Patents Represented by Attorney Matthew B. Talpis
  • Patent number: 8296438
    Abstract: Provided is a method for assigning a domain host configuration protocol (DHCP) server from a list of available DHCP servers based upon user selected criteria. When a network router receives a request for an IP address from a computer, or “client,” connected to a network, the request is analyzed for information related to both the client and the available DHCP servers. The analysis may be based upon a number of factors such as the number of previous requests to a particular DHCP server and the proximity of the servers to the computer requesting the IP address. Once the router determines an appropriate DHCP server for a particular IP address request, the client request is forwarded to that DHCP server. The process is completely transparent to both the requesting client and to the selected DHCP server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 11, 2007
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Michael W. Brown, Brian K. Howe, Radhakrishnan Sethuraman, Manuel Silveyra
  • Patent number: 8238190
    Abstract: Asynchronous behavior of a circuit is modeled by modifying latches in a netlist to add an extra port to the latches, e.g., a single-port latch is transformed into a dual-port latch. Each input port has an enable line and a data input. The data input in the added port is a feedback line from the latch output, and the enable line in the added port is the logical NOR of all of the original enable lines. By adding this extra latch port in the higher-level model, it becomes possible to introduce assertion logic to ensure that one and only one latch port for a given latch is ever active during the same simulation cycle. The model can then be tested earlier in the design methodology prior to the availability of the post-synthesis netlist. The model can also be used in both simulation and formal or semi-formal verification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Yee Ja, Bradley S. Nelson, Wolfgang Roesner
  • Patent number: 8181050
    Abstract: An adaptive throttling system for minimizing the impact of non-production work on production work in a computer system is provided. The adaptive throttling system throttles production work and non-production work to optimize production. The adaptive throttling system allows system administrators to specify a quantified limit on the performance impact of non-production or utility work on production work. The throttling rate of the utility is then automatically determined by a supervisory agent, so that the utilities' impact is kept within the specified limit. The adaptive throttling system adapts dynamically to changes in workloads so as to ensure that valuable system resources are well utilized and utility work is not delayed unnecessarily.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph L. Hellerstein, Matthew Huras, Sujay S. Parekh, Kevin R. Rose, Sam Lightstone
  • Patent number: 8176185
    Abstract: A method of communicating with a remote site on a network by establishing different user personas respectively associated with different remote sites on the network, each user persona containing one or more attributes used in accessing the remote sites, and then accessing a specific one of the remote sites using the attributes in a specific one of the user personas that is associated with the specific remote site. The specific remote site can be associated with the specific user persona by a universal resource locator (URL), e.g., for web sites on the Internet, and the accessing is automatically performed in response to matching of the URL of the specific remote site to the URL associated with the specific user persona. A default persona can be used for any remote site having no specifically associated user persona.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 8, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Neal Richard Marion, Shawn Patrick Mullen, George F. Ramsay, III, James Stanley Tesauro
  • Patent number: 8171230
    Abstract: A PCI Express (PCIe) computer system utilizes address translation services to translate virtual addresses from I/O device adaptors to physical addresses of system memory. A combined memory controller and host bridge uses a translation agent to convert the I/O addresses via translation control entries (TCEs) in a TCE table (also known as an address translation and protection table). Some of the I/O device adaptors have address translation caches for local storage of TCEs. The TCE definition includes a new non-cacheable control bit which is set active in the TCE table when the TCE is in the process of being invalidated. The memory controller prevents further caching of the TCE while the non-cacheable control bit is active. A further implementation utilizes a change-in-progress control bit of the TCE to indicate that the TCE is in the process of being changed to allow simultaneous invalidation of the previously TCE information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 3, 2007
    Date of Patent: May 1, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas M. Freimuth, Renato J. Recio, Steven M. Thurber
  • Patent number: 8153516
    Abstract: The present invention provides for a BGA solder ball interconnection to an outer conductive layer of a laminated circuit assembly having an underlying circuit layer. The invention includes a raised BGA solder ball pad substantially co-planar with the outer conductive layer, the raised pad having a raised face and a plurality of vertical conductive walls and a BGA solder ball having an average diameter of greater than the width of the raised face, the BGA solder ball being adhered to the raised face and to a substantial portion of the vertical conductive walls.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 10, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Paul Marlan Harvey
  • Patent number: 8108657
    Abstract: A computing system capable of handling floating point operations during program code conversion is described, comprising a processor including a floating point unit and an integer unit. The computing system further comprises a translator unit arranged to receive subject code instructions including at least one instruction relating to a floating point operation and in response to generate corresponding target code for execution on said processor. To handle floating point operations a floating point status unit and a floating point control unit are provided within the translator. These units are cause the translator unit to generate either: target code for performing the floating point operations directly on the floating point unit; or target code for performing the floating point operations indirectly, for example using a combination of the integer unit and the floating point unit. In this way the efficiency of the computing system is improved.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Gavin Barraclough, James Richard Mulcahy, David James Rigby
  • Patent number: 8108842
    Abstract: A native binding technique is provided for inserting calls to native functions during translation of subject code to target code, such that function calls in the subject program to subject code functions are replaced in target code with calls to native equivalents of the same functions. Parameters of native function calls are transformed from target code representations to be consistent with native code representations, native code calling conventions, and native function prototypes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Alexander B. Brown, Geraint M. North, Frank Thomas Weigel, Gareth Anthony Knight
  • Patent number: 8095720
    Abstract: The present invention provides for a system comprising a peripheral component interface (PCI) host bridge. The PCI host bridge is configured to be coupled to a PCI bus, and to receive a system reset signal, to generate a PCI bus reset signal based on the received system reset signal, to detect a PCI operational mode of the PCI bus, and to generate a voltage indicator signal based on the detected PCI operational mode. A voltage regulator is coupled to the PCI host bridge and configured to receive the voltage indicator signal and to regulate a signaling voltage for the PCI bus based on the voltage indicator signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 10, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Parag Birmiwal, Bernard Charles Drerup
  • Patent number: 8091076
    Abstract: A native binding technique is provided for insetting calls to native functions during translation of subject code to target code, such that function calls in the subject program to subject code functions are replaced in target code with calls to native equivalents of the same functions. Parameters of native function calls are transformed from target code representations to be consistent with native code representations, native code calling conventions, and native function prototypes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Alexander B. Brown, Geraint M. North, Frank Thomas Weigel, Gareth Anthony Knight
  • Patent number: 8086900
    Abstract: According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, a method for testing a boot image is disclosed. The method comprises creating a test boot image for a first logical partition, creating a second logical partition wherein the second logical partition is a duplicate of the first logical partition, initiating a boot sequence for the second logical partition using the test boot image, and returning a result of the boot sequence to a requestor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen A. Haley, Ricardo S. Puig, Alvin J. Seippel, Caryn N. Seippel
  • Patent number: 8086852
    Abstract: A method is presented for implementing a trusted computing environment within a data processing system. A hypervisor is initialized within the data processing system, and the hypervisor supervises a plurality of logical, partitionable, runtime environments within the data processing system. The hypervisor reserves a logical partition for a hypervisor-based trusted platform module (TPM) and presents the hypervisor-based trusted platform module to other logical partitions as a virtual device via a device interface. Each time that the hypervisor creates a logical partition within the data processing system, the hypervisor also instantiates a logical TPM within the reserved partition such that the logical TPM is anchored to the hypervisor-based TPM. The hypervisor manages multiple logical TPM's within the reserved partition such that each logical TPM is uniquely associated with a logical partition.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 27, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Steven A. Bade, Ryan Charles Catherman, James Patrick Hoff, Nia Letise Kelley, Emily Jane Ratliff
  • Patent number: 8065522
    Abstract: A method, an apparatus, a system, and a computer program product is presented for virtualizing trusted platform modules within a data processing system. A virtual trusted platform module along with a virtual endorsement key is created within a physical trusted platform module within the data processing system using a platform signing key of the physical trusted platform module, thereby providing a transitive trust relationship between the virtual trusted platform module and the core root of trust for the trusted platform. The virtual trusted platform module can be uniquely associated with a partition in a partitionable runtime environment within the data processing system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Steven A. Bade, Linda Nancy Betz, Andrew Gregory Kegel, Michael J. Kelly, William Lee Terrell
  • Patent number: 8055736
    Abstract: Maintaining SAN access rights during migration of operating systems including assigning, to a virtual SAN interface adapter of a source virtualization intermediary (SVI?) on the source server, at least two world wide port names (WWPN), identifying devices coupled for data communications to the SVI through the primary WWPN; selecting a target physical SAN interface adapter on a target server available to a target virtualization intermediary (‘TVI’) having a target virtual SAN interface adapter; assigning to the target virtual SAN interface adapter the secondary WWPN; identifying devices coupled for data communications to the TVI through the secondary WWPN; determining whether the devices coupled to the SVI through the primary WWPN are also coupled to TVI through the secondary WWPN; migrating the operating system from the source server to the target server if the devices coupled to the SVI through the primary WWPN are also coupled to TVI through the secondary WWPN.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2008
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Daniel G. Eisenhauer, Robert G. Kovacs, James A. Pafumi, Jaya Srikrishnan
  • Patent number: 8055912
    Abstract: Multiple trusted platform modules within a data processing system are used in a redundant manner that provides a reliable mechanism for securely storing secret data at rest that is used to bootstrap a system trusted platform module. A hypervisor requests each trusted platform module to encrypt a copy of the secret data, thereby generating multiple versions of encrypted secret data values, which are then stored within a non-volatile memory within the trusted platform. At some later point in time, the encrypted secret data values are retrieved, decrypted by the trusted platform module that performed the previous encryption, and then compared to each other. If any of the decrypted values do not match a quorum of values from the comparison operation, then a corresponding trusted platform module for a non-matching decrypted value is designated as defective because it has not been able to correctly decrypt a value that it previously encrypted.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 19, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 8, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Steven A. Bade, Linda Nancy Betz, Andrew Gregory Kegel, David R. Safford, Leendert Peter Van Doorn
  • Patent number: 8037203
    Abstract: Methods, systems, and products are disclosed for user defined preferred DNS routing that include mapping for a user in a data communications application a domain name of a network host to a network address for a preferred DNS server, wherein the preferred DNS server has a network address for the domain name; receiving from the user a request for access to a resource accessible through the network host; and routing to the preferred DNS server a DNS request for the network address of the network host, the DNS request including the domain name of the network host. In typical embodiments, mapping a domain name to a network address for a preferred DNS server is carried out by storing, through the data communication application, the domain name in association with the network address for a preferred DNS server in a data structure in computer memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 11, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jos Manuel Accapadi, Mathew Accapadi, William Lee Britton, Andrew Dunshea, Dirk Michel
  • Patent number: 8028151
    Abstract: A method, system and processor for improving the performance of an in-order processor. A processor may include an execution unit with an execution pipeline that includes a backup pipeline and a regular pipeline. The backup pipeline may store a copy of the instructions issued to the regular pipeline. The execution pipeline may include logic for allowing instructions to flow from the backup pipeline to the regular pipeline following the flushing of the instructions younger than the exception detected in the regular pipeline. By maintaining a backup copy of the instructions issued to the regular pipeline, instructions may not need to be flushed from separate execution pipelines and re-fetched. As a result, one may complete the results of the execution units to the architected state out of order thereby allowing the completion point to vary among the different execution pipelines.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 27, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Michael Abernathy, Jonathan James Dement, Ronald Hall, Albert James Van Norstrand
  • Patent number: 8024555
    Abstract: An emulator allows subject code written for a subject processor having subject processor registers and condition code flags to run in a non-compatible computing environment. The emulator identifies and records parameters of instructions in the subject code that affect status of the subject condition code flags. Then, when an instruction in the subject code is encountered, such as a branch or jump, that uses the flag status to make a decision, the flag status is resolved from the recorded instruction parameters. Advantageously, emulation overhead is substantially reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 14, 2007
    Date of Patent: September 20, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: John H. Sandham, Geraint M. North
  • Patent number: 8015358
    Abstract: A cache memory which loads two memory values into two cache lines by receiving separate portions of a first requested memory value from a first data bus over a first time span of successive clock cycles and receiving separate portions of a second requested memory value from a second data bus over a second time span of successive clock cycles which overlaps with the first time span. In the illustrative embodiment a first input line is used for loading both a first byte array of the first cache line and a first byte array of the second cache line, a second input line is used for loading both a second byte array of the first cache line and a second byte array of the second cache line, and the transmission of the separate portions of the first and second memory values is interleaved between the first and second data busses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: September 6, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Vicente Enrique Chung, Guy Lynn Guthrie, William John Starke, Jeffrey Adam Stuecheli
  • Patent number: 8006013
    Abstract: The disclosure relates to a method and apparatus to efficiently address livelock in a multi-processor system. In one embodiment, the disclosure is directed to a method for preventing a system bus livelock in a system having a plurality of processors communicating respectively through a plurality of bus masters to a plurality of IO Controllers across a system bus by: receiving at an MMIO state machine a plurality of snoop commands issued from the plurality of processors, identifying a first processor and a second processor from the plurality of processors, each of the first processor and the second processor having a first number of snoop commands in the input queue and a second number of responses in the output queue, the first number and the second number exceeding a threshold; issuing a burst prevention response to the first processor and the second process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Benjamin Lee Goodman, Ryan Scott Haraden