Patents by Inventor Therron L. Powell

Therron L. Powell 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: 9898304
    Abstract: Described is a technology by which independent computing functions such as corresponding to separate operating systems may be partitioned into coexisting partitions. A virtual machine manager, or hypervisor, manages the input and output of each partition to operate computer system hardware. One partition may correspond to a special purpose operating system that quickly boots, such as to provide appliance-like behavior, while another partition may correspond to a general purpose operating system that may load while the special purpose operating system is already running. The computer system that contains the partitions may transition functionality and devices from one operating system to the other. The virtual machine manager controls which computer hardware devices are capable of being utilized by which partition at any given time, and may also facilitate inter-partition communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Therron L. Powell, Jason Michael Anderson
  • Publication number: 20160004540
    Abstract: Described is a technology by which independent computing functions such as corresponding to separate operating systems may be partitioned into coexisting partitions. A virtual machine manager, or hypervisor, manages the input and output of each partition to operate computer system hardware. One partition may correspond to a special purpose operating system that quickly boots, such as to provide appliance-like behavior, while another partition may correspond to a general purpose operating system that may load while the special purpose operating system is already running. The computer system that contains the partitions may transition functionality and devices from one operating system to the other. The virtual machine manager controls which computer hardware devices are capable of being utilized by which partition at any given time, and may also facilitate inter-partition communication.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 11, 2015
    Publication date: January 7, 2016
    Inventors: Therron L. Powell, Jason Michael Anderson
  • Patent number: 9146760
    Abstract: Described is a technology by which independent computing functions such as corresponding to separate operating systems may be partitioned into coexisting partitions. A virtual machine manager, or hypervisor, manages the input and output of each partition to operate computer system hardware. One partition may correspond to a special purpose operating system that quickly boots, such as to provide appliance-like behavior, while another partition may correspond to a general purpose operating system that may load while the special purpose operating system is already running. The computer system that contains the partitions may transition functionality and devices from one operating system to the other. The virtual machine manager controls which computer hardware devices are capable of being utilized by which partition at any given time, and may also facilitate inter-partition communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 29, 2015
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Therron L. Powell, Jason Michael Anderson
  • Publication number: 20110010714
    Abstract: Described is a technology by which independent computing functions such as corresponding to separate operating systems may be partitioned into coexisting partitions. A virtual machine manager, or hypervisor, manages the input and output of each partition to operate computer system hardware. One partition may correspond to a special purpose operating system that quickly boots, such as to provide appliance-like behavior, while another partition may correspond to a general purpose operating system that may load while the special purpose operating system is already running. The computer system that contains the partitions may transition functionality and devices from one operating system to the other. The virtual machine manager controls which computer hardware devices are capable of being utilized by which partition at any given time, and may also facilitate inter-partition communication.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 9, 2010
    Publication date: January 13, 2011
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Therron L. Powell, Jason Michael Anderson
  • Patent number: 7814307
    Abstract: Described is a technology by which independent computing functions such as corresponding to separate operating systems may be partitioned into coexisting partitions. A virtual machine manager, or hypervisor, manages the input and output of each partition to operate computer system hardware. One partition may correspond to a special purpose operating system that quickly boots, such as to provide appliance-like behavior, while another partition may correspond to a general purpose operating system that may load while the special purpose operating system is already running. The computer system that contains the partitions may transition functionality and devices from one operating system to the other. The virtual machine manager controls which computer hardware devices are capable of being utilized by which partition at any given time, and may also facilitate inter-partition communication.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2006
    Date of Patent: October 12, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Therron L. Powell, Jason Michael Anderson
  • Patent number: 7664796
    Abstract: A system and method using hardware and software components enable a storage module to maintain information about an associated storage device and its content such that the information is accessible when the storage device is offline or in a low power configuration. A general-computing host system connects to the storage module via a pluggable interface to provide information to a nonvolatile memory cache on the storage module. The storage module includes a separate power source, an output display, input buttons, and a module controller. The host system includes an application and host platform for processing file-system related events to send records to the module controller to automatically update a catalog representing storage device information in the nonvolatile memory. When offline, the user may display the catalog information and use the buttons to navigate among it. The host system may also allow the user to interactively review and modify the catalog.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Therron L. Powell, Carl M. Carter-Schwendler, David P. Golds
  • Patent number: 7581036
    Abstract: A system and method using hardware and software components enable a storage module to collect and maintain control transaction data (e.g., directives/events) when a storage device of the module is offline or in a low power configuration. The storage module contains a nonvolatile memory cache and a module controller, and also may include a separate power source, an output display and input mechanism so that when offline, the user may display and navigate among catalog information corresponding to stored content to set up deferred events related to the content. When reconnected to a general-computing host system, the host system obtains the control transaction data from the storage module, and processes the data into file-system related events and other events to perform actions to the storage device and/or to other resources coupled to the host computer system. The host system may also cache transaction control data on the storage module's cache.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2004
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Therron L. Powell, Carl M. Carter-Schwendler, David P. Golds