Patents by Inventor Alberto Ferreira de Souza

Alberto Ferreira de Souza has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 7240230
    Abstract: The present invention refers to a global clock system for clusters or networks of computers implemented entirely in hardware. The system uses a specifically designed hierarchical network to distribute clock pulses that are used to increment time counters in the cluster' nodes. In addition, this network enables any node of the cluster to send a reset signal to the other nodes so that all local time counters are initialized simultaneously and remain automatically synchronized afterwards. In this way, each processor in the cluster is able to obtain the value of the global clock whenever accessing its own local time counter. The reset signal is the only function that is implemented in software.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2007
    Assignee: COPPE/UFRJ - Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos Graduacao de Engenharia da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
    Inventors: Cláudio Luis Amorim, Alberto Ferreira de Souza