Data processing systems and method for processing work items in such systems

摘要

Described is a method for processing work items in a data processing system. An interrupt is generated in response to receipt of a work item on a queue and the generated interrupt is serviced to schedule a task by placing the task on a task queue for later processing of the queued work item. The interrupt is not enabled at this point and therefore the receipt of further work items will not result in the generation of interrupts. When the scheduled task reaches the head of the queue, the task is executed to process the queued work item (and all other work items that have been added to the queue since the task was scheduled). When all the work items have been processed, a further task is speculatively scheduled for processing of any work items that are subsequently placed on the work item queue. When the speculatively scheduled task reaches the head of the queue, it is executed to process queued work items; if any work items were found, a further task is speculatively scheduled, otherwise the interrupt is enabled.