Abstract: In a method for evaluating one or more components in a data center, inlet and outlet temperatures of one or more heat dissipating devices are detected. In addition, the temperatures of air supplied by one or more computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units are also detected. Indices of air re-circulation for the one or more heat dissipating devices are calculated based upon the detected inlet temperatures, outlet temperatures and supplied air temperatures. The indices of air re-circulation are determined at various flow field settings of air delivered to the one or more heat dissipating devices and the one or more components are evaluated based upon changes in the indices of air re-circulation for the one or more heat dissipating devices at the various flow field settings.

Abstract: A method for semi-autonomous operation of a robotic device in a room. In the method, one or more goal points are set and the distances between the robotic device and the one or more goal points are determined. A first one of the one or more goal points is selected and the robotic device is maneuvered to travel to the first one of the one or more goal points.

Abstract: A rack has a frame for supporting one or more electronic components. A front panel and a rear panel are attached to the frame. At least one of the front panel and the rear panel comprises a vent having at least one movable louver configured to vary airflow through the vent.

Abstract: A technique for providing reliability to an interconnect fabric for communication among a set of nodes. Ports associated with each node are partitioned into a first set of ports and a second set of ports. A first interconnect fabric is formed among the first set of ports for each node in response to a set of flow requirements. A second interconnect fabric is formed among the second set of ports. Reliability is enhanced because, in the event of a failure of any single element of the first interconnect fabric, the flows among the nodes can still be achieved by the second interconnect fabric.

Abstract: A cooling device for dissipating heat from a component is disclosed. The cooling device includes a core with a plurality of twin fins connected with the core and a liquid chamber in thermal communication with the component. The liquid chamber includes a reservoir with a liquid therein and the core includes a cavity with a liquid therein. A heat pipe is connected with the liquid chamber and with the core and the heat pipe is in contact with the liquid in the reservoir and the liquid in the cavity so that waste heat in the liquid chamber is thermally communicated to the core and is dissipated by an air flow over the twin fins and the core.

Abstract: A method for calculating a probability distribution that represents probabilities of occurrence of time differences between causally related incoming messages and outgoing messages of a node in a system of communicating nodes is described. The method comprises obtaining a set of time differences between times at which incoming messages arrive at a node and times at which outgoing messages leave the node, the set of time differences including time differences between causally related incoming messages and outgoing messages and time differences between incoming messages and outgoing messages that are not causally related. The method also comprises processing the set of time differences using a statistical estimation algorithm to calculate the probability distribution that represents probabilities of occurrence of time differences between causally related incoming messages and outgoing messages. An apparatus configured to execute the methods is also described.

Abstract: A device and a system for cooling heat generating electronics is disclosed. In one embodiment, the invention is a system for cooling at least one computer component. The system has a plurality of cold plates which are adapted to transfer heat from a plurality of computer components to a cooling fluid. A supply line supplies the cooling fluid to and from these cold plates. The system also has a housing with one or more racks to support the computer component(s). The racks may also support the cold plates so that the cold plates are in thermal communication with at least one computer component.

Abstract: An imaging device is calibrated using a flat, featureless surface and uniform illumination, relying on the effect of off-axis illumination and vignetting on the reduction of light into the camera at off-axis angles. The effect of the tilt of the camera is also considered. These effects are used to extract intrinsic camera parameters including focal length, principal point, aspect ratio and skew.

Abstract: A self-testing video display device and method of use. A video display test program is stored in a video processing unit inside a video display device. The test program includes a plurality of video test patterns and is accessible by entering a “secret” keycode combination on a keypad of the video display device. The self-testing video display device allows a service center operator to evaluate a malfunctioned video display device at the user's location through telephone or internet. An end user may also use the video display test process to set up, evaluate, and calibrate the self-testing video display device at the user's location.

Abstract: A cooling system is configured to supply individually metered amounts of cooling fluid to heat generating components, e.g., processors, micro-controllers, high speed video cards, disk drives, semi-conductor devices, and the like, of an electronic system. The cooling system includes at least one variable speed fan, e.g., blower, configured to supply fluid through a centralized plenum and thereafter through a plurality of nozzles to the components of the electronic system. Each of the nozzles contains a valve to control the amount of fluid flow through the each of the nozzles. A controller is provided to control the operation of the variable speed fan and the operation of each of the valves is also controlled by a controller.

Abstract: A method for controlling one or more computer room air conditioning (CRAC) units for energy efficient operation, in which, the temperature of the air returned (Trat) into the one or more CRAC units and the temperature of the air supplied (Tsat) by the one or more CRAC units is detected. The caloric heat transfer level (Q) is calculated based upon the Trat and the Tsat and it is determined whether the Q is within a predetermined setpoint caloric heat transfer range. In addition, at least one operation of the one or more CRAC units is reduced in response to the Q being within the predetermined setpoint caloric heat transfer range to thereby increase the efficiencies of the one or more CRAC units.

Abstract: Media slides are often employed in conference sessions, meetings, lectures, and other interactive forums. The proliferation of laptops and handheld computers allows a speaker to present directly from the laptop by connecting to the projector at the conference site. Physically connecting and disconnecting each presenter's laptop to the projection apparatus, however, can be a clumsy and disruptive process, particularly since the presenters may be seated at various locations around the room. A wireless interface between a presentation server and a laptop in a multi-user multi-projector presentation system allows a media sequence from each media source to be displayed on a common display via the presentation server and the wireless interface. Presenters need not run or swap cables or other physical connections to switch media sources to the common display. The interface requires no software modification to the media source laptops and maintains independence between media sources and the server for security.

Abstract: A method of reducing energy consumption in a multi-effect absorption system. The multi-effect absorption system includes a primary generator for a primary desorption process and a secondary generator for a secondary desorption process. In the method, heat is provided to the primary generator from a primary heat source for the primary desorption process. Heat generating devices are cooled with the multi-effect absorption system while the generated heat is collected and transferred to the to the secondary generator for use in the secondary desorption process thereby reducing the amount of heat required from the primary heat source and reducing the energy consumption of the absorption system.

Abstract: An information server with power-aware adaptation that enables power reduction while minimizing the performance impact of power reduction. An information server according to the present techniques includes a transaction prioritizer that determines which of a set of memory subsystems in the information server is to cache a set of data associated with each incoming information access transaction and further includes a power manager that performs a power adaptation in the information server in response to a set of ranks assigned to the memory subsystems. An association of priorities of the incoming information access transactions to appropriately ranked memory subsystems and the judicious selection of memory subsystems for power adaptation enhances the likelihood that higher priority cached data is not lost during power adaptation.

Abstract: A key management module is utilized to improve efficiency in cryptographic systems. The key management module may monitor file usage and recommend (and/or implement) key pair changes. In particular, the key management module may be configured to periodically examine (or analyze) performance parameters (e.g., number of times written, number of times read, etc.) associated with a user's files. A network monitor module may be configured to gather and maintain records of the associated performance parameters. The key management module may be further configured to compare the performance parameters of a given file with a table of key level ranges. The table of key lengths may be configured to provide a listing of multiple key lengths, each key length corresponding to an activity level of a performance parameter, e.g., relative read/write access frequency.

Abstract: In a method for optimizing performance in a memory system, a data structure configured to provide at least one free block of memory is received in the memory system. At least one bucket of memory is released in a swap device of the memory system corresponding to at least one free block of memory provided by the data structure.

Abstract: In one embodiment, for an electronic architecture with a functional constitution performing a number of functions characterized by separate stages performing subfunctions, a method of deriving a benchmark program for estimating the maximum power consumption by modeling a functional model of the architecture, compiling the benchmark program into a corresponding instruction stream, valuating power weights for each stage of each function of each constituent, inserting the power weights, running the model in a maximum power consumption mode, and summarizing power consumption. In one embodiment, the benchmark program is applied by specifying a design analysis to be performed, selecting a function, designating a stages performing that function, removing a set of instruction set architecture instructions corresponding the designated stage, emulating the constituent subfunction corresponding to the stages designated stage, and summarizing. In one embodiment, the model is written in SystemC.

Abstract: A method for designing an interconnect fabric for communication between a set of source nodes and a set of terminal nodes. The method partitions the flow requirements of the interconnect fabric into flow-sets and merges the flow-sets to reduce insensibilities with respect to available ports on source and terminal nodes while taking into account costs and feasibility of implementation.

Abstract: A technique for data placement in a distributed system that takes into account fault tolerance. Data placement is performed in which data objects, and possibly replicas thereof, are assigned to nodes within the distributed system. The resulting placement is then tested to determine whether the system provides desired performance under various different fault scenarios. If not, the distributed system is altered such as by altering its capacity or its capacity allocations. Performing data placement, testing for fault-tolerance and altering capacity or capacity allocations are performed repetitively, thereby increasing the system's ability to provide the desired performance under the fault scenarios. Preferably, a system and placement are eventually determined that provide the desired performance under the given fault scenarios.

Abstract: Described herein are systems and methods of coupling network infrastructure devices through a shared memory facility, rather than through conventional network I/O (input/output) adapters. All communications through the resulting network infrastructure service system are conducted using shared memory as the physical transport medium. In this way, the congestion and processing overhead caused by the duplication and storage of multiple copies of data packets to be transferred between network infrastructure devices may be avoided. This feature of the invention significantly increases the speed at which packets may be transmitted between network infrastructure devices.