Patents by Inventor Michael A. Blocksome

Michael A. Blocksome 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).

  • Data driven dynamic workflow
    Patent number: 9519884
    Abstract: A method, system and article of manufacture for workflow processing and, more particularly, for managing creation and execution of data driven dynamic workflows. One embodiment provides a computer-implemented method for managing execution of workflow instances. The method comprises providing a parent process template and providing a child process template. The child process template is configured to implement an arbitrary number of workflow operations for a given workflow instance, and the parent process template is configured to instantiate child processes on the basis of the child process template to implement a desired workflow. The method further comprises receiving a workflow configuration and instantiating an instance of the workflow on the basis of the workflow configuration. The instantiating comprises instantiating a parent process on the basis of the parent process template and instantiating, by the parent process template, one or more child processes on the basis of the child process template.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 24, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2016
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Melissa Aron, Michael A. Blocksome, David G. Herbeck, Todd E. Johnson
  • Administering virtual machines in a distributed computing environment
    Patent number: 9503515
    Abstract: In a distributed computing environment that includes hosts that execute a VMM, where each VMM supports execution of one or more VMs, administering VMs may include: assigning, by a VMM manager, the VMMs of the distributed computing environment to a logical tree topology, including assigning one of the VMMs as a root VMM of the tree topology; and executing, amongst the VMMs of the tree topology, a broadcast operation, including: pausing, by the root VMM, execution of one or more VMs supported by the root VMM; sending, by the root VMM, to other VMMs in the tree topology, a message indicating a pending transfer of the paused VMs; and transferring the paused VMs from the root VMM to the other VMMs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 25, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles J. Archer, Michael A. Blocksome, James E. Carey, Philip J. Sanders
  • Administering virtual machines in a distributed computing environment
    Patent number: 9503514
    Abstract: In a distributed computing environment that includes hosts which each execute a VMM, with each VMM supporting execution of one or more VMs, administering a the VMs may include: assigning, by a VMM manager, the VMMs of the distributed computing environment to a logical tree topology, including assigning one of the VMMs as a root VMM of the tree topology; and executing, amongst the VMMs of the tree topology, an allgather operation, including: sending, by the root VMM, to other VMMs in the tree topology, a request to retrieve VMs supported by the other VMMs; pausing, by each of the other VMMs, a VM supported by the VMM; providing, by each of the other VMMs as a response to the root VMM's request, the paused VM; and broadcasting, by the root VM to the other VMMs as a set of VMs, the received VMs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles J. Archer, Michael A. Blocksome, James E. Carey, Philip J. Sanders
  • Thread selection according to power characteristics during context switching on compute nodes
    Patent number: 9459917
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and products are disclosed for thread selection during context switching on a plurality of compute nodes that includes: executing, by a compute node, an application using a plurality of threads of execution, including executing one or more of the threads of execution; selecting, by the compute node from a plurality of available threads of execution for the application, a next thread of execution in dependence upon power characteristics for each of the available threads; determining, by the compute node, whether criteria for a thread context switch are satisfied; and performing, by the compute node, the thread context switch if the criteria for a thread context switch are satisfied, including executing the next thread of execution.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles J. Archer, Michael A. Blocksome, Amanda E. Randles, Joseph D. Ratterman, Brian E. Smith
  • Improving efficiency of a global barrier operation in a parallel computer
    Patent number: 9459934
    Abstract: Performing a global barrier operation in a parallel computer that includes compute nodes coupled for data communications, where each compute node executes tasks, with one task on each compute node designated as a master task, including: for each task on each compute node until all master tasks have joined a global barrier: determining whether the task is a master task; if the task is not a master task, joining a single local barrier; if the task is a master task, joining the global barrier and the single local barrier only after all other tasks on the compute node have joined the single local barrier.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles J. Archer, Michael A. Blocksome, Joseph D. Ratterman, Brian E. Smith
  • Administering incomplete data communications messages in a parallel computer
    Patent number: 9336071
    Abstract: Administering incomplete data communications messages in a parallel computer that includes a plurality of compute nodes, with each compute node including a processor and a messaging accelerator, includes: transmitting, by a source messaging accelerator to a destination messaging accelerator, a message, including processing a messaging descriptor describing the message and setting, in the message descriptor, a flag indicating the message has been sent; transmitting, by the source messaging accelerator to a destination messaging accelerator responsive to processing an acknowledgement request descriptor corresponding to the message, a request for acknowledgment of receipt of the message; receiving, by the source messaging accelerator from the destination messaging accelerator, a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating that the message was not received at the destination messaging accelerator; and clearing, by the source messaging accelerator in the message descriptor, the flag indicating that message has been
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2014
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Michael A. Blocksome
  • Distributed hardware device simulation
    Patent number: 9317637
    Abstract: Distributed hardware device simulation, including: identifying a plurality of hardware components of the hardware device; providing software components simulating the functionality of each hardware component, wherein the software components are installed on compute nodes of a distributed processing system; receiving, in at least one of the software components, one or more messages representing an input to the hardware component; simulating the operation of the hardware component with the software component, thereby generating an output of the software component representing the output of the hardware component; and sending, from the software component to at least one other software component, one or more messages representing the output of the hardware component.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles J. Archer, Michael A. Blocksome, Joseph D. Ratterman, Brian E. Smith
  • Processing data communications events by awakening threads in parallel active messaging interface of a parallel computer
    Patent number: 9286145
    Abstract: Processing data communications events in a parallel active messaging interface (‘PAMI’) of a parallel computer that includes compute nodes that execute a parallel application, with the PAMI including data communications endpoints, and the endpoints are coupled for data communications through the PAMI and through other data communications resources, including determining by an advance function that there are no actionable data communications events pending for its context, placing by the advance function its thread of execution into a wait state, waiting for a subsequent data communications event for the context; responsive to occurrence of a subsequent data communications event for the context, awakening by the thread from the wait state; and processing by the advance function the subsequent data communications event now pending for the context.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 15, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles J. Archer, Michael A. Blocksome, Joseph D. Ratterman, Brian E. Smith
  • Data communications in a distributed computing environment
    Patent number: 9253107
    Abstract: Data communications may be carried out in a distributed computing environment that includes computers coupled for data communications through communications adapters and an active messaging interface (‘AMI’). Such data communications may be carried out by: issuing, by a sender to a receiver, an eager SEND data communications instruction to transfer SEND data, the instruction including information describing data location at the sender and data size; transmitting, by the sender to the receiver, the SEND data as eager data packets; discarding, by the receiver in dependence upon data flow conditions, eager data packets as they are received from the sender; and transferring, in dependence upon the data flow conditions, by the receiver from the sender's data location to a receive buffer by remote direct memory access (“RDMA”), the SEND data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles J. Archer, Michael A. Blocksome, James E. Carey, Philip J. Sanders
  • Establishing a group of endpoints in a parallel computer
    Patent number: 9250948
    Abstract: A parallel computer executes a number of tasks, each task includes a number of endpoints and the endpoints are configured to support collective operations. In such a parallel computer, establishing a group of endpoints receiving a user specification of a set of endpoints included in a global collection of endpoints, where the user specification defines the set in accordance with a predefined virtual representation of the endpoints, the predefined virtual representation is a data structure setting forth an organization of tasks and endpoints included in the global collection of endpoints and the user specification defines the set of endpoints without a user specification of a particular endpoint; and defining a group of endpoints in dependence upon the predefined virtual representation of the endpoints and the user specification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles J. Archer, Michael A. Blocksome, Joseph D. Ratterman, Brian E. Smith, Hanhong Xue
  • Administering incomplete data communications messages in a parallel computer
    Patent number: 9250987
    Abstract: Administering incomplete data communications messages in a parallel computer that includes a plurality of compute nodes, with each compute node including a processor and a messaging accelerator, includes: transmitting, by a source messaging accelerator to a destination messaging accelerator, a message, including processing a messaging descriptor describing the message and setting, in the message descriptor, a flag indicating the message has been sent; transmitting, by the source messaging accelerator to a destination messaging accelerator responsive to processing an acknowledgement request descriptor corresponding to the message, a request for acknowledgment of receipt of the message; receiving, by the source messaging accelerator from the destination messaging accelerator, a negative acknowledgment (NACK) indicating that the message was not received at the destination messaging accelerator; and clearing, by the source messaging accelerator in the message descriptor, the flag indicating that message has been
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Michael A. Blocksome
  • Establishing a group of endpoints to support collective operations without specifying unique identifiers for any endpoints
    Patent number: 9250949
    Abstract: A parallel computer executes a number of tasks, each task includes a number of endpoints and the endpoints are configured to support collective operations. In such a parallel computer, establishing a group of endpoints receiving a user specification of a set of endpoints included in a global collection of endpoints, where the user specification defines the set in accordance with a predefined virtual representation of the endpoints, the predefined virtual representation is a data structure setting forth an organization of tasks and endpoints included in the global collection of endpoints and the user specification defines the set of endpoints without a user specification of a particular endpoint; and defining a group of endpoints in dependence upon the predefined virtual representation of the endpoints and the user specification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles J. Archer, Michael A. Blocksome, Joseph D. Ratterman, Brian E. Smith, Hanghong Xue
  • Mechanism of supporting sub-communicator collectives with o(64) counters as opposed to one counter for each sub-communicator
    Patent number: 9244734
    Abstract: A system and method for enhancing barrier collective synchronization on a computer system comprises a computer system including a data storage device. The computer system includes a program stored in the data storage device and steps of the program being executed by a processor. The system includes providing a plurality of communicators for storing state information for a barrier algorithm. Each communicator designates a master core in a multi-processor environment of the computer system. The system allocates or designates one counter for each of a plurality of threads. The system configures a table with a number of entries equal to the maximum number of threads. The system sets a table entry with an ID associated with a communicator when a process thread initiates a collective. The system determines an allocated or designated counter by searching entries in the table.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES INC.
    Inventors: Michael Blocksome, Sameer Kumar, Amith R. Mamidala, Douglas Miller, Joseph D. Ratterman
  • MULTI-PETASCALE HIGHLY EFFICIENT PARALLEL SUPERCOMPUTER
    Publication number: 20160011996
    Abstract: A Multi-Petascale Highly Efficient Parallel Supercomputer of 100 petaflop-scale includes node architectures based upon System-On-a-Chip technology, where each processing node comprises a single Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC). The ASIC nodes are interconnected by a five dimensional torus network that optimally maximize the throughput of packet communications between nodes and minimize latency. The network implements collective network and a global asynchronous network that provides global barrier and notification functions. Integrated in the node design include a list-based prefetcher. The memory system implements transaction memory, thread level speculation, and multiversioning cache that improves soft error rate at the same time and supports DMA functionality allowing for parallel processing message-passing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2015
    Publication date: January 14, 2016
    Inventors: Sameh Asaad, Ralph E. Bellofatto, Michael A. Blocksome, Matthias A. Blumrich, Peter Boyle, Jose R. Brunheroto, Dong Chen, Chen-Yong Cher, George L. Chiu, Norman Christ, Paul W. Coteus, Kristan D. Davis, Gabor J. Dozsa, Alexandre E. Eichenberger, Noel A. Eisley, Matthew R. Ellavsky, Kahn C. Evans, Bruce M. Fleischer, Thomas W. Fox, Alan Gara, Mark E. Giampapa, Thomas M. Gooding, Michael K. Gschwind, John A. Gunnels, Shawn A. Hall, Rudolf A. Haring, Philip Heidelberger, Todd A. Inglett, Brant L. Knudson, Gerard V. Kopcsay, Sameer Kumar, Amith R. Mamidala, James A. Marcella, Mark G. Megerian, Douglas R. Miller, Samuel J. Miller, Adam J. Muff, Michael B. Mundy, John K. O'Brien, Kathryn M. O'Brien, Martin Ohmacht, Jeffrey J. Parker, Ruth J. Poole, Joseph D. Ratterman, Valentina Salapura, David L. Satterfield, Robert M. Senger, Burkhard Steinmacher-Burow, William M. Stockdell, Craig B. Stunkel, Krishnan Sugavanam, Yutaka Sugawara, Todd E. Takken, Barry M. Trager, James L. Van Oosten, Charles D. Wait, Robert E. Walkup, Alfred T. Watson, Robert W. Wisniewski, Peng Wu
  • ADMINISTERING VIRTUAL MACHINES IN A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT
    Publication number: 20150309816
    Abstract: In a distributed computing environment that includes hosts which each execute a VMM, with each VMM supporting execution of one or more VMs, administering a the VMs may include: assigning, by a VMM manager, the VMMs of the distributed computing environment to a logical tree topology, including assigning one of the VMMs as a root VMM of the tree topology; and executing, amongst the VMMs of the tree topology, an allgather operation, including: sending, by the root VMM, to other VMMs in the tree topology, a request to retrieve VMs supported by the other VMMs; pausing, by each of the other VMMs, a VM supported by the VMM; providing, by each of the other VMMs as a response to the root VMM's request, the paused VM; and broadcasting, by the root VM to the other VMMs as a set of VMs, the received VMs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: CHARLES J. ARCHER, MICHAEL A. BLOCKSOME, JAMES E. CAREY, PHILIP J. SANDERS
  • ADMINISTERING VIRTUAL MACHINES IN A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT
    Publication number: 20150309821
    Abstract: In a distributed computing environment that includes which each execute a VMM, where each VMM supports execution of one or more VMs, administering the VMs may include: assigning, by a VMM manager, the VMMs of the distributed computing environment to a logical tree topology, including assigning one of the VMMs as a root VMM of the tree topology; and executing, amongst the VMMs of the tree topology, a gather operation, including: sending, by the root VMM, to other VMMs in the tree topology, a request to retrieve one or more VMs supported by the other VMMs; pausing, by the other VMMs, each VM requested to be retrieved; and providing, by the other VMMs to the root VMM, the VMs requested to be retrieved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: CHARLES J. ARCHER, MICHAEL A. BLOCKSOME, JAMES E. CAREY, PHILIP J. SANDERS
  • ADMINISTERING VIRTUAL MACHINES IN A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT
    Publication number: 20150309822
    Abstract: Administering VMs in a distributed computing environment that includes hosts that execute a VMM, with each VMM supporting execution of one or more VMs, includes: assigning the VMMs to a logical tree topology with one as a root; and executing, by the VMMs of the tree topology, a reduce operation, including: sending, by the root VMM to each of other VMMs of the tree topology, a request for an instance of a particular VM; pausing, by each of the other VMMs, the requested instance of the particular VM; providing, by each of the other VMMs to the root VMM in response to the root VMM's request, the requested instance of the particular VM; and identifying, by the root VMM, differences among the requested instances of the particular VM including, performing a bitwise XOR operation amongst the instances of the particular VM.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: CHARLES J. ARCHER, MICHAEL A. BLOCKSOME, JAMES E. CAREY, PHILIP J. SANDERS
  • ADMINISTERING VIRTUAL MACHINES IN A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT
    Publication number: 20150309823
    Abstract: In a distributed computing environment that includes hosts that execute a VMM, with each VMM supporting execution of one or more VMs, administering VMs may include: assigning, by a VMM manager, the VMMs of the distributed computing environment to a logical tree topology, including assigning one of the VMMs as a root VMM of the tree topology; and executing, amongst the VMMs of the tree topology, a scatter operation, including: pausing, by the root VMM one or more executing VMs; storing, by the root VMM in a buffer, a plurality of VMs to scatter amongst the other VMMs of the tree topology; and sending, by the root VMM, to each of the other VMMs of the tree topology a different one of the VMs stored in the buffer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2014
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Applicant: International Buisness Machines Corporation
    Inventors: CHARLES J. ARCHER, MICHAEL A. BLOCKSOME, JAMES E. CAREY, PHILIP J. SANDERS
  • ADMINISTERING VIRTUAL MACHINES IN A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT
    Publication number: 20150312326
    Abstract: In a distributed computing environment that includes which each execute a VMM, where each VMM supports execution of one or more VMs, administering the VMs may include: assigning, by a VMM manager, the VMMs of the distributed computing environment to a logical tree topology, including assigning one of the VMMs as a root VMM of the tree topology; and executing, amongst the VMMs of the tree topology, a gather operation, including: sending, by the root VMM, to other VMMs in the tree topology, a request to retrieve one or more VMs supported by the other VMMs; pausing, by the other VMMs, each VM requested to be retrieved; and providing, by the other VMMs to the root VMM, the VMs requested to be retrieved.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2014
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: CHARLES J. ARCHER, MICHAEL A. BLOCKSOME, JAMES E. CAREY, PHILIP J. SANDERS
  • ADMINISTERING VIRTUAL MACHINES IN A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT
    Publication number: 20150312330
    Abstract: In a distributed computing environment that includes hosts that execute a VMM, where each VMM supports execution of one or more VMs, administering VMs may include: assigning, by a VMM manager, the VMMs of the distributed computing environment to a logical tree topology, including assigning one of the VMMs as a root VMM of the tree topology; and executing, amongst the VMMs of the tree topology, a broadcast operation, including: pausing, by the root VMM, execution of one or more VMs supported by the root VMM; sending, by the root VMM, to other VMMs in the tree topology, a message indicating a pending transfer of the paused VMs; and transferring the paused VMs from the root VMM to the other VMMs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 28, 2014
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: CHARLES J. ARCHER, MICHAEL A. BLOCKSOME, JAMES E. CAREY, PHILIP J. SANDERS