Abstract: In one embodiment of the present invention, there is presented computer readable media for servicing at least one task. The machine readable media stores a plurality of instructions, where the plurality of instructions further comprises an operating system. The operating system treats a first request from a task at a priority level associated with a real time application and treats subsequent requests from the task that occur within a predetermined amount of time after the first request at another priority level that is lower than the priority level associated with the task. In another embodiment, an operating system receives real time requirements from at least one task and determines whether it can assure the task of meeting its real time requirements.

Abstract: A management capability is provided for a virtual computing platform. In one example, this platform allows interconnected physical resources such as processors, memory, network interfaces and storage interfaces to be abstracted and mapped to virtual resources (e.g., virtual mainframes, virtual partitions). Virtual resources contained in a virtual partition can be assembled into virtual servers that execute a guest operating system (e.g., Linux). In one example, the abstraction is unique in that any resource is available to any virtual server regardless of the physical boundaries that separate the resources. For example, any number of physical processors or any amount of physical memory can be used by a virtual server even if these resources span different nodes.

Abstract: A method, a system, an apparatus, and a computer program product for allocating resources of one or more shared devices to one or more partitions of a virtualization environment within a data processing system. At least one user defined resource assignment is received for one or more devices associated with the data processing system. One or more registers, associated with the one or more partitions are dynamically set to execute the at least one resource assignment, whereby the at least one resource assignment enables a user defined quantitative measure (number and/or percentage) of devices to operate when the one or more transactions are executed via the partition. The system enables the one or more devices to execute one or more transactions at a bandwidth/capacity that is less than or equal to the user defined resource assignment and minimizes performance interference among partitions.

Abstract: An embodiment of the invention provides an apparatus and method for accurate measurement of utilizations in a hardware multithreaded processor core. The apparatus and method perform the acts including: determining idle time spent cycles which are cycles that are spent in idle by a hardware thread in a processor core; determining idle consumed cycles which are cycles that are consumed in the idle time spent cycles, by the hardware thread; and determining at least one of a processor core utilization and a logical processor utilization based upon at least one of the idle time spent cycles (d1) and idle consumed cycles (d3).

Abstract: A system and method provides a high level of system functionality in a multimedia console through the use of system applications, while reducing any corresponding lack of control that multimedia applications will have while running on the console. A predetermined amount of hardware resources of the multimedia console is reserved. The system application is executed substantially using the predetermined amount of reserved hardware resources and the multimedia application is executed substantially within the remaining unreserved hardware resources.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for cooperative guest firmware are described. In one embodiment, the method includes the launch of a virtual machine (VM) including a guest operating system (OS) and guest firmware. Prior to launching the VM, a data structure is generated in memory and is associated with the guest firmware to provide a virtualization policy provided by the VM as well as processor and platform configuration information to the guest firmware. In one embodiment, the guest firmware uses the data structure to access static information regarding the virtualization policy, as well as the processor and platform configuration information in response to requests from the guest OS. However, when the guest OS requires a host platform service, a virtual machine monitor (VMM) services the guest firmware requests for host platform services. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Abstract: A computer program product for scheduling threads in a multiprocessor computer comprises computer program instructions configured to select a thread in a ready queue to be dispatched to a processor and determine whether an interrupt mask flag is set in a thread control block associated with the thread. If the interrupt mask flag is set in the thread control block associated with the thread, the computer program instructions are configured to select a processor, set a current processor priority register of the selected processor to least favored, and dispatch the thread from the ready queue to the selected processor.

Abstract: Providing an intermediate isolate, referred to as a dispenser, to handle resource requests allows for monitoring and controlling of resource consumption separate from an operating system. Resources are characterized with a set of common attributes, separate from their specific implementation. The dispenser invokes computations that provide policy decisions corresponding to a resource request. The dispenser provides the requesting isolate a response based at least in part on the policy decisions. Separating management of resources from the operating system facilitates implementation of a dispenser in a safe language and management of a broad range of resources by the dispenser.

Abstract: A task control computer program includes computer executable instructions which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to execute an operating system as a task. The computer is caused to perform determining whether there is an executable non-idle process under control of the operating system and changing a set priority of the operating system task to a priority higher than the primary priority of the operating system task when it is determined that there is an executable non-idle process with the specified time elapsed.

Abstract: Mechanisms are provided for handling conflicts in a transactional memory system. The mechanisms execute threads in a data processing system in a first conflict resolution mode of operation in which threads execute conflicting transactional blocks speculatively. The mechanisms determine, for a transactional block, if the first conflict resolution mode of operation is to be transitioned to a second conflict resolution mode of operation in which threads accessing conflicting transactional blocks are executed serially and non-speculatively. Moreover, the mechanisms execute a thread that accesses the transactional block using the second conflict resolution mode of operation in response to the determination indicating that the first conflict resolution mode of operation is to be transitioned to the second conflict resolution mode of operation.

Abstract: A method is described that comprises suspending a currently executing thread at a periodic time interval, calculating a next time slot during which the currently executing thread is to resume execution, appending the suspended thread to a queue of threads scheduled for execution at the calculated time slot, and updating an index value of a pointer index to a next sequential non-empty time slot, where the pointer index references time slots within an array of time slots, and where each of the plurality of time slots corresponds to a timeslice during which CPU resources are allocated to a particular thread. The method further comprises removing any contents of the indexed non-empty time slot and appending the removed contents to an array of threads requesting immediate CPU resource allocation and activating the thread at the top of the array of threads requesting immediate CPU resource allocation as a currently running thread.

Abstract: A system for managing transactions, including a first reference cell associated with a starting value for a first variable, a first thread having an outer atomic transaction including a first instruction to write a first value to the first variable, a second thread, executing in parallel with the first thread, having an inner atomic transaction including a second instruction to write a second value to the first variable, where the inner atomic transaction is nested within the outer atomic transaction, a first value node created by the outer atomic transaction and storing the first value in response to execution of the first instruction, and a second value node created by the inner atomic transaction, storing the second value in response to execution of the second instruction, and having a previous node pointer referencing the first value node.

Abstract: A system for on-demand cloning of virtual machines (VMs) includes a virtual server to host a number of VMs, the virtual server including at least one master VM. The system also includes a Web server to authenticate a user in response to a request for online access to a new VM on the virtual server. In addition, the system includes a cloning module, in communication with the Web server and the virtual server, to automatically clone the master VM to create a unique VM clone for the user on the virtual server responsive to the request.

Abstract: Methods and apparatuses are presented for graphics operations with thread count throttling, involving operating a processor to carry out multiple threads of execution of, wherein the processor comprises at least one execution unit capable of supporting up to a maximum number of threads, obtaining a defined memory allocation size for allocating, in at least one memory device, a thread-specific memory space for the multiple threads, obtaining a per thread memory requirement corresponding to the thread-specific memory space, determining a thread count limit based on the defined memory allocation size and the per thread memory requirement, and sending a command to the processor to cause the processor to limit the number of threads carried out by the at least one execution unit to a reduced number of threads, the reduced number of threads being less than the maximum number of threads.

Abstract: A runtime system implemented in accordance with the present invention provides an application platform for parallel-processing computer systems. Such a runtime system enables users to leverage the computational power of parallel-processing computer systems to accelerate/optimize numeric and array-intensive computations in their application programs. This enables greatly increased performance of high-performance computing (HPC) applications.

Abstract: A system and method to control the allocation of processor (or state machine) execution resources to individual tasks executing in computer systems is described. By controlling the allocation of execution resources, to all tasks, each task may be provided with throughput and response time guarantees. This control is accomplished through workload metering shaping which delays the execution of tasks that have used their workload allocation until sufficient time has passed to accumulate credit for execution (accumulate credit over time to perform their allocated work) and workload prioritization which gives preference to tasks based on configured priorities.

Abstract: In a host-base printing system, it is intended to execute a continuous page printing of continuous print jobs with a maximum printing speed specific to a printing engine in a printing apparatus, without a loss in the printing speed. There is provided a host computer system in which a data generation unit generates a print job based on a drawing command entered from an application software, and transfers the generated print job for example to a printer, characterized in that a plurality of print jobs generated in succession are spooled in a system spooling unit, and a print control unit combines plural print jobs entered from the system pooling unit and transfers them as a single print job for example to a printer.

Abstract: A grid computing system having a plurality of information processing apparatuses, each of which comprises an index value storing part for storing an index value indicative of the throughput of the information processing apparatus itself; a request acquiring part for acquiring a job execution request that requests an execution of a job; a job executing part for executing the job, based on the index value stored in the index value storing part and also based on the process contents of the job, if determining that the job is to be executed in the foregoing information processing apparatus; and a request transmitting part for forwarding the job execution request to another information processing apparatus connected to the foregoing information processing apparatus if determining that the job is not to be executed in the foregoing information processing apparatus.

Abstract: Guests, such as virtual machines, that are running on a host hardware platform are selectively descheduled when an idling condition is detected. An example of the idling condition is that the guest has been executing instructions in an idle loop for more than a threshold period. Guest instructions may be evaluated for the idling condition in conjunction with binary translation.

Abstract: A method of, and a system for, optimizing the distribution of a plurality of source servers amongst a plurality of target servers each having a resource, wherein each of the source servers has a functional characteristic and two or more of the source servers belong to a cluster.