MECHANISM FOR INTER-PROCESSOR INTERRUPTS IN A HETEROGENEOUS MULTIPROCESSOR SYSTEM

Apparatus and methods for handling inter-processor interrupts (IPIs) in a heterogeneous multiprocessor system are provided. The scalable IPI mechanism provided herein entails minimal logic and can be used for heterogeneous inter-processor communication, such as between application processors, real-time processors, and FPGA accelerators. This mechanism is also low cost, in terms of both logic area and programmable complexity. One example system generally includes a first processor, a second processor being of a different processor type than the first processor, and an IPI circuit. The IPI circuit typically includes a first register associated with the first processor, wherein a first bit in the first register indicates whether the first processor has requested to interrupt the second processor; and a second register associated with the second processor, wherein a second bit in the second register indicates whether the second processor has requested to interrupt the first processor.