Patents Assigned to Business Machines Corporation
  • Publication number: 20080307111
    Abstract: A system and method for managing servers. The system comprises a plurality of servers for processing messages, at least one client for transmitting messages to and receiving messages from the servers, and processor means for maintaining a list indicating whether at least one of the servers is eligible to process messages. Preferably, the servers are adapted to process messages of different types; and the processor means includes means to indicate on said list whether, for each of the different types of messages, at least one of the servers is eligible to process each of the different types of messages. Also, in the preferred embodiment, each of the clients includes means to read the list, before the client transmits a message of a given type to one of the servers, to determine whether at least one of the servers is eligible to process messages of the given type.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 18, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Glenn Randle Wilcock
  • Publication number: 20080303791
    Abstract: A controller for controlling a cursor includes an identifying module for identifying at least one of a first period when a cursor is in motion and a second period when the cursor is not in motion, and a calibrating module for calibrating an input parameter signal using a first hands-off test during the first period and a second hands-off test, different than the first hands-off test, during the second period.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Joseph Dela Rutledge, Robert Stephen Olyha, JR.
  • Publication number: 20080306742
    Abstract: For design of a speech interface accepting speech control options, speech samples are stored on a computer-readable medium. A similarity calculating unit calculates a certain indication of similarity of first and second sets of ones of the speech samples, the first set of speech samples being associated with a first speech control option and the second set of speech samples being associated with a second speech control option. A display unit displays the similarity indication. In another aspect, word vectors are generated for the respective speech sample sets, indicating frequencies of occurrence of respective words in the respective speech sample sets. The similarity calculating unit calculates the similarity indication responsive to the word vectors of the respective speech sample sets. In another aspect, a perplexity indication is calculated for respective speech sample sets responsive to language models for the respective speech sample sets.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Osamu Ichikawa, Gakuto Kurata, Masafumi Nishimura
  • Publication number: 20080307256
    Abstract: Embodiments herein provide a fault-handling scheme based on forward recovery for cooperative workflow environments. The fault handling scheme relies on the correct placement of transaction scopes and their associated fault and compensation handlers for maintaining correct application semantics, a fault propagation scheme for forwarding faults to a workflow component that has the corresponding fault handler, and a distributed mechanism for collecting data of completed workflow components to facilitate recovering from faults. The fault handling scheme makes use of control flow messages to facilitate compensation of nested transaction scopes (residing in different components). The workflow components are also modified with additional code for aiding with fault propagation and fault recovery.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 19, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Girish B. Chafle, Sunil Chandra, Pankaj Kankar, Vijay Mann
  • Publication number: 20080306926
    Abstract: A computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for determining aggregate values of health data items from heterogeneously coded databases containing heterogeneously coded medical data. The data, in heterogeneous databases, is queried using a series of semantic layers including i) cascaded asymmetric association tables and ii) semantic search. The heterogeneously coded medical data items are translated into conformal dimensions and denominator files of combinations of disease data are derived. The denominator files of combinations of disease are aggregated based on a mapping of the coded medical and demographic conditions. The data is stored in a target data repository.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 15, 2007
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Robert Friedlander, Richard Hennessy, James R. Kraemer
  • Publication number: 20080303021
    Abstract: Disclosed are thermally conductive plates. Each plate is configured such that a uniform adhesive-filled gap may be achieved between the plate and a heat generating structure when the plate is bonded to the heat generating structure and subjected to a temperature within a predetermined temperature range that causes the heat generating structure to warp. Additionally, this disclosure presents the associated methods of forming the plates and of bonding the plates to a heat generating structure. In one embodiment the plate is curved and modeled to match the curved surface of a heat generating structure within the predetermined temperature range. In another embodiment the plate is a multi-layer conductive structure that is configured to undergo the same warpage under a thermal load as the heat generating structure. Thus, when the plate is bonded with the heat generating structure it is able to achieve and maintain a uniform adhesive-filled gap at any temperature.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 7, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey T. Coffin, Michael A. Gaynes, David L. Questad, Kamal K. Sikka, Hilton T. Toy, Jamil A. Wakil
  • Publication number: 20080307402
    Abstract: Loop code is generated to execute on Single-Instruction Multiple-Datapath (SIMD) architectures, where the loop operates on datatypes having different lengths. Further, a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes a novel technique to efficiently realign or shift arbitrary streams to an arbitrary offset, regardless whether the alignments or offsets are known at the compile time or not. This technique enables the application of advanced alignment optimizations to runtime alignment. This allows sequential loop code operating on datatypes of disparate length to be transformed (“simdized”) into optimized SIMD code through a fully automated process.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 22, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Alexandre E. Eichenberger, Kai-Ting Amy Wang, Peng Wu
  • Publication number: 20080307250
    Abstract: A method, system, and program for managing network errors communicated in a message transaction with error information using a troubleshooting agent. A network facilitates message transactions between a requester and a responder for facilitating web services. When a non-application specific error occurs in relation to a particular message transaction, such as a network error, a protocol layer assigns an error code and either the requester or responder encodes the error code in the body of an envelope added to the particular message transaction. In particular, the message transaction is an XML message with a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) envelope encoded with the error code to which the XML message is then attached. The error encoded message transaction is forwarded to a troubleshooting agent.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: VINCENT VALENTINO DI LUOFFO, CRAIG WILLIAM FELLENSTEIN, RICK ALLEN HAMILTON, II, JOSHY JOSEPH
  • Publication number: 20080307405
    Abstract: Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to dependency maintenance when updating a base application and provide a method, system and computer program product for base and stack application dependency synchronization when updating the base application. In one embodiment of the invention, a method for base and stack application dependency synchronization can be provided for when updating the base application in a multi-application software system. The method can include separating an update to the multi-application software system into a core update for a base application in the multi-application software system and multiple different anchors, each anchor corresponding to at least one stack application. The method further can include installing the core update to the base application and only those of the anchors corresponding to those of the stack applications installed for the base application.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2007
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Howard Chun Chin, Teresa C. Kan, Manqing Li, Edward Mischkot, Ying Choi So
  • Publication number: 20080303069
    Abstract: A two-step nitrogen plasma method is used for stripping a photoresist layer from over a substrate. A first step within the two-step nitrogen plasma method uses a nitrogen plasma with ion activation to form from the photoresist layer over the substrate a treated photoresist layer over the substrate. A second step within the two-step nitrogen plasma method uses a second nitrogen plasma without ion activation to remove the treated photoresist layer from over the substrate. The method is particularly useful for stripping a patterned photoresist layer that is used for forming a gate electrode from a gate electrode material layer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2007
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Nicholas C.M. Fuller, Solomon Assefa, Ying Zhang
  • Publication number: 20080304662
    Abstract: A method for generating a session key on demand in a network among participating network devices, including choosing a private and public key according to a public key encryption scheme, and broadcasting the public key to each other participating network device; choosing a local contribution value from a multiplicative group of size q; encrypting the local contribution value under the received public key to an encrypted contribution value and sending the encrypted contribution value; receiving encrypted contribution values and deriving decrypted contribution values by applying the private key; deriving a blinded session key from the decrypted contribution values and the local contribution value; agreeing on one of the blinded session keys by using an agreement protocol; and deriving the session key from the agreed-on blinded session key by applying one of the decrypted contribution values and the contribution value A corresponding computer program element, computer program product, and computer device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 14, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Reto Strobl, Christian Cachin
  • Publication number: 20080307258
    Abstract: A method is provided for the recovery of an instance of a job manager running on one of a plurality of nodes used to execute the processing elements associated with jobs that are executed within a cooperative data stream processing system. The states of the processing elements are checkpointed to a persistence mechanism in communication with the job manager. From the checkpointed processing element states, the state of each distributed job is determined and checkpointed. Processing element states are also checkpointed locally to the nodes one which the processing elements are running. Following a failure of the job manager, the job manager is reinstantiated on one of the nodes. The recovery instance of the job manger obtains state data for processing elements and jobs from the persistence mechanism and constructs an initial state for jobs and processing elements. These initial states are reconciled against the current states of the processing elements and adjustments are made accordingly.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2007
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: James R. Challenger, Louis R. Challenger, James R. Giles, Gabriela Jacques De Silva
  • Publication number: 20080307195
    Abstract: The present invention provides a system and method for extracting elements from distributed arrays on a parallel processing system. The system includes a module that populates a result array with globally largest elements from the input, a module that generates a partition element, a module that counts the number of local elements greater than the partition and a module that determines the globally largest elements. The method for extracting elements from distributed arrays on a parallel processing system includes populating a result array with globally largest elements from the input, generating a partition element, counting the number of local elements greater than the partition and determining the globally largest elements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 6, 2007
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Charles J. Archer, Michael A. Blocksome, Joseph D. Ratterman, Brian Smith
  • Publication number: 20080304307
    Abstract: A symmetrically resistive memory material (such as a phase change material) is described for use as a rectifying element for driving symmetric or asymmetric resistive memory elements in a crosspoint memory architecture. The crosspoint architecture has a plurality of electrodes and a plurality of crossbar elements, with each crossbar element being disposed between a first and a second electrode. The crossbar element is made of a symmetric resistive memory element used as a rectifier in series with a symmetric or asymmetric resistive memory element.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2007
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Kailash Gopalakrishnan
  • Publication number: 20080306991
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are disclosed to configure, format, and test, a data storage subsystem product. The method supplies a data storage subsystem product comprising one or more host computer ports, a processor, one or more data storage device ports, and one or more data storage devices interconnected to the one or more data storage device ports. The method further supplies a configuration appliance comprising a storage configuration. The method connects the configuration appliance to one of the one or more storage device ports, boots up the data storage subsystem product, discovers the configuration appliance by the data storage subsystem product, imports storage configuration data into the data storage subsystem product, formats the one or more data storage device, and tests the input and output data transfer rates for the data storage subsystem product, wherein the formatting and testing are initiated concurrently.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 21, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: MATTHEW J. KALOS, ROBERT A. KUBO, MICHAEL P. VAGELINE
  • Publication number: 20080307383
    Abstract: An approach that iteratively synthesizes an integrated circuit design to attain power closure is described. In one embodiment, the integrated circuit design is initially synthesized to satisfy timing and power constraints. Results from the initial synthesis are fed back into the synthesis process where specific nodes in the circuit design are targeted to satisfy the timing and power constraints. Selected nodes in the circuit design are worked on in an iterative manner until it has been determined that all of selected nodes have undergone evaluation for satisfying timing and power constraints. Once all of the selected nodes have undergone evaluation for satisfying timing and power constraints, then a final netlist representing the circuit design is generated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2007
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Steven E. Charlebois, Paul D. Kartschoke, John J. Reilly, Manikandan Viswanath
  • Publication number: 20080304629
    Abstract: The invention discloses a method and system for preventing emergency communication system notification congestion by automatically identifying the telecommunications site transmitting an emergency call or through reporting of an address from which the call is made.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 11, 2007
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Willow Dawn Buscemi, Patrick Joseph O'Sullivan, Edith Helen Stern, Robert Cameron Weir, Barry E. Willner
  • Publication number: 20080304379
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for controlling writing and reading of data in an array of A storage fields of a probe-based data storage device in which data is written to and read from the array of storage fields by a corresponding array of probes. One method uses the concept of sub-arrays to provide variable-rate read/write operation. Input data blocks are received for writing to the A-field array, each input data block being writable in A/k0 storage fields where k0 is an integer>=2. For successive groups of k0 blocks, the k0 blocks are written to respective sub-arrays, each of A/k0 storage fields, of the storage field array by selectively writing at one of a series of rates, ranging from 1 block at a time to k0 blocks at a time, in dependence on a desired data write-rate. The blocks can also be read from the sub-arrays by selectively reading at one of a series of rates, ranging from 1 sub-array at a time to k0 sub-arrays at a time, in dependence on a desired data read-rate.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 16, 2007
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Thomas Albrecht, Theodore Antonakopoulos, Giovanni Cherubini, Ajay Dholakia, Evangelos S. Eleftheriou, Charalampos Pozidis
  • Publication number: 20080303139
    Abstract: A chip-in-slot interconnect for three-dimensional semiconductor chip stacks, and particularly having the ability of forming edge connections on semiconductor chips, wherein the semiconductor chips are mounted in one or more chip carriers which are capable of being equipped with embedded circuitry. Moreover, provision is made for unique methods for producing the edge connections on the semiconductor chips, for creating a semiconductor chip carrier, and for producing a novel semiconductor and combined chip carrier structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2007
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Kerry Bernstein, Timothy J. Dalton, Edmund J. Sprogis, Anthony K. Stamper, Richard Q. Williams
  • Publication number: 20080307492
    Abstract: The invention provides security policy generation methods and devices for generating a security policy that is set up for an information processing apparatus comprises a step of generating an application model having a transmitter and a receiver of a message decided, for each of a plurality of messages that are communicated, a step of storing in advance a plurality of security patterns with a signer of electronic signature appended to the message as an undecided parameter, a step of selecting a security pattern that is a model of security policy to be setup for the transmitter or receiver of the message, corresponding to each of the plurality of messages included in the application model, and a step of substituting the identification information of the transmitter or receiver of each message included in the application model for the undecided parameter of the security pattern selected corresponding to the message.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2008
    Publication date: December 11, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: YUHICHI NAKAMURA, TAKESHI IMAMURA, MICHIAKI TATSUBORI, SATOSHI MAKINO