Task (computing)

About: Task (computing) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 9718 publications have been published within this topic receiving 129364 citations.

Process distribution and sharing system for multiple processor computer system

Abstract: A multiple processor (CPU) computer system, each CPU having a separate, local, random access memory means to which it has direct access. An interprocessor bus couples the CPUs to memories of all the CPUs, so that each CPU can access both its own local memory means and the local memories of the other CPUs. A run queue data structure holds a separate run queue for each of the CPUs. Whenever a new process is created, one of the CPUs is assigned as its home site and the new process is installed in the local memory for the home site. When a specified process needs to be transferred from its home site to another CPU, typically for performing a task which cannot be performed on the home site, the system executes a cross processor call, which performs the steps of: (a) placing the specified process on the run queue of the other CPU; (b) continuing the execution of the specified process on the other CPU, using the local memory for the specified process's home site as the resident memory for the process and using the interprocessor bus to couple the other CPU to the home site's local memory, until a predefined set of tasks has been completed; and then (c) placing the specified process on the run queue of the specified process's home site, so that execution of the process will resume on the process's home site.

Code in the air: simplifying sensing and coordination tasks on smartphones

Abstract: A growing class of smartphone applications are tasking applications that run continuously, process data from sensors to determine the user's context (such as location) and activity, and optionally trigger certain actions when the right conditions occur. Many such tasking applications also involve coordination between multiple users or devices. Example tasking applications include location-based reminders, changing the ring-mode of a phone automatically depending on location, notifying when friends are nearby, disabling WiFi in favor of cellular data when moving at more than a certain speed outdoors, automatically tracking and storing movement tracks when driving, and inferring the number of steps walked each day. Today, these applications are non-trivial to develop, although they are often trivial for end users to state. Additionally, simple implementations can consume excessive amounts of energy. This paper proposes Code in the Air (CITA), a system which simplifies the rapid development of tasking applications. It enables non-expert end users to easily express simple tasks on their phone, and more sophisticated developers to write code for complex tasks by writing purely server-side scripts. CITA provides a task execution framework to automatically distribute and coordinate tasks, energy-efficient modules to infer user activities and compose them, and a push communication service for mobile devices that overcomes some shortcomings in existing push services.

Adaptive Auxiliary Task Weighting for Reinforcement Learning

Abstract: Reinforcement learning is known to be sample inefficient, preventing its application to many real-world problems, especially with high dimensional observations like images. Transferring knowledge from other auxiliary tasks is a powerful tool for improving the learning efficiency. However, the usage of auxiliary tasks has been limited so far due to the difficulty in selecting and combining different auxiliary tasks. In this work, we propose a principled online learning algorithm that dynamically combines different auxiliary tasks to speed up training for reinforcement learning. Our method is based on the idea that auxiliary tasks should provide gradient directions that, in the long term, help to decrease the loss of the main task. We show in various environments that our algorithm can effectively combine a variety of different auxiliary tasks and achieves significant speedup compared to previous heuristic approches of adapting auxiliary task weights.

Transaction interface for a data communication system

Abstract: A system architecture for a high speed serial bus compatible with the 1394 standard is disclosed. A transaction interface coordinates data packets received from or sent to a 1394 bus. A kernel/scheduler/dispatcher is used to allocate memory resources, and start a variety of tasks and services. The tasks and services vary depending on protocols used in a transport layer and application layer used in conjunction with the 1394 layers. Each task operates according to a state machine progression. The transaction interface accepts data information from the tasks and forms data packets for delivery to the 1394 bus. The data packets are initially sent via an associated hardware register, but if busy, the transaction interface polls for other available registers. In addition, all queued transactions are loaded into registers in the most expedient manner.

System And Method For Simulating A Discrete Event Process Using Business System Data

Abstract: The invention provides a method and system to simulate a process of discrete tasks having a plurality of available resources associated therewith. The system may comprise a model database to store a plurality of models, each model including a plurality of task and resource parameters; a model portion in communication with the model database and configured to receive commands from a user, to retrieve one of the plurality of models and corresponding task and resource parameters in response to a user command, to receive input data corresponding to attributes of one or more task and resource parameters from a business database system, and to generate a simulation model based on the selected business database system and the input data; and a model server to perform a simulation of the process by processing the simulation model and to generate an output data file containing output data representative of the simulation.