Patents by Inventor Timothy Joseph Torzewski
Timothy Joseph Torzewski 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: 8725914Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method dynamically bind Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI) resources shared by a plurality of clients to an interrupt facility in an MSI-capable computer. In addition, management of such bindings may be implemented using a platform independent interrupt manager capable of managing multiple MSI bindings between MSI resources to an interrupt facility, and interfaced with an underlying hardware platform of a computer through platform-specific encapsulation program code.Type: GrantFiled: August 28, 2006Date of Patent: May 13, 2014Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Sean Thomas Brownlow, James Arthur Lindeman, Gregory Michael Nordstrom, John Ronald Oberly, III, John Thomas O'Quin, II, Steven Mark Thurber, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Patent number: 8141089Abstract: A soft lock mechanism controls access by multiple processes to a shared resource to make simultaneous access an unlikely event, while not necessarily preventing simultaneous access. Preferably, the soft lock contains a next_free_time field, specifying when the soft lock will next be available, and a lock_duration, specifying a sufficiently long interval for most accesses to the resource to complete. The lock is obtained by comparing the current time to next_free_time. If the current time is later than next_free_time, then the lock is obtained immediately, and next_free_time is updated to the current time plus lock_duration. If the current time is before next_free_time, then next_free_time is incremented by lock_duration, and the requesting process waits until the old next_free_time to obtain the lock. No action is required to release the lock.Type: GrantFiled: January 11, 2007Date of Patent: March 20, 2012Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Michael J. Corrigan, Gary Ross Ricard, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Patent number: 7962910Abstract: A logically-partitioned computer, program product and method utilize a flexible and adaptable communication interface between a partition and a partition manager, which permits optimal handling of partition management operations such as state change operations and the like over a wide variety of circumstances. In particular, a partition is permitted to indicate, in connection with a request to perform a partition management operation, whether an asynchronous notification should be generated or suppressed in association with the performance of the partition management operation by a partition manager. As a result, asynchronous notifications are selectively generated in association with the performance of partition management operations based upon indications in the requests made by partitions for such operations.Type: GrantFiled: August 6, 2007Date of Patent: June 14, 2011Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: William Joseph Armstrong, Naresh Nayar, Gregory Michael Nordstrom, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Patent number: 7873794Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus, method, and program product that provides atomic, multi-word load support without incurring additional memory utilization. A double-word is atomically loaded without the use of one or more additional fields and without a lock. An invalidity marker is used in connection with a cache miss time to ascertain whether a loaded double-word has been stored and loaded atomically, and is thus, valid.Type: GrantFiled: August 21, 2007Date of Patent: January 18, 2011Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Michael Joseph Corrigan, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Patent number: 7840965Abstract: A logically-partitioned computer, program product and method utilize a flexible and adaptable communication interface between a partition and a partition manager, which permits optimal handling of partition management operations such as state change operations and the like over a wide variety of circumstances. In particular, a partition is permitted to indicate, in connection with a request to perform a partition management operation, whether an asynchronous notification should be generated or suppressed in association with the performance of the partition management operation by a partition manager. As a result, asynchronous notifications are selectively generated in association with the performance of partition management operations based upon indications in the requests made by partitions for such operations.Type: GrantFiled: March 18, 2008Date of Patent: November 23, 2010Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: William Joseph Armstrong, Naresh Nayar, Gregory Michael Nordstrom, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Publication number: 20080172670Abstract: A soft lock mechanism controls access by multiple processes to a shared resource to make simultaneous access an unlikely event, while not necessarily preventing simultaneous access. Preferably, the soft lock contains a next_free_time field, specifying when the soft lock will next be available, and a lock_duration, specifying a sufficiently long interval for most accesses to the resource to complete. The lock is obtained by comparing the current time to next_free_time. If the current time is later than next_free_time, then the lock is obtained immediately, and next_free_time is updated to the current time plus lock_duration. If the current time is before next_free_time, then next_free_time is incremented by lock_duration, and the requesting process waits until the old next_free_time to obtain the lock. No action is required to release the lock.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 11, 2007Publication date: July 17, 2008Inventors: Michael J. Corrigan, Gary Ross Ricard, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Publication number: 20080168473Abstract: A logically-partitioned computer, program product and method utilize a flexible and adaptable communication interface between a partition and a partition manager, which permits optimal handling of partition management operations such as state change operations and the like over a wide variety of circumstances. In particular, a partition is permitted to indicate, in connection with a request to perform a partition management operation, whether an asynchronous notification should be generated or suppressed in association with the performance of the partition management operation by a partition manager. As a result, asynchronous notifications are selectively generated in association with the performance of partition management operations based upon indications in the requests made by partitions for such operations.Type: ApplicationFiled: March 18, 2008Publication date: July 10, 2008Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: William Joseph Armstrong, Naresh Nayar, Gregory Michael Nordstrom, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Publication number: 20080126617Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method dynamically bind Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI) resources shared by a plurality of clients to an interrupt facility in an MSI-capable computer. In addition, management of such bindings may be implemented using a platform independent interrupt manager capable of managing multiple MSI bindings between MSI resources to an interrupt facility, and interfaced with an underlying hardware platform of a computer through platform-specific encapsulation program code.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 28, 2006Publication date: May 29, 2008Inventors: Sean Thomas Brownlow, James Arthur Lindeman, Gregory Michael Nordstrom, John Ronald Oberly, John Thomas O'Quin, Steven Mark Thurber, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Publication number: 20080126648Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method dynamically bind Message Signaled Interrupt (MSI) resources shared by a plurality of clients to an interrupt facility in an MSI-capable computer. In addition, management of such bindings may be implemented using a platform independent interrupt manager capable of managing multiple MSI bindings between MSI resources to an interrupt facility, and interfaced with an underlying hardware platform of a computer through platform-specific encapsulation program code.Type: ApplicationFiled: August 28, 2006Publication date: May 29, 2008Inventors: Sean Thomas Brownlow, James Arthur Lindeman, Gregory Michael Nordstrom, John Ronald Oberly, John Thomas O'Quin, Steven Mark Thurber, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Patent number: 7376948Abstract: A logically-partitioned computer, program product and method utilize a flexible and adaptable communication interface between a partition and a partition manager, which permits optimal handling of partition management operations such as state change operations and the like over a wide variety of circumstances. In particular, a partition is permitted to indicate, in connection with a request to perform a partition management operation, whether an asynchronous notification should be generated or suppressed in association with the performance of the partition management operation by a partition manager. As a result, asynchronous notifications are selectively generated in association with the performance of partition management operations based upon indications in the requests made by partitions for such operations.Type: GrantFiled: April 24, 2003Date of Patent: May 20, 2008Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: William Joseph Armstrong, Naresh Nayar, Gregory Michael Nordstrom, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Patent number: 7296120Abstract: Disclosed is an apparatus, method, and program product that provides atomic, multi-word load support without incurring additional memory utilization. A double-word is atomically loaded without the use of one or more additional fields and without a lock. An invalidity marker is used in connection with a cache miss time to ascertain whether a loaded double-word has been stored and loaded atomically, and is thus, valid.Type: GrantFiled: November 18, 2004Date of Patent: November 13, 2007Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Michael Joseph Corrigan, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Patent number: 6990560Abstract: A task synchronization mechanism operates on a global lock that is shared between processors an on local locks that are not shared between processors. The local locks are processor-specific locks. Each processor-specific lock is dedicated to a particular processor in the system. When shared access to a resource is required, a processor updates its processor-specific lock to indicate the processor is sharing the resource. Because each processor-specific lock is dedicated to a particular processor, this eliminates a significant portion of the memory bus traffic associated with all processors reading and updating the same lock. When exclusive access to a resource is required, the requesting processor waits until the count of all processor-specific locks indicate that none of these processors have a lock on the resource. Once no processor has a lock on the resource, exclusive access to the resource may be granted.Type: GrantFiled: January 16, 2003Date of Patent: January 24, 2006Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: William Joseph Armstrong, Michael Joseph Corrigan, Gary Ross Ricard, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Publication number: 20040215905Abstract: A logically-partitioned computer, program product and method utilize a flexible and adaptable communication interface between a partition and a partition manager, which permits optimal handling of partition management operations such as state change operations and the like over a wide variety of circumstances. In particular, a partition is permitted to indicate, in connection with a request to perform a partition management operation, whether an asynchronous notification should be generated or suppressed in association with the performance of the partition management operation by a partition manager. As a result, asynchronous notifications are selectively generated in association with the performance of partition management operations based upon indications in the requests made by partitions for such operations.Type: ApplicationFiled: April 24, 2003Publication date: October 28, 2004Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: William Joseph Armstrong, Naresh Nayar, Gregory Michael Nordstrom, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Publication number: 20040143712Abstract: A task synchronization mechanism operates on a global lock that is shared between processors an on local locks that are not shared between processors. The local locks are processor-specific locks. Each processor-specific lock is dedicated to a particular processor in the system. When shared access to a resource is required, a processor updates its processor-specific lock to indicate the processor is sharing the resource. Because each processor-specific lock is dedicated to a particular processor, this eliminates a significant portion of the memory bus traffic associated with all processors reading and updating the same lock. When exclusive access to a resource is required, the requesting processor waits until the count of all processor-specific locks indicate that none of these processors have a lock on the resource. Once no processor has a lock on the resource, exclusive access to the resource may be granted.Type: ApplicationFiled: January 16, 2003Publication date: July 22, 2004Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATIONInventors: William Joseph Armstrong, Michael Joseph Corrigan, Gary Ross Ricard, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Patent number: 6298345Abstract: A journal mechanism for a database allows simultaneous deposits on multiple journal arms. According to a first embodiment, a journaling system maintains the time-order of interdependent deposits on the journal, but does not necessarily maintain the time-order of deposits that are independent of each other, thereby providing multiple simultaneous deposit points on the journal. The first embodiment provides excellent scaling of journal functions as processors are added to a database computer system. According to a second embodiment, a journaling system maintains the time-order of deposits on the journal, but allows a group of deposits known as a “bundle” to span multiple journal arms, thereby providing multiple simultaneous deposit points on the journal. The second embodiment provides good scaling while providing compatibility with known database systems. The present invention thus relieves contention for the journal that exists as the number of processors increases in a database system.Type: GrantFiled: July 10, 1998Date of Patent: October 2, 2001Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: William Joseph Armstrong, Jr., Gary Ross Ricard, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Patent number: 6052696Abstract: A method and system of journal bundling that provides improved performance. In the preferred embodiment, a journal controller starts a timer to expire at a predetermined maximum time-to-wait. The journal controller then accumulates journal records in a bundle and transmits the bundle to the journal. The journal controller determines the number-of-journal-records accumulated in the bundle based on an adjustable preferred-bundle-size, which it calculates from an average-bundle-size over a history interval. If the timer expires, the journal controller writes the bundle to the journal even if the preferred-bundle-size has not been reached. By basing the preferred-bundle-size on an average-bundle-size over a history interval, the journal controller prevents rapid changes in the journal traffic-rate, which increases journal performance.Type: GrantFiled: April 27, 1998Date of Patent: April 18, 2000Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Theresa Renee Euler, Gary Ross Ricard, Timothy Joseph Torzewski
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Patent number: 5784697Abstract: According to the present invention, pool allocation and process assignment mechanisms create process nodal affinity in a NUMA multiprocessor system for enhanced performance. The multiprocessor system includes multiple interconnected multiprocessing nodes that each contain one or more processors and a local main memory, the system main storage being distributed among the local main memories of the multiprocessing nodes in a NUMA architecture. A pool reservation mechanism reserves pools of memory space within the logical main storage, and the pool allocation mechanism allocates those pools to real pages in the local main-memory of multiprocessing nodes. Processes to be created on the multiprocessor are given an attribute that indicates an associated pool. Upon creation, the process assignment mechanism will only assign a process to a multiprocessing node that has been allocated the pool indicated by the process' attribute.Type: GrantFiled: March 27, 1996Date of Patent: July 21, 1998Assignee: International Business Machines CorporationInventors: Mark Robert Funk, Larry Keith McMains, Donald Arthur Morrison, Robert Anthony Petrillo, Robert Carl Seemann, Arthur Douglas Smet, Timothy Joseph Torzewski