Patents by Inventor Brent W. Jacobs
Brent W. Jacobs has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
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Patent number: 9722859Abstract: To select a master controller from a plurality of controllers, a computing system may consider whether connections between components within field replaceable units (FRUs) are functional as well as the data dependencies between the FRUs. For example, in addition to identifying whether the connections between the FRUs and the controllers are functional, the computing system sends instructions to each of the FRUs coupled to the controllers to determine if inter- and intra-FRU connections required for booting a compute node hosting the FRUs are functional. For instance, one FRU may depend on data from another FRU in order to boot. If a communication link between the FRUs is non-functional, the compute node may fail to boot. The computer system uses these evaluations to determine which of the controllers to select as the master.Type: GrantFiled: January 23, 2014Date of Patent: August 1, 2017Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Sheldon R. Bailey, Brent W. Jacobs
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Patent number: 9716612Abstract: To select a master controller from a plurality of controllers, a computing system may consider whether connections between components within field replaceable units (FRUs) are functional as well as the data dependencies between the FRUs. For example, in addition to identifying whether the connections between the FRUs and the controllers are functional, the computing system sends instructions to each of the FRUs coupled to the controllers to determine if inter- and intra-FRU connections required for booting a compute node hosting the FRUs are functional. For instance, one FRU may depend on data from another FRU in order to boot. If a communication link between the FRUs is non-functional, the compute node may fail to boot. The computer system uses these evaluations to determine which of the controllers to select as the master.Type: GrantFiled: February 17, 2014Date of Patent: July 25, 2017Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Sheldon R. Bailey, Brent W. Jacobs
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Publication number: 20170206170Abstract: A method may include forming, by a processor, a logical data address container comprising a plurality of logical data addresses. Each logical data address corresponds to a respective physical data address. The method also may include specifying, by the processor, a fully specified physical data address corresponding to a first logical data address of the plurality of logical data addresses. The method further may include specifying, by the processor, partially specified physical data addresses corresponding to the other logical data addresses of the plurality of logical data addresses. The partially specified physical data addresses may include sufficient address information to specify physical data addresses not directly adjacent to the fully specified physical data address. The method also may include storing the fully specified physical data address and the plurality of partially specified physical data addresses in a logical to physical data address translation table.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 5, 2017Publication date: July 20, 2017Inventors: Brent W. JACOBS, Colin C. MCCAMBRIDGE
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Patent number: 9690611Abstract: To perform a workload, a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) may be assigned to a plurality of blade servers. To assign the VMs, a computing system uses the characteristics of the workloads that will be executed by the virtual machines such as the number of processors or the amount of memory, storage the workload is estimated to use, and the like. Based on these workload characteristics, the computing system determines an optimal solution for deploying the VMs onto the blade servers. In one embodiment, the computing system determines whether two or more of the blade servers should be stitched together. For example, the computing system compares the workload characteristics of one of the virtual machine to the combined available resources of at least two of the blade servers. If the combined available resources satisfy the workload characteristics, the computing system stitches the blade servers together.Type: GrantFiled: September 17, 2014Date of Patent: June 27, 2017Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Brent W. Jacobs, Venkatesh Sainath
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Patent number: 9684531Abstract: To perform a workload, a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) may be assigned to a plurality of blade servers. To assign the VMs, a computing system uses the characteristics of the workloads that will be executed by the virtual machines such as the number of processors or the amount of memory, storage the workload is estimated to use, and the like. Based on these workload characteristics, the computing system determines an optimal solution for deploying the VMs onto the blade servers. In one embodiment, the computing system determines whether two or more of the blade servers should be stitched together. For example, the computing system compares the workload characteristics of one of the virtual machine to the combined available resources of at least two of the blade servers. If the combined available resources satisfy the workload characteristics, the computing system stitches the blade servers together.Type: GrantFiled: August 21, 2014Date of Patent: June 20, 2017Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Brent W. Jacobs, Venkatesh Sainath
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Publication number: 20160210241Abstract: A method may include forming, by a processor, a logical data address container comprising a plurality of logical data addresses. Each logical data address corresponds to a respective physical data address. The method also may include specifying, by the processor, a fully specified physical data address corresponding to a first logical data address of the plurality of logical data addresses. The method further may include specifying, by the processor, partially specified physical data addresses corresponding to the other logical data addresses of the plurality of logical data addresses. The partially specified physical data addresses may include sufficient address information to specify physical data addresses not directly adjacent to the fully specified physical data address. The method also may include storing the fully specified physical data address and the plurality of partially specified physical data addresses in a logical to physical data address translation table.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 21, 2015Publication date: July 21, 2016Inventors: Brent W. Jacobs, Colin C. McCambridge
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Publication number: 20160055020Abstract: To perform a workload, a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) may be assigned to a plurality of blade servers. To assign the VMs, a computing system uses the characteristics of the workloads that will be executed by the virtual machines such as the number of processors or the amount of memory, storage the workload is estimated to use, and the like. Based on these workload characteristics, the computing system determines an optimal solution for deploying the VMs onto the blade servers. In one embodiment, the computing system determines whether two or more of the blade servers should be stitched together. For example, the computing system compares the workload characteristics of one of the virtual machine to the combined available resources of at least two of the blade servers. If the combined available resources satisfy the workload characteristics, the computing system stitches the blade servers together.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 17, 2014Publication date: February 25, 2016Inventors: Brent W. JACOBS, Venkatesh SAINATH
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Publication number: 20160057074Abstract: To perform a workload, a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) may be assigned to a plurality of blade servers. To assign the VMs, a computing system uses the characteristics of the workloads that will be executed by the virtual machines such as the number of processors or the amount of memory, storage the workload is estimated to use, and the like. Based on these workload characteristics, the computing system determines an optimal solution for deploying the VMs onto the blade servers. In one embodiment, the computing system determines whether two or more of the blade servers should be stitched together. For example, the computing system compares the workload characteristics of one of the virtual machine to the combined available resources of at least two of the blade servers. If the combined available resources satisfy the workload characteristics, the computing system stitches the blade servers together.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 21, 2014Publication date: February 25, 2016Inventors: Brent W. JACOBS, Venkatesh SAINATH
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Publication number: 20150205618Abstract: To select a master controller from a plurality of controllers, a computing system may consider whether connections between components within field replaceable units (FRUs) are functional as well as the data dependencies between the FRUs. For example, in addition to identifying whether the connections between the FRUs and the controllers are functional, the computing system sends instructions to each of the FRUs coupled to the controllers to determine if inter- and intra-FRU connections required for booting a compute node hosting the FRUs are functional. For instance, one FRU may depend on data from another FRU in order to boot. If a communication link between the FRUs is non-functional, the compute node may fail to boot. The computer system uses these evaluations to determine which of the controllers to select as the master.Type: ApplicationFiled: February 17, 2014Publication date: July 23, 2015Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Sheldon R. BAILEY, Brent W. JACOBS
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Publication number: 20150205617Abstract: To select a master controller from a plurality of controllers, a computing system may consider whether connections between components within field replaceable units (FRUs) are functional as well as the data dependencies between the FRUs. For example, in addition to identifying whether the connections between the FRUs and the controllers are functional, the computing system sends instructions to each of the FRUs coupled to the controllers to determine if inter- and intra-FRU connections required for booting a compute node hosting the FRUs are functional. For instance, one FRU may depend on data from another FRU in order to boot. If a communication link between the FRUs is non-functional, the compute node may fail to boot. The computer system uses these evaluations to determine which of the controllers to select as the master.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 23, 2014Publication date: July 23, 2015Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Sheldon R. BAILEY, Brent W. JACOBS
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Patent number: 8769233Abstract: In an embodiment, a plurality of stack depths of a stack are sampled from all stack depths of the stack. An average of the plurality of stack depths is calculated. If a number of the plurality of stack depths is greater than a maximum sample threshold and the average of the plurality of stack depths is greater than or equal to a current depth of the stack, then pages are deallocated from the stack that are above the average of the plurality of stack depths. If the number of the plurality of stack depths is greater than the maximum sample threshold and the average of the plurality of stack depths is less than the current depth of the stack, then pages are deallocated from the stack that are above the current depth of the stack.Type: GrantFiled: June 14, 2011Date of Patent: July 1, 2014Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Brent W. Jacobs, Nathan D. Miller
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Patent number: 8626973Abstract: A system and method are directed towards a pseudo multi-master operation on a serial bus. The pseudo multi-master operation allows multiple devices without standard multi-master functionality to operate on the serial bus as masters. In a disclosed example, the serial bus is an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus, which is isolated when an adapter card requires access to the I2C bus, such as to update vital product data (VPD) to a memory device, and to cache the updated VPD to a chassis management module.Type: GrantFiled: September 13, 2011Date of Patent: January 7, 2014Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Christopher H. Austen, Douglas M. Boecker, Joseph E. Bolan, Patrick L. Caporale, Brent W. Jacobs, Todd J. Rosedahl, Christopher L. Wood
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Patent number: 8615680Abstract: A method for maintaining vital product data (VPD) of each field replaceable unit (FRUs) in a computer system, the computer system including a first FRU and a second FRU operatively coupled with the first FRU. The method includes calculating a parity for the VPD of the second FRU, and upon detecting a failure of the second FRU, regenerating the VPD for the failed second FRU using the parity.Type: GrantFiled: January 18, 2011Date of Patent: December 24, 2013Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Douglas M. Boecker, Brent W. Jacobs, Nathan D. Miller, Matthew S. Spinler, Shaun A. Wetzstein
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Patent number: 8447921Abstract: A method for maintaining vital product data (VPD) contained in an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) on a field replaceable unit (FRU) of a computer system that has a cache. The method includes maintaining a copy of the VPD in the cache, retrieving the copy of the VPD from the cache upon receiving a read request of the VPD, and, upon receiving a write request to write data to the VPD, writing the data to the copy of the VPD, determining whether the VPD in the EEPROM is in synchronization with the copy of the VPD in the cache, and, if the VPD and the copy of the VPD are in synchronization, writing the data to the EEPROM.Type: GrantFiled: January 18, 2011Date of Patent: May 21, 2013Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Douglas M. Boecker, Brent W. Jacobs, Nathan D. Miller, Matthew S. Spinler, Shaun A. Wetzstein
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Publication number: 20130067134Abstract: A system and method are directed towards a pseudo multi-master operation on a serial bus. The pseudo multi-master operation allows multiple devices without standard multi-master functionality to operate on the serial bus as masters. In a disclosed example, the serial bus is an Inter-Integrated Circuit (I2C) bus, which is isolated when an adapter card requires access to the I2C bus, such as to update vital product data (VPD) to a memory device, and to cache the updated VPD to a chassis management module.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 13, 2011Publication date: March 14, 2013Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Christopher H. Austen, Douglas M. Boecker, Joseph E. Bolan, Patrick L. Caporale, Brent W. Jacobs, Todd J. Rosedahl, Christopher L. Wood
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Publication number: 20120324194Abstract: In an embodiment, a plurality of stack depths of a stack are sampled from all stack depths of the stack. An average of the plurality of stack depths is calculated. If a number of the plurality of stack depths is greater than a maximum sample threshold and the average of the plurality of stack depths is greater than or equal to a current depth of the stack, then pages are deallocated from the stack that are above the average of the plurality of stack depths. If the number of the plurality of stack depths is greater than the maximum sample threshold and the average of the plurality of stack depths is less than the current depth of the stack, then pages are deallocated from the stack that are above the current depth of the stack.Type: ApplicationFiled: June 14, 2011Publication date: December 20, 2012Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Brent W. Jacobs, Nathan D. Miller
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Publication number: 20120185724Abstract: A method for maintaining vital product data (VPD) of each field replaceable unit (FRUs) in a computer system, the computer system including a first FRU and a second FRU operatively coupled with the first FRU. The method includes calculating a parity for the VPD of the second FRU, and upon detecting a failure of the second FRU, regenerating the VPD for the failed second FRU using the parity.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 18, 2011Publication date: July 19, 2012Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Douglas M. Boecker, Brent W. Jacobs, Nathan D. Miller, Matthew S. Spinler, Shaun A. Wetzstein
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Publication number: 20120185637Abstract: A method for maintaining vital product data (VPD) contained in an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory) on a field replaceable unit (FRU) of a computer system that has a cache. The method includes maintaining a copy of the VPD in the cache, retrieving the copy of the VPD from the cache upon receiving a read request of the VPD, and, upon receiving a write request to write data to the VPD, writing the data to the copy of the VPD, determining whether the VPD in the EEPROM is in synchronization with the copy of the VPD in the cache, and, if the VPD and the copy of the VPD are in synchronization, writing the data to the EEPROM.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 18, 2011Publication date: July 19, 2012Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: Douglas M. Boecker, Brent W. Jacobs, Nathan D. Miller, Matthew S. Spinler, Shaun A. Wetzstein
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Publication number: 20080126854Abstract: A data processing system (or server) is designed with redundant service processors and a hypervisor. Both service processors are capable of performing the full set of service processor functions, with one service processor (SP) registering itself as a primary SP with the system firmware/hypervisor and the other SP registering as the backup SP. The primary SP performs the initialization, monitoring and control of system resources. The backup SP and hypervisor monitor the primary SP for indications that the primary SP is failing. In the event of a failure of the primary SP, any one of the three components, the backup SP, hypervisor, or even the primary SP itself, is able to initiate a failover to the backup SP.Type: ApplicationFiled: September 27, 2006Publication date: May 29, 2008Inventors: Gary D. Anderson, Brent W. Jacobs, William A. Thompson
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Patent number: 6985970Abstract: A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium are provided that in an embodiment receive a command at an adapter from an initiator that requests a transfer of data, transfer the data from the initiator to the adapter, and respond with a notification to the initiator that the command completed successfully after transferring the data to the adapter and prior to the adapter completing a process based on the command.Type: GrantFiled: April 25, 2003Date of Patent: January 10, 2006Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Charles S. Graham, Brent W. Jacobs, Daniel F. Moertl, Timothy J. Schimke