Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves modification of the processor utilization calculations that are used by operating system power management services to improve processor efficiency. An embodiment of the present invention is a system and method relating to power management policies under operating system control. In at least one embodiment, the present invention is intended to modify the processor utilization evaluation process so that C-state transition time and/or unhalted reference cycles are included in the calculation. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves a framework for using virtualization technology to efficiently support a domain-specific run-time environment. In at least one embodiment, a framework is utilized to take advantage of virtualization technology (VT) to partition performance critical and non-performance critical tasks of the same domain-specific application. An embodiment of the invention utilizes a general-purpose operating system to execute non-performance critical aspects of a domain, and uses a privileged VT-root mode to execute performance critical aspects of the domain. Another embodiment uses one or more guest VMs to execute the performance critical aspects of the domain-specific run-time environment. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: Systems and methods generate video fingerprints for video data streams. A collection of sub-fingerprints constitute a fingerprint block. The size and temporal position of the block is chosen to represent the video that is being served. The video server has prior information about the video semantics. Based on this information, the server generates control codes that identify which blocks, based on time/byte offsets, in the sequence best represent the video object. The video receiver is equipped with facilities to generate these fingerprint blocks. The block(s) are sent back to the server. The server is equipped with facilities to verify and record the mismatches with respect to references. The mismatch statistics may be archived for use in a number of applications.

Abstract: A method, apparatus and system enable access control and intrusion detection on encrypted data. Specifically, application data on a node may be routed to a partition on the computing platform. The partition may utilize Direct Memory Access (“DMA”) to access session key stored in system memory of a host operating system on the platform. The partition may thereafter utilize the session key to perform intrusion detection on encrypted data from the application running under the host operating system. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Abstract: Methods and apparatus to support the execution of a managed application that is linked to a native library or application are disclosed. The disclosed methods and apparatus support a virtual machine that is associated with the same ISA as the executing platform, while the ISA of the native library or application is of a different ISA. The disclosed methods and apparatus also support the execution of a managed application that is linked with several native libraries or applications that are associated with several different ISAs respectively.

Abstract: A method and system for handling a management interrupt, such as a system management interrupt (SMI) and/or a platform management interrupt (PMI), includes sequestering two or more processor cores from a plurality of processor cores to form a group of sequestered processor cores for handling the management interrupt. Generated management interrupts are directed to the group of sequestered processor cores and not to non-sequestered processor cores. At least one of the sequestered processor cores handles the management interrupt without disrupting the current operation of the non-sequestered processor cores.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves a system and method relating to a framework to build a new class of network control (policy) and (state) management services. The framework may be used to build a number of self-management services to support decentralized (mesh) networks. In at least one embodiment, the present invention is intended to hybridize centralized and decentralized network models to generate a more stable and robust network environment using clustering. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves speeding boot up of a platform by initializing the video card early on in the boot process. In an embodiment, processor cache memory is to be used as cache as RAM (CAR). Video graphics adapter (VGA) card initialization uses the CAR instead of system RAM to perform initialization. A portion of the firmware code, interrupt vector tables and handlers are mirrored in the CAR, from flash memory to mimic the behavior of system RAM during the video initialization. VGA initialization may occur before system RAM has initialized to enable early visual feedback to a user. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: A method and system are provided. In one embodiment, a video image is preprocessed from a video camera to separate objects to be tracked from the rest of the video image. Statistics for the tracked objects and the rest of the video image are computed. Further, a quality measure based on the statistics for the tracked objects and the rest of the video image are generated. The quality measure indicates the suitability of the video image for use by an object tracking system. The generating of the quality measure maximizes saturation of each of the tracked objects. Further, the video camera is tuned to increase the quality measure beyond a threshold.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves a dynamic interrupt route discovery method with local APIC (Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controller) retriggering to accommodate architectures that are not PC/AT compatible. In a mobile Internet device (MID) General Purpose Input/Output (GPIO) pins are dynamically allocated and IRQs are retriggered by a GPIO driver to multiplex the requests to an appropriate device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves a system and method to continuously log correctable errors without rebooting by changing the granularity of the error detection and logging mechanism. A mask register is used to identify which errors are to be logged. Each bit of the mask register may represent a different memory component of the system. Logging of the memory component is determined by the value of the bit in the mask. The masking enables granularity of error logging to the channel and/or dual in-line memory module (DIMM) level. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves a novel combination of techniques for prefetching data and passing messages between and among cores in a multi-processor/multi-core platform. In an embodiment, a receiving core has a message queue and a message prefetcher. Incoming messages are simultaneously written to the message queue and the message prefetcher. The prefetcher speculatively fetches data referenced in the received message so that the data is available when the message is executed in the execution pipeline, or shortly thereafter. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention is a system and method relating to adaptive power management using hardware feedback to select optimal processor frequencies and reduce power/watt. In at least one embodiment, the present invention is intended to optimize processor frequency and power/watt usage based on the hardware feedback and processor stall behavior.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves saving limited context information when transitioning between virtual machines. A predetermined set of instructions and events cause a trap. A bit or flag is set to indicate that the event has occurred within a virtual machine. The virtual machine monitor determines whether specific register sets must be saved or restored upon a context switch, based on whether the flag has been set. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves a system and method relating to autonomic boot recovery. In at least one embodiment, the present invention utilizes an embedded partition to safeguard boot information to be used in the event of a boot failure. An agent within a VMM may be similarly used. The embedded partition or VMM agent enables the preservation of “Last Known Good” boot configurations as well as providing an agent to provide self-healing to a platform which might have run into some type of corruption of critical data. In some embodiments a variety of intelligent filter mechanisms are enabled to allow a user to target the preservation of only certain types of configuration data. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves reducing the time required for a platform to boot to its target application/operating-system using parallelization of firmware image content decompression and loading. An embodiment dispatches alternate processing agents as a means to intelligently assist in off-loading some of the initialization tasks so that the main processor may share the burden of boot tasks. In at least one embodiment, it is intended to build firmware images that facilitate parallelization, utilizing co-processing agents that can split these transactions across various processing agents. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: A system, method, and article of manufacture for controlling home network devices using a multicast enabled remote control. The system includes a plurality of home network devices capable of receiving and/or transmitting multicast input and/or output signals and a home gateway to receive audio/video signals generated outside of the home and to transform the audio/video signals into multicast output signals. The system also includes a multicast enabled remote control to detect, aggregate, store and display all audio/video multicast output signals on the multicast enabled remote control, to enable a user to redirect an audio/video multicast output signal to one or more of the plurality of home network devices capable of receiving multicast input signals, and to control the plurality of home network devices capable of receiving and/or transmitting multicast input and/or output signals.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention efficiently manages, sets up, controls and performs communication between isolated components using portals. In a platform having virtualization architecture, a component in a first virtual machine requests a service to be performed by a component in a second virtual machine. A privileged system layer validates the ability to create a communication portal between the two components. The validation is a two-level validation to ensure that a portal is permitted between the two components and that the requested activity is also permitted. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: In some embodiments, the invention involves system and method for resuming from sleep mode using protected storage accessible to an embedded controller. The boot script information is stored in memory that is available only to the embedded controller. Neither the firmware nor OS have access to the boot script. Upon a wake event, the embedded controller either plays the boot script itself, or sends the information to firmware for processing. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: An embodiment of the present invention is a system and method relating to automatic firmware image update by proxy for BIOS or other embedded firmware image. When a server equipped with a baseboard management controller (BMC) and detects that its BIOS code image is corrupted or out of date, it may broadcast a request for an image update over an out-of-band network. One or more donor systems on the network may respond to the request and send the requestor a new image. The recipient system uses management policies to determine from which donor system to accept an update. In another embodiment, the BMC retrieves a new BIOS image from a predetermined location and updates the BIOS image accordingly.