METHOD, DEVICE AND ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE FOR EFFICIENT TASK SCHEDULING IN A MULTI-TASKING PREEMPTIVE PRIORITY-BASED REAL-TIME OPERATING SYSTEM

The present invention provides a method, an article of manufacture and a multi-tasking, preemptive, priority based operating device for acceleration of operating system functions using a host processor and a task scheduling accelerator. The host processor processes a plurality of tasks and receives interrupts and uses a predetermined task scheduling accelerator interrupt service routine for responding to the task scheduling accelerator. The task scheduling accelerator is coupled to the host processor and is used for efficiently accelerating real time multi-tasking decisions using scheduling decisions responsive to tasks in the host processor.