG.
34, even though a pair of primitive events are either causally
related or concurrent, first and second compound events 3402 and
3404, or any other pair of compound events, might be neither
causally related nor concurrent. Abstraction is typically applied
across two dimensions-events and processes-to aid in the task of
debugging distributed software. Event abstraction represents
sequences of events as single entities. A group of events may
occasionally have a specific semantic meaning that is difficult to
recognize, much as streams of characters can have a meaning that is
difficult to interpret without proper spacing and punctuation.
Event abstraction can in some circumstances complicate the
relationships between events.
[0435] Event abstraction can be applied in one of three ways:
filtering, clustering, and interpretation. With event filtering, a
programmer describes event types that the debugger should ignore,
which are then hidden from view. With clustering, the debugger
collects a number of events and presents the group as a single
event. With interpretation, the debugger parses the event stream
for event sequences with specific semantic meaning and presents
them to a programmer.
[0436] Process abstraction is usually applied only as hierarchical
clustering. The remainder of this section discusses these specific
event and process abstraction approaches.
[0437] A. Event Filtering and Clustering
[0438] Event filtering and clustering are techniques used to hide
events from a designer and thereby reduce clutter. Event filters
exclude selected events from being tracked in event-based debugging
techniques. In most cases, this filtering is implicit and can not
be modified without changing the source code because the source
code being debugged is designed to report only certain events to
the debugger. When deployed, the code will report all such events
to the tool. This approach is employed in both DPD and POET,
although some events may be filtered from the display at a later
time.
[0439] An event cluster is a group of events represented as a
single event. The placement of an event in a cluster is based on
simple parameters, such as virtual time bounds and process groups.
Event clusters can have causal ambiguities. For example, one
cluster may contain events that causally precede events in a second
cluster, while other events causally follow certain events in the
second cluster.
[0440] FIG. 35 shows a POET display 3500 involving a first convex
event cluster 3502 and a second convex event cluster 3504. POET
uses a virtual-time-based clustering technique that represents
convex event clusters as single abstract events. A convex event
cluster is a set of event instances, C, such that for events
[0441] a, b, c.epsilon.E with a, c.epsilon.C, abbcb.epsilon.C
[0442] Convex event clusters, unlike generic event clusters, cannot
overlap.
[0443] B. Event Interpretation
[0444] The third technique for applying event abstraction is
interpretation, also referred to as behavioral abstraction. Both
terms describe techniques that use debugging tools to interpret the
behavior represented by sequences of events and present results to
a designer. Most approaches to behavioral abstraction let a
designer describe sequences of events using expressions, and the
tools recognize the sequence of events through a combination of
customized finite automata followed by explicit checks. Typically,
matched expressions generate new events.
[0445] 1. Event description language (EDL)
[0446] One of the earliest behavioral abstraction technique was
Bates's event description language (EDL), where event streams are
pattern-matched using shuffle automata. A match produces a new
event that can, in turn, be part of another pattern. Essentially,
abstract events are hierarchical and are built bottom up.
[0447] This approach can recognize event patterns that contain
concurrent events. There are however several weaknesses in this
approach. First, shuffle automata match events from a linear
stream, which is subject to a strong observational bias. In
addition, even if the stream constitutes a valid observation,
interleaving may cause false intermediates between an event and its
immediate successor. Finally, concurrent events appear to occur in
some specific order.
[0448] Bates partially compensates for these problems in three
ways. First, all intermediates between two recognized events are
ignored-hence, false intermediates are skipped. Unfortunately, true
intermediates are also skipped, making error detection difficult.
Second, the shuffle operator, A, is used to identify matches with
concurrent events. Unfortunately, shuffle recognizes events that
occur in any order, regardless of whether they are truly ordered in
the corresponding execution. For example, e.sub.1.DELTA.e.sub.2 can
match with either e.sub.1e.sub.2 or e.sub.2e.sub.1 in the event
stream, but this means the actual matches could be: e.sub.1e.sub.2,
e.sub.2e.sub.1, in addition to the e.sub.1.parallel.e.sub.2 that
the programmer intended to match. Third, the programmer can
prescribe explicit checks to be performed on each match before
asserting the results. However, the checks allowed do not include
causality or concurrence checks.
[0449] 2. Chain Expressions
[0450] Chain expressions, used in the Ariadne parallel debugger,
are an alternate way to describe distributed behavior patterns that
have both causality and concurrence. These behavioral descriptions
are based on chains of events (abstract sequences not bound to
processes), p-chains (chains bound to processes), and pt-chains
(composed p-chains). The syntax for describing chain expressions is
fairly simple, with <a b> representing two causally related
events and .vertline.[a b].vertline. representing two concurrent
events.
[0451] The recognition algorithm has two functions. First,
recognizing the appropriate event sequence from a linear stream
(using an NFA). Second, checking the relationships between specific
events
[0452] For example, when looking for sequences that match the
expression <.vertline.[a b].vertline.c> (viz., a and b are
concurrent, and both causally precede c), Ariadne will find the
sequence a b c and then verify the relationships among them.
Unfortunately, the fact that sequences are picked in order from a
linear stream before relationships are checked can cause certain
matches to be missed. For example, .vertline.[a b].vertline. and
.vertline.[b a].vertline. should have the same meaning, but they do
not cause identical matches. This is because Ariadne uses NFAs as
the first stage in event abstraction. In the totally ordered stream
to which an NFA responds, either a will precede b, preventing the
NFA for the second expression from recognizing the string, or b
will precede a, preventing the NFA for the first expression from
recognizing the string.
[0453] 3. Distributed abstraction
[0454] The behavioral abstraction techniques described so far rely
on centralized abstraction facilities. These facilities can be
distributed, as well. The BEE (Basis for distributed Event
Environments) project is a distributed, hierarchical,
event-collection system, with debugging clients located with each
process.
[0455] FIG. 36 show a Basis for distributed Event Environments
(BEE) abstraction facility 3600 for a single client. With reference
to FIG. 36, event interpretation is performed at several levels.
The first is an event sensor 3602, inserted into the source of the
program under test and invoked whenever a primitive event occurs
during execution. The next level is an event generator 3604, where
information-including timestamps and process identifiers-is
attached to each event. Event generator 3604 uses an event table
3606 to determine whether events should be passed to an event
handler 3608 or simply dropped. Event handler 3608 manages event
table 3606 within event generator 3604. Event handler 3608 filters
and collects events and routes them to appropriate event
interpreters (not shown). Event interpreters (not shown) gather
events from a number of clients (not shown) and aggregate them for
presentation to a programmer. Clients and their related event
interpreters are placed together in groups managed by an event
manager (not shown). A weakness of this technique is that it does
not specifically track causality. Instead, this technique relies on
the real-time stamps attached to specific primitive or abstract
events. However, as discussed above these timestamps are not able
to characterize causality.
[0456] C. Process Clustering
[0457] Most distributed computing environments feature flat process
structures, with few formally stated relationships among processes.
Automatic process clustering tools can partially reverse-engineer a
hierarchical structure to help remove spurious information from a
debugger's view. Intuitively, a good cluster hierarchy should
reveal, at the top level, high-level system behavior, and the
resolution should improve proportionally with the number of
processes exposed. A poor cluster hierarchy would show very little
at the top level and would require a programmer to descend several
hierarchical levels before getting even a rough idea about system
behavior. Process clustering tools attempt to identify common
interaction patterns-such as client-server, master-slave, complex
server, layered system, and so forth. When these patterns are
identified, the participants are clustered together. Clusters can
then serve as participants in interaction patterns to be further
clustered. These cluster hierarchies are strictly trees, as shown
in FIG. 37, which depicts a hierarchical construction of process
clusters 3700. With reference to FIG. 37, a square node 3702
represents a process (not shown) and a round node 3704 represents a
process cluster (not shown).
[0458] Programmers can choose a debugging focus, in which they
specify the aspects and detail levels they want to use to observe
an execution. With reference to FIG. 37, a representative debugging
focus that includes nodes I, J, E, F, G and H is shown. One
drawback of this approach is that when a parent cluster is in
focus, none of its children can be. For example, if we wanted to
look at process K in detail, we would also need to expose at least
as much detail for processes E and L and process cluster D.
[0459] Each process usually participates in many types of
interactions with other processes. Therefore, the abstraction tools
must heuristically decide between several options. These decisions
have a substantial impact on the quality of a cluster hierarchy. In
"Abstract Behaviour of Distributed Executions with Applications to
Visualization," PhD. thesis, Technische Hochschule Darmstadt,
Darmstadt, Germany, May 1994, by T. Kunz, the author evaluates the
quality of his tool by measuring the cohesion, which though
expressed quantitatively is actually a qualitative measurement (the
higher the better) within a cluster and the coupling, a qualitative
measure of the information clusters must know about each other (the
higher the worse), between clusters. For a cluster P of m
processes, cohesion is quantified by: 10 Cohesion ( P ) = l <
jSim f ( p l , p j ) m ( m - 1 ) / 2
[0460] where Sim.sub.f (P.sub.1,P.sub.2) is a similarity metric
that equals: 11 Sim f = A C ^ P 1 C ^ P 2 ; C ^ P 1 r; ; C ^ P 2
r;
[0461] Here, <.vertline.{circumflex over (b)}> denotes the
scaler product of vectors and {circumflex over (b)},and
.parallel..parallel. denotes the magnitude of vector . C.sub.P1 and
C.sub.P2 are process characteristic vectors--in them, each element
contains a value between 0 and 1 that indicates how strongly a
particular characteristic manifests itself in each process.
Characteristics can include keywords, type names, function
references, etc. A is a value that equals 1 if any of the following
apply:
[0462] P.sub.1 and P.sub.1 are instantiations of the same
source.
[0463] P.sub.1 and P.sub.2 are unique instantiations of their own
source.
[0464] P.sub.1 and P.sub.2 communicate with each other.
[0465] A equals 0 if none of these is true (e.g., P.sub.1 and
P.sub.2 are non-unique instantiations of separate source that do
not communicate with each other). Coupling is quantified by: 12
Coupling ( P ) = ij Sim f ( p i , q j ) mn
[0466] where q.sub.j.epsilon.Q, Q is the complement of P, and
n=.vertline.Q.vertline.. The quality of a cluster is quantified as
its Coupling minus its Cohesion. In many cases, these metrics match
many of the characteristics that intuitively differentiate good and
poor clusters, as shown in FIGS. 38A, B, and C. With reference to
FIGS. 38A and C, Cohesion is high where clusters correspond to
heavy communication and where clusters correspond to processes
instantiated from the same source code. Coupling is shown to be low
in each of the above cases. With reference to FIG. 38B Coupling is
high when clusters do not correspond to heavily communicating
processes or to instances of the same source code. It is not clear,
however, that the cluster in FIG. 38C should be assigned the same
quality value as the cluster in FIG. 38A. Using these metrics, Kunz
achieved qualities of between :15 and :31 for his clustering
techniques. However, it is hard to tell what this means in terms of
cluster usefulness.
[0467] 3. State-based Debugging
[0468] State-based debugging techniques focus on the state of the
system and the state changes caused by events, rather than on
events themselves. The familiar source-level debugger for
sequential program debugging is state-based. This source-level
debugger lets designers set breakpoints in the execution of a
program, enabling them to investigate the state left by the
execution to that point. This source-level debugger also lets
programmers step through a program's execution and view changes in
state caused by each step.
[0469] Concurrent systems have no unique meaning for an instant in
execution time. Stopping or single stepping the whole system can
unintentionally, but substantially, change the nature of
interactions between processes.
[0470] A. Consistent Cuts and Global State
[0471] In distributed event-based debugging, the concept of
causality is typically of such importance that little of value can
be discussed without a firm understanding of causality and its
implications. In distributed state-based debugging, the concept of
a global instant in time is equally important.
[0472] Here again, it may seem intuitive to consider real-time
instants as the global instants of interest. However, just as
determining the real-time order of events is not practical or even
particularly useful, finding accurate real-time instants makes
little sense. Instead, a global instant is represented by a
consistent cut. A consistent cut is a cut of an event dependency
graph representing an execution that: a) intersects each process
exactly once; and b) points all dependencies crossing the cut in
the same direction. Like real-time instants, consistent cuts have
both a past and a future. These are the subgraphs on each side of
the cut.
[0473] FIG. 39, shows that consistent cuts can be represented as a
jagged line across the space/time diagram that meets the above
requirements. With reference to FIG. 39, a space/time graph 3900 is
shown having a first cut 3902 and a second cut 3904. All events to
the left of either first cut 3902 or second cut 3904 are in the
past of each cut, and all events to the right are in the future of
each cut, respectively. First cut 3902 is a consistent cut because
no message travel from the future to the past. Second cut 3904
however is not consistent because a message 3906 travels from the
future to the past.
[0474] FIGS. 40A, B, and C show that a distributed execution shown
in a space/time diagram 4000 can be represented by a lattice of
consistent cuts 4002, where T is the start of the execution, and
.perp. is system termination. With reference to FIGS. 40A, B, and
C, lattice of consistent cuts 4002 represents the global statespace
traversed by a single execution. Since lattice of consistent cuts
4002's size is on the order of
.vertline.E.vertline..sup..vertline.P.vertline. it, unlike
space/time diagrams, are never actually constructed. In the
remainder of this chapter, to describe properties of consistent cut
lattices, the symbol 1
[0475] relates cuts such that one immediately precedes the other,
and relates cuts between which there is a path.
[0476] B. Single Stepping in a Distributed Environment
[0477] Controlled stepping, or single stepping, through regions of
an execution can help with an analysis of system behavior. The
programmer can examine changes in state at the completion of each
step to get a better understanding of system control flow. Coherent
single stepping for a distributed system requires steps to align
with a path through a normal execution's consistent cut
lattice.
[0478] DPD works with standard single-process debuggers (called
client debuggers), such as DBX, GDB, etc. Programmers can use these
tools to set source-level break-points and single step through
individual process executions. However, doing so leaves the other
processes executing during each step, which can yield unrealistic
executions.
[0479] Zernic gives a simple procedure for single stepping using a
post-mortem traversal of a consistent cut lattice. At each point in
the step process, there are two disjoint sets of events: the past
set, or events that have already been encountered by the stepping
tool, and the future set, or those that have yet to be encountered.
To perform a step, the debugger chooses an event, e.sub.l, from the
future such that any events it depends on are already in the past,
i.e., there are no future events, e.sub.f, such that
e.sub.fe.sub.l. This ensures that the step proceeds between two
consistent cuts related by 2
[0480] The debugger moves this single event to the past, performing
any necessary actions.
[0481] To allow more types of steps, POET's support for single
stepping uses three disjoint sets: executed, ready, and non-ready.
The executed set is identical to the past set in "Using
Visualization Tools to Understand Concurrency," by D. Zernik, M.
Snir, and D. Malki, IEEE Software 9, 3 (1992), pp. 87-92. The ready
set contains all events that are fully enabled by events in the
future, and the contents of the non-ready set have some enabling
events in either the ready or non-ready sets. Using these sets, it
is possible to perform three different types of step: global-step,
step-over, and step-in. Global-step and step-over may progress
between two consistent cuts not related 3
[0482] (i.e., there may be several intermediate cuts between the
step cuts).
[0483] A global-step is performed by moving all events from the
ready set into the past. Afterwards, the debugger must move to the
ready set all events in the non-ready set whose dependencies are in
the executed set. A global-step is useful when the programmer wants
information about a system execution without having to look at any
process in detail.
[0484] The step-over procedure considers a local, or
single-process, projection of the ready and non-ready sets. To
perform a step, it moves the earliest event from the local
projections into the executed set and executes through events on
the other processes until the next event in the projection is
ready. This ensures that the process in focus will always have an
event ready to execute in the step that follows.
[0485] Step-in is another type of local step. Unlike step-over,
step-in does not advance the system at the completion of the step;
instead, the system advance is considered to be a second step.
FIGS. 41A, B, C, and D show a space/time diagram before a step 4100
and a resulting space/time diagram after performing a global-step
4102, a step-over 4104, and a step-in 4106.
[0486] C. Runtime Consistent Cut Algorithms
[0487] It is occasionally necessary to capture consistent cuts at
runtime. To do so, each process performs some type of cut action
(e.g., state saving). This can be done with barrier
synchronization, which erects a temporal barrier that no process
can pass until all processes arrive. Any cut taken immediately
before, or immediately after, the barrier is consistent. However,
with barrier synchronization, some processes may have a long wait
before the final process arrives.
[0488] A more proactive technique is to use a process called the
cutinitiator to send perform-cut messages to all other system
processes. Upon receiving a perform-cut message, a process performs
its cut action, sends a cut-finished message to the initiator, and
then suspends itself. After the cut initiator receives cut-finished
messages from all processes, it sends each of them a message to
resume computation.
[0489] The cut obtained by this algorithm is consistent: no process
is allowed to send any messages from the time it performs its own
cut action until all processes have completed the cut. This means
that no post-cut messages can be received by processes that have
yet to perform their own cut action. This algorithm has the
undesirable characteristic of stopping the system for the duration
of the cut. The following algorithms differ in that they allow some
processing to continue.
[0490] 1. Chandy-Lamport Algorithm
[0491] The Chandy-Lamport algorithm does not require the system to
be stopped. Once again, the cut starts when a cut initiator sends
perform-cut messages to all of the processes. When a process
receives a perform-cut message, it stops all work, performs its cut
action, and then sends a mark on each of its outgoing channels; a
mark is a special message that tells its recipient to perform a cut
action before reading the next message from the channel. When all
marks have been sent, the process is free to continue computation.
If the recipient has already performed the cut action when it
receives a mark, it can continue working as normal.
[0492] Each cut request and each mark associated with a particular
cut are labeled with a cut identifier, such as the process ID of
the cut initiator and an integer. This lets a process distinguish
between marks for cuts it has already performed and marks for cuts
it has yet to perform.
[0493] 2. Color-based Algorithms
[0494] The Chandy-Lamport algorithm works only for FIFO (First In
First Out) channels. If a channel is non-FIFO (e.g., UDP), a
post-cut message may outrun the mark and be inconsistently received
before the recipient is even aware of the cut, i.e., it is received
in the cut's past. The remedy to this situation is a color-based
algorithm. Two such algorithms are discussed below.
[0495] The first is called the two-color, or red-white, algorithm.
With this algorithm, information about the cut state is transferred
with each message. Each process in the system has a color.
Processes not currently involved in a consistent cut are white, and
all messages transmitted are given a white tag. Again, there is a
cut initiator that sends perform-cut messages to all system
processes. When a process receives this request, it halts, performs
the cut action, and changes its color to red. From this point on,
all messages transmitted are tagged with red to inform the
recipients that a cut has occurred.
[0496] Any process can accept a white message without consequence,
but when a white process receives a red message, it must perform
its cut action before accepting the message. Essentially, white
processes treat red messages as cut requests. Red processes can
accept red messages at any time, without consequence.
[0497] A disadvantage of the two-color algorithm is that the system
must reset all of the processes back to white after they have
completed their cut action. After switching back, each process must
treat red messages as if they were white until they are all flushed
from the previous cut. After this, each process knows that the next
red message it receives signals the next consistent cut.
[0498] This problem is addressed by the three-color algorithm,
which resembles the two-color algorithm in that every process
changes color after performing a cut; it differs in that every
change in color represents a cut. For colors zero through two, if a
process with the color c receives a message with the color (c-1)
mod 3, it registers this as a message-in-flight (see below). On the
other hand, if it receives a message with the color (c+1) mod 3, it
must perform its cut action and switch color to (c+1) mod 3 before
receiving the message. Of course, this can now be generalized to
n-color algorithms, but three colors are usually sufficient.
[0499] Programmers may need to know about messages transmitted
across the cut, or messages-in-flight. In the two-color algorithm,
messages-in-flight are simply white messages received by red
processes. These can all be recorded locally, or the recipient can
report them to the cut initiator. In the latter case, each red
process simply sends the initiator a record of any white messages
received.
[0500] It is not safe to switch from red to white in the two-color
algorithm until the last message-in-flight has been received. This
can be detected by associating a counter with each process. A
process increments its counter for each message sent and decrements
it for each message received. When the value of this counter is
sent to the initiator at the start of each process's cut action,
the initiator can use the total value to determine the total number
of messages-in-flight. The initiator simply decrements this count
for each message-in-flight notification it receives.
[0501] D. State Recovery-rollback and Replay
[0502] Since distributed executions tend to be non-deterministic,
it is often difficult to reproduce bugs that occur during
individual executions. To do so, most distributed debuggers contain
a rollback facility that returns the system to a previous state.
For this to be feasible, all processes in the system must
occasionally save their state. This is called checkpointing the
system. Checkpoints do not have to save the entire state of the
system. It is sufficient to save only the changes since the last
checkpoint. However, such incremental checkpointing can prolong
recovery.
[0503] DPD makes use of the UNIX fork system call to perform
checkpointing for later rollback. When fork is called, it makes an
exact copy of the calling process, including all current state. In
the DPD checkpoint facility, the newly forked process is suspended
and indexed. Rollback suspends the active process and resumes an
indexed process. The problem with this approach is that it can
quickly consume all system memory, especially if checkpointing
occurs too frequently. DPD's solution is to let the programmer
choose the checkpoint frequency through use of a slider in its
GUI.
[0504] Processes must sometimes be returned to states that were not
specifically saved. In this case, the debugger must do additional
work to advance the system to the desired point. This is called
replay and is performed using event trace information to guide an
execution of the system. In replay, the debugger chooses an enabled
process (i.e., one whose next event has no pending causal
requirements) and executes it, using the event trace to determine
where the process needs to block for a message that may have
arrived asynchronously in the original execution. When the process
blocks, the debugger chooses the next enabled process and continues
from there. In this way, a replay is causally identical to the
original execution.
[0505] Checkpoints must be used in a way that prevents domino
effects. The domino effect occurs when rollbacks force processes to
restore more than one state. Domino effects can roll the system
back to the starting point. FIG. 42 shows a space time diagram 4200
for a system that is subject to the domino effect during rollback.
With reference to FIG. 42, if the system requests a rollback to
checkpoint c.sub.3 4202 of process P.sub.3 4204, all processes in
the system must roll back to c.sub.1 (i.e., roll back to P.sub.3.
c.sub.2 4206 requires a roll back to P.sub.2. c.sub.2 4208, which
requires a roll back to P.sub.1. c.sub.2 4210, which requires a
roll back to P.sub.3. c.sub.1 4212, which requires a roll back to
P.sub.2. c.sub.1 4214, which requires a final roll back to P.sub.1.
c.sub.1 4216). The problem is caused by causal overlaps between
message transfers and checkpoints. Performing checkpoints only at
consistent cuts avoids a domino effect.
[0506] E. Global State Predicates
[0507] The ability to detect the truth value of predicates on
global state yields much leverage when debugging distributed
systems. This technique lets programmers raise flags when global
assertions fail, set global breakpoints, and monitor interesting
aspects of an execution. Global predicates are those whose truth
value depends on the state maintained by several processes. They
are typically denoted with the symbol .PHI.. Some examples include
(.SIGMA..sub.lc.sub.l>20) and (c.sub.1<20 c.sub.2 5), where
c.sub.l is some variable in process P.sub.l that stores positive
integers. In the worst case (such as when
(.SIGMA..sub.lc.sub.l>20) is false for an entire execution), it
may be necessary to get the value of all such variables in all
consistent cuts. In the following discussion, we use the notation
C.sub.a.vertline.=.PHI. to indicate that .PHI. is true in
consistent cut C.sub.a.
[0508] At this point, it is useful to introduce branching time
temporal logic. Branching time temporal logic is predicate logic
with temporal quantifiers, P, F, G, H, A, and E. P.PHI. is true in
the present if .PHI. was true at some point in the past; F.PHI. is
true in the present if .PHI. will be true at some point in the
future; G.PHI. is true in the present if .PHI. will be true at
every moment in the future; and H.PHI. is true in the present if
.PHI. was true at every moment of the past. Notice that G.PHI. is
the same as F.PHI., and H.PHI. is the same as P.PHI..
[0509] Since global time passage in distributed systems is marked
by a partially ordered consistent cut lattice rather than by a
totally ordered stream, we need the quantifiers A, which precedes a
predicate that is true on all paths, and E, which precedes a
predicate that is true on at least one path. So, AF.PHI. is true in
the consistent cut representing the present if .PHI. is true at
least once on all paths in the lattice leaving this cut. EP.PHI. is
true in the consistent cut representing the present if .PHI. is
true on at least one path leading to this cut.
[0510] A monotonic global predicate is a predicate .PHI. such that
C.sub.a.vertline.=.PHI.C.sub.a.vertline.=AG.PHI.. A monotonic
global predicate is one that remains true after becoming true. An
unstable global predicate, on the other hand, is a predicate .PHI.
such that C.sub.a.vertline.=.PHI.C.sub.a.vertline.=EG.PHI.. An
unstable global predicate is one that may become false after
becoming true.
[0511] 1. Detecting Monotonic Global Predicates
[0512] Monotonic predicates can be detected any time after becoming
true. One algorithm is to occasionally take consistent cuts and
evaluate the predicate at each. In fact, it is not necessary to use
consistent cuts, since any transverse cut whose future is a subset
of the future of the consistent cut in which the predicate first
became true will also show the predicate true.
[0513] 2. Detecting Unstable Global Predicates
[0514] Detecting arbitrary unstable global predicates can take at
worst .vertline.E.vertline..sup..vertline.P.vertline. time, where
.vertline.E.vertline..sup..vertline.P.vertline. is the size of an
execution's consistent cut lattice, where [E];is the number of
events in the execution, and [P] is the number of processes. This
is so, because it may be necessary to test for the predicate in
every possible consistent cut. However, there are a few special
circumstances that allow .vertline.E.vertline. time algorithms.
[0515] Some unstable global predicates are true on only a few paths
through the consistent cut lattice, while others are true on all
paths. Cooper and Marzullo describe predicate qualifiers definitely
.PHI. for predicates that are true on all paths (i.e.,
T.vertline.=A F.PHI.) and possibly .PHI. for those that are true on
at least one path (i.e., T.vertline.=>E F.PHI.).
[0516] The detection of possibly .PHI. for weak conjunctive
predicates, or global predicates that can be expressed as
conjunctions of local predicates, is .phi. (.vertline.E.vertline.).
The algorithm for this is to walk a path through the consistent cut
lattice that aligns with a single process, P.sub.t, until either:
(1) the process's component of .PHI. is true, or (2) there is no
way to proceed without diverging from P.sub.t. In either case, the
target process is switched, and the walk continued. This algorithm
continues until it reaches a state where all components of the
predicate are true, or until it reaches .perp.. In this way, if
there are any consistent cuts where all parts of the predicate
simultaneously hold, the algorithm will encounter at least one.
[0517] Detection of possibly .PHI. for weak disjunctive predicates,
or global predicates that can be expressed as disjunctions of local
predicates, is also .phi. (.vertline.E.vertline.); it is the same
algorithm as above, except it halts at the first node where any
component is true. However, weak conjunctive and disjunctive
predicates constitute only a small portion of the types of
predicates that could be useful in debugging distributed
systems.
[0518] 3. Conclusions
[0519] Complicating the debugging of heterogenous embedded systems
are designs comprised of concurrent and distributed processes. Most
of the difficulty in debugging distributed systems results from
concurrent processes with globally unscheduled and frequently
asynchronous interactions. Multiple executions of a system can
produce wildly varying results--even if they are based on identical
inputs. The two main debugging approaches for these systems are
event based and state based.
[0520] Event-based approaches are monitoring approaches. Events are
presented to a designer in partially ordered event displays, called
space/time displays. These are particularly good at showing
inter-process communication over time. They can provide a designer
with large amounts of information in a relatively small amount of
space.
[0521] State-based approaches focus locally on the state of
individual processes or globally on the state of the system.
Designers can observe individual system states, set watches for
specific global predicates, step through executions, and set
breakpoints based on global state predicates. These approaches deal
largely with snapshots, considering temporal aspects only as
differences between snapshots.
[0522] As distributed systems increase in size and complexity, the
sheer volume of events generated during an execution grows to a
point where it is exceedingly difficult for designers to correctly
identify aspects of the execution that may be relevant in locating
a bug. For distributed system debugging techniques to scale to
larger and faster systems, behavioral abstraction will typically
become a necessity to help designers identify and interpret
complicated behavioral sequences in a system execution. Finally,
embedded systems must execute in a separate environment from the
one in which they were designed and embedded systems may also run
for long periods of time without clear stopping points. Debugging
them requires probes to report debugging information to a designer
during the execution. These probes inevitably alter system
behavior, which can mask existing bugs or create new bugs that are
not present in the uninstrumented system. While it is not possible
to completely avoid these probe effects, they can be minimized
through careful placement, or masked through permanent
placement.
[0523] Debugging by Cooperative Execution in Coordination-centric
Designs
[0524] FIG. 43 is an example of a coordination-centric approach to
the debugging of a distributed software environment 4300, in
accordance with the present invention. With reference to FIG. 43,
distributed software environment 4300, containing several
processing elements 4302 connected so that information can be
exchanged, is connected through a communication channel 4304 to a
debugging host 4306. Distributed software environment 4300 can be
connected either directly or indirectly to debugging host 4306.
[0525] Debugging, in a coordination-centric approach, is performed
using "cooperative execution." Cooperative execution refers to
simultaneously executing a distributed software environment 4300
and simulating distributed software environment 4300 on debugging
host 4306 based on event traces from distributed software
environment 4300. Debugging host 4306 may be a general-purpose
workstation. Distributed software environments are likely to have
several processing elements 4302, but only a few of these have
resources that let them connect directly to debugging host 4306.
Those that do not have these resources, either have an indirect
connection to the debugging host or are opaque to debugging.
[0526] 1. Direct Connection
[0527] Events can be recorded locally on distributed software
environment 4300, and event records can be transferred directly to
debugging host 4306. FIG. 44 is a detailed view of a direct
connection between a primary processing element 4400 of distributed
software environment 4300 and debugging host 4306. In a direct
connection, primary processing element 4400 contains a software
program 4401, which has at least two software components 4402, a
runtime system 4404, a coordinator 4406, an interface (not shown)
having a port (not shown), and a primary runtime debugging
architecture 4408. Software program 4401 generates an event record
in response to a selected event.
[0528] Runtime system 4404 collects the events from software
components 4402 and transfers them to primary runtime debugging
architecture 4408. Primary runtime debugging architecture 4408
contains a time stamper 4410, a causality stamper 4412, a primary
uplink component 4414, and a primary transfer component 4416
coupled to primary uplink component 4414. Time stamper 4410
provides a time stamp to the event record generated by software
program 4401, while causality stamper 4412 provides an
identification of a cause of the event associated with the
corresponding event record. Primary uplink component 4414 of
primary runtime debugging architecture 4408 facilitates
communication through communication channel 4304 between primary
processing element 4400 and debugging host 4306, while primary
transfer component 4416 collects and facilitates the transfer of
the time-stamped and causality-stamped event record from primary
processing element 4400 to an event queue 4418 on debugging host
4306.
[0529] Debugging host 4306 operates on the events-simulating the
activity of distributed software environment 4300 and letting the
designer navigate the execution. The bulk of debugging support is
thus on debugging host 4306, which reduces the probe effect in
distributed software environment 4300. All debugging is based on a
combination of system state and event records, which must be
collected and properly annotated to record causality.
[0530] With a direct connection, primary processing element's
runtime system 4404 asynchronously dumps all events onto debugging
host 4306. Debugging host 4306 queues all events and writes them to
disk. All debugging activity is based on post-processing on these
events.
[0531] 2. Indirect Connection
[0532] FIG. 45 is a detailed view of an indirect connection from
primary processing element 4400 to debugging host 4306. In an
indirect connection, primary runtime debugging architecture 4408
contains time stamper 4410, causality stamper 4412, and primary
uplink component 4414, whereas an intermediate processing element
4500 contains an intermediate runtime debugging architecture 4502,
having an intermediate transfer component 4504 coupled to an
intermediate uplink component 4506.
[0533] For primary processing element 4400 with an indirect
connection to debugging host 4306, event records are routed to
intermediate processing element 4500, which collects and forwards
them, along with some event records of its own, to debugging host
4306. Primary uplink component 4414 facilitates communication,
along communication channel 4304, between primary processing
element 4400 and intermediate processing element 4500. Intermediate
uplink component 4506 facilitates communication, along
communication channel 4304, between intermediate processing element
4500 and debugging host 4306, while intermediate transfer component
4504 collects and facilitates the transfer of the event record from
intermediate processing element 4500 to event queue 4418 in
debugging host 4306.
[0534] 3. Storage-based Event Collection
[0535] If it is not possible or practical to connect distributed
software environment 4300 to debugging host 4306, it may still be
possible to employ cooperative execution in a post-mortem fashion.
FIG. 46 depicts capturing event records in a flash memory for
post-mortem distributed debugging. In the present invention,
runtime system 4404 collects and transfers the events to primary
runtime debugging architecture 4408, which includes time stamper
4410, causality stamper 4412, and a flash driver 4600. After the
events have been time-stamped and causality-stamped, flash driver
4600 sends the events to a flash memory 4602 for storage and
post-mortem debugging.
[0536] As long as a global name space is used, each processing
element 4302 can store events separately, and the complete global
event trace can be reconstructed later. Unlike connection-based
collection, there is a definite limit on the amount of storage
space, and it is essential to use it wisely. FIG. 47 shows how
flash memory 4602 can be allocated to ensure that the entire
context of a system crash can be reconstructed.
[0537] 4. Event Recording Call
[0538] The runtime system of a processing element records events
from the execution, applies timestamps and causality pointers, and
forwards the records to a communication channel. Any event made
visible to the runtime system, either by being identified as an
explicit event in the model or by eventRecord calls at runtime, is
a candidate for recording. The eventRecord function can be
implemented either to transfer event records to a runtime
simulation host or to record them into storage.
[0539] To build concurrent event traces, distributed software
environment 4300 must be instrumented to produce appropriate event
records, and media must be applied to store them. Unlike
traditional approaches, instrumentation must include information
about how different software components 4402 interact. Instrumented
distributed code can change the execution characteristics of
distributed software environment 4300 being debugged (recall the
probe effect).
[0540] To collect event traces, the code itself must be well
instrumented. This instrumentation can be automatically applied to
the code by the runtime synthesis engine. A simple form of
instrumentation involves inserting event recording calls at each
significant source line (such as message sent or variable changed)
and can include the values sent or the values to which the variable
was changed. Over-parameterization of event records can create
significant delays in simulated systems and can cause a probe
effect in physical systems, since the time for packaging parameters
can be significant. For the most part, static instrumentation code
is required for activities that do not appear as events to runtime
system 4404, since runtime system 4404 can deal with explicit
events. The eventRecord method assigns a unique identifier to the
event record, assigns all appropriate timestamps, and identifies
implicit causality. See Listing 2 below for an example of an event
recording call:
7 Listing 2 - Instrumented Event Record cl.p2.send (x + 3);
eventRecord ("cl.p2.send"); / / synthesized
[0541] As with other aspects of the system, a designer does not
know in advance exactly how much detail will be needed, and detail
requirements may change over time. This means that the principles
of selective focus should be applied to event collection, as well.
While static instrumentation cannot be altered during system
execution, it can be designed to be disabled by the debugging
system during execution.
[0542] Runtime debugging support in the physical distributed
software environment should be as lightweight as possible to avoid
incurring any further probe effect. One of the goals in debugging a
physical system is to ensure that as little of the debugging
support as possible is placed on the systems themselves.
[0543] 5. Precomputed Event Sequences
[0544] Events often occur in specific, predetermined, partially
ordered sequences. Therefore, instead of sending every single event
in the sequence, it is possible to send a token representing the
sequence and let debugging host 4306 expand it. This is an
application of selective focus to event collection. Since the
lowest detail levels are completely determined, there is nothing
lost when operating at these higher levels of abstraction.
[0545] For example, with the RPC protocol, it may be necessary to
indicate only the start and finish of a transaction. If a bug
causes the transaction to fail, simply knowing the identity of that
particular transaction can be a useful starting point for further
evaluation in simulation.
[0546] 6. Execution Shadowing
[0547] Since individual traces only include events, the simulator
must keep track of all other aspects of an execution. The host side
of the debugger tracks system state through state change events.
This lets the debugger track decisions made by the distributed
system and is called execution shadowing.
[0548] 7. Interpolation of Events from Bus Traces
[0549] Events that are visible on a system bus can be recorded by
observing bus signals. This requires hardware support for bus trace
collection. In this case, events of a far more primitive nature
must be dealt with (e.g., transitions between states for physical
wires and very low-level actions).
[0550] FIG. 48 shows an example of low-level behavioral recognition
for a simple I.sup.2C protocol. At the lowest level are signal
transitions. These are translated into sub-low-level events, which
are then fed into a language recognizer to generate low-level
debugging events.
[0551] The main problems with this approach involve bandwidth.
Potentially large numbers of events must be analyzed to present a
reasonable view of what happens at the lower levels. This can
either (1) require the hardware to save a great deal of information
and then parse it later for content or (2) cause a great deal of
computation overhead at runtime, which slows down the system.
[0552] It will be obvious to those having skill in the art that
many changes may be made to the details of the above-described
embodiments of this invention without departing from the underlying
principles thereof. The scope of the present invention should,
therefore, be determined only by the following claims.
* * * * *