Patents by Inventor John A. Bivens

John A. Bivens 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).

  • Patent number: 7890624
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of preventing harmful variability and oscillation in weight based, dynamic load balancing environments. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods to effectively determine the magnitude of weight changes in dynamic load balancing environments based on the workload magnitude and server farm capacity. This method depends on the development of new multi-system characteristics such as a relative workload metric to characterize the workload of the system relative to the collective capacity of all of the systems to handle the workload.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 26, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 15, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John A. Bivens, Donna N. Dillenberger, Yuksel Gunal
  • Publication number: 20100317400
    Abstract: At least one embodiment of the invention addresses the problem of accidental user operation (e.g., dialing) of a mobile communication device such as a mobile telephone. In this regard, embodiments of the invention provide a proactive solution for preventing unintended operation of a mobile device based on various types of input data of the device, most notably sensory data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2009
    Publication date: December 16, 2010
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John A. Bivens, Joel W. Branch, Daby M. Sow
  • Patent number: 7647405
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of preventing harmful variability and oscillation in weight based, dynamic load balancing environments. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods to effectively determine the magnitude of weight changes in dynamic load balancing environments based on the workload magnitude and server farm capacity. This method depends on the development of new multi-system characteristics such as a relative workload metric to characterize the workload of the system relative to the collective capacity of all of the systems to handle the workload.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John A. Bivens, Donna N Dillenberger, Yuksel Gunal
  • Publication number: 20090113042
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for computing distributed component lag times includes: determining a transaction path for groups of transactions in a plurality of transactions to be processed; determining a distribution of elapsed times from a start of work at each component to an end of work at each component for the plurality of work processing components in the transaction path; determining a distribution of the offsets between the completion of work at the last component of the transaction path and the time of reporting the work at the last component of the transaction path; and combining the distributions of component elapsed times and the distribution of component offsets to calculate the transaction lag for each component in the transaction path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 31, 2007
    Publication date: April 30, 2009
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporaton
    Inventors: John A. Bivens, Rui Zhang
  • Publication number: 20080288544
    Abstract: Meta data specifying modification constraints for one or more of the attributes of an (operational) policy is generated/provided. Thereafter, the meta data is associated with the policy so that the constraints specified by the meta data can govern the modification of the policy. Under the present invention there are at least two ways of associating the meta data with a policy. In one embodiment, the meta data is embodied as a meta policy that can be associated with one or more (operational) policies. In another embodiment, the meta data is inserted into individual policies as additional attributes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 29, 2008
    Publication date: November 20, 2008
    Inventors: John A. Bivens II, David L. Kaminsky
  • Publication number: 20080263206
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of preventing harmful variability and oscillation in weight based, dynamic load balancing environments. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods to effectively determine the magnitude of weight changes in dynamic load balancing environments based on the workload magnitude and server farm capacity. This method depends on the development of new multi-system characteristics such as a relative workload metric to characterize the workload of the system relative to the collective capacity of all of the systems to handle the workload.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 26, 2008
    Publication date: October 23, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: John A. Bivens, Donna N. Dillenberger, Yuksel Gunal
  • Publication number: 20080249746
    Abstract: The present invention provides a system for determining a metric of capacity in computing systems and computer applications. Capacity in this sense refers to the ability of computer systems and computer applications to perform work. Many applications and multi-hop system strategies could benefit from understanding the amount of work a particular system or application is capable of performing. A metric such as this can be very difficult to calculate due to widely varying system hardware, operating system architectures, and application behavior/performance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 12, 2008
    Publication date: October 9, 2008
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John A. Bivens, Peter Yocom
  • Patent number: 7433892
    Abstract: Meta data specifying modification constraints for one or more of the attributes of an (operational) policy is generated/provided. Thereafter, the meta data is associated with the policy so that the constraints specified by the meta data can govern the modification of the policy. Under the present invention there are at least two ways of associating the meta data with a policy. In one embodiment, the meta data is embodied as a meta policy that can be associated with one or more (operational) policies. In another embodiment, the meta data is inserted into individual policies as additional attributes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 7, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John A. Bivens, II, David L. Kaminsky
  • Patent number: 7392159
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of determining a metric of capacity in computing systems and computer applications. Capacity in this sense refers to the ability of computer systems and computer applications to perform work. Many applications and multi-hop system strategies could benefit from understanding the amount of work a particular system or application is capable of performing. A metric such as this can be very difficult to calculate due to widely varying system hardware, operating system architectures; application behavior/performance, etc. This disclosure describes a method of dynamic capacity estimation which learns the capacity of an application or system with respect to the work asked of the system and the resources used by the application in question.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2005
    Date of Patent: June 24, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John A. Bivens, Peter Yocom
  • Publication number: 20070185996
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of preventing harmful variability and oscillation in weight based, dynamic load balancing environments. More specifically, the present invention relates to methods to effectively determine the magnitude of weight changes in dynamic load balancing environments based on the workload magnitude and server farm capacity. This method depends on the development of new multi-system characteristics such as a relative workload metric to characterize the workload of the system relative to the collective capacity of all of the systems to handle the workload.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 6, 2006
    Publication date: August 9, 2007
    Inventors: John Bivens, Donna Dillenberger, Yuksel Gunal
  • Publication number: 20070016824
    Abstract: Techniques for globally managing systems are provided. One or more measurable effects of at least one hypothetical action to achieve a management goal are determined at a first system manager. The one or more measurable effects are sent from the first system manager to a second system manager. At the second system manager, one or more procedural actions to achieve the management goal are determined in response to the one or more received measurable effects. The one or more procedural actions are executed to achieve the management goal.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 14, 2006
    Publication date: January 18, 2007
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John Bivens, David Chess, Donna Dillenberger, Steven Froehlich, James Hanson, Mark Hulber, Jeffrey Kephart, Giovanni Pacifici, Michael Spreitzer, Asser Tantawi, Mathew Thoennes, Ian Whalley, Peter Yocom
  • Publication number: 20060287739
    Abstract: The present invention provides a method of determining a metric of capacity in computing systems and computer applications. Capacity in this sense refers to the ability of computer systems and computer applications to perform work. Many applications and multi-hop system strategies could benefit from understanding the amount of work a particular system or application is capable of performing. A metric such as this can be very difficult to calculate due to widely varying system hardware, operating system architectures; application behavior/performance, etc. This disclosure describes a method of dynamic capacity estimation which learns the capacity of an application or system with respect to the work asked of the system and the resources used by the application in question.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2005
    Publication date: December 21, 2006
    Inventors: John Bivens, Peter Yocom
  • Publication number: 20060282545
    Abstract: A method for version negotiation between two entities is provided. Described in the context of communication protocol negotiation, an initiating entity proposes an initial communication protocol version to a receiving entity. In response, the receiving entity accepts the protocol version if it is within the range of its supported versions or proposes an alternative protocol version selecting to be either the highest or lowest protocol version supported by the receiving entity. This allows the receiving entity to successfully limit the number of protocol versions it supports and to communicate this restriction in any protocol setting to the initiating entity. The initiating entity then accepts the proposed alternative protocol version. If version negotiation is successful, either the accepted initial version or the accepted alternative version of the communication protocol is used for the duration of the communication session between the initiating entity and the receiving entity.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2005
    Publication date: December 14, 2006
    Inventors: John Arwe, John Bivens, Garth Conrad, Constantinos Kassimis, Gary McAfee, Gerald McKenna
  • Publication number: 20050198050
    Abstract: Under the present invention meta data specifying modification constraints for one or more of the attributes of an (operational) policy is generated/provided. Thereafter, the meta data is associated with the policy so that the constraints specified by the meta data can govern the modification of the policy. Under the present invention there are at least two ways of associating the meta data with a policy. In one embodiment, the meta data is embodied as a meta policy that can be associated with one or more (operational) policies. In another embodiment, the meta data is inserted into individual policies as additional attributes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2004
    Publication date: September 8, 2005
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John Bivens, David Kaminsky
  • Publication number: 20050120095
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for distributing traffic across a group of machines using application instance statistics. In order to perform load balancing in accordance with the present invention, a method of generating weights to bias load balancing distributions is provided. The application instances to which traffic is being distributed, or the application middleware, are instrumented to establish certain metrics about the application while running. The application instance instrumentation will provide application statistics such as number of successful transactions, application response times, application topology, importance of transactions being processed, time the application is blocked waiting for resources, resource consumption data, and the like. These metrics are collected, processed, and then presented as a set of weights to the load balancing apparatus to govern its distribution of traffic.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 2, 2003
    Publication date: June 2, 2005
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey Aman, John Arwe, Michael Baskey, John Bivens, David Bostjancic, Donna Dillenberger, Peter Yocom
  • Publication number: 20030226036
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for enabling a client to use a single set of credentials to access multiple secure applications at servers. A proxy authentication application at the server intercepts all requests for applications that require authentication, and initiates an authentication procedure with a proxy authentication application installed at the client. User credentials provided by the client authenticator are used by the server authenticator to determine the access credentials that should be forwarded to the server application on behalf of the users. The method allows per-user and per-application authentication decisions to be made at a system level rather than at an application level, even for legacy applications that are designed to require authentication at the application level, without modification to legacy client or server applications.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 30, 2002
    Publication date: December 4, 2003
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John A. Bivens, Suresh N. Chari, James Ryan Giles, Reiner Sailer, Dinesh C. Verma