Patents by Inventor Alexander Thoma

Alexander Thoma 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: 9223722
    Abstract: Miss rate curves are constructed in a resource-efficient manner so that they can be constructed and memory management decisions can be made while the workloads are running. The resource-efficient technique includes the steps of selecting a subset of memory pages for the workload, maintaining a least recently used (LRU) data structure for the selected memory pages, detecting accesses to the selected memory pages and updating the LRU data structure in response to the detected accesses, and generating data for constructing a miss-rate curve for the workload using the LRU data structure. After a memory page is accessed, the memory page may be left untraced for a period of time, after which the memory page is retraced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 4, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Carl A. Waldspurger, Rajesh Venkatasubramanian, Alexander Thomas Garthwaite, Yury Baskakov, Puneet Zaroo
  • Patent number: 9220665
    Abstract: The invention provides an oral care composition comprising: (a) a continuous phase comprising water or polyhydric alcohol or a mixture thereof; and (b) a particulate calcium carbonate abrasive composed of primary particles which are acicular and which have a length of 2 microns or greater; in which the level of the particulate calcium carbonate abrasive ranges from 10 to 70%, preferably from 20 to 60%, more preferably from 30 to 40%, by total weight of the particulate calcium carbonate abrasive based on the total weight of the composition. The composition of the invention demonstrates satisfactory levels of cleaning, yet is not unduly abrasive and damaging to the teeth.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2015
    Assignee: Conopco, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Thomas Ashcroft, Jian Cao, Shouwei Ma, Edward George Pelan, Simeon Dobrev Stoyanov, Weizheng Zhou
  • Patent number: 9212715
    Abstract: In one aspect, a tunable vibration damper may include a housing and a damper stack disposed within the housing. The damper stack may be formed from a viscoelastic material and may have a vertical stiffness and a horizontal stiffness. The damper stack may also include a plurality of column sections and a plurality of disk sections, with each pair of adjacent column sections being separated by one of the disk sections. The disk sections may extend radially outwardly relative to the column sections. In addition, at least one of the vertical stiffness or the horizontal stiffness may be tunable by adjusting a stiffness-related parameter of the damper stack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Thomas Starns, Matthew Thomas Valente, Iain Richard Tyrone McClatchie
  • Publication number: 20150349346
    Abstract: A Li-ion battery cell, among other materials, components, and techniques, is provided that includes ion-permeable anode and cathode electrodes, an electrolyte ionically coupling the anode and the cathode, a separator electrically separating the anode and the cathode, and a sacrificial, high-capacity Li composition for providing Li to at least one of the electrodes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2015
    Publication date: December 3, 2015
    Inventors: Gleb YUSHIN, Eugene Michael BERDICHEVSKY, Bogdan ZDYRKO, Alexander Thomas JACOBS
  • Publication number: 20150338295
    Abstract: A SAW sensor arrangement includes a transducer including a support for supporting a SAW device. The support includes a sensor location part located between two oppositely extending attachment parts. The SAW device is mountable to the sensor location part. The sensor arrangement 10 includes at least two spaced friction raisers. The sensor arrangement includes a clamp arrangement which applies a clamping force to clamp the sensor arrangement to an item. The sensor arrangement is arranged so that in use each of the friction raisers is located between a different one of the attachment parts and the item.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2013
    Publication date: November 26, 2015
    Inventors: Victor Alexandrovich Kalinin, Raymond David Lohr, Arthur John Leigh, Alexander Thomas James Stopps
  • Patent number: 9189419
    Abstract: In a virtual machine, swap activities of a hypervisor and a guest OS are reconciled so that redundant input-output operations (IOs) can be avoided and a synchronous response time of the virtual machine improved. This is achieved with a map of memory pages to blocks of storage. For a write IO to write contents of a memory page into a target block, the map is examined to see if it contains a valid entry for the memory page. If the map contains the valid entry, the write IO is prevented from being issued and a data structure is updated so that subsequent IOs to the target block is redirected from the target block to a block that is associated with the physical memory page in the valid entry. On the other hand, if the map does not contain the valid entry, the write IO is issued.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2015
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Thomas Garthwaite, Maxime Austruy, Kapil Arya
  • Publication number: 20150309736
    Abstract: A computer implemented method for reducing the latency of an anticipated read of disk blocks from a swap file in a virtualized environment. The environment includes a host swap file maintained by a host operating system and a guest swap file maintained but a guest operating system. First, the method identifies a sequence of disk blocks that was written in the guest swap file. The method then detects within the sequence of blocks a first disk block that contains a reference to a second disk block that is stored in the host swap file. The method then replaces the first disk block in the guest swap file with the second disk block.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2014
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Applicant: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Yury Baskakov, Kapil Arya, Alexander Thomas Garthwaite
  • Publication number: 20150309735
    Abstract: A computer implemented method for reducing the latency of an anticipated read of disk blocks from a swap file in a virtualized environment. First, the method identifies a sequence of disk blocks that was written in a guest swap file. The method then detects a first reference within the sequence of blocks that references a first disk block stored in a host swap file and a second reference within the sequence of blocks that references a second disk block stored in the host swap file. The method then moves the second disk block to a location in a host swap file that is adjacent to the first disk block. In some examples, the first block and second block are both moved to a new location in the host swap file where they are adjacent to one another.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 29, 2014
    Publication date: October 29, 2015
    Applicant: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Yury Baskakov, Kapil Arya, Alexander Thomas Garthwaite
  • Patent number: 9152573
    Abstract: A lightweight technique for sharing memory pages within a virtual machine (VM) is provided. This technique can be used on its own to implement intra-VM page sharing or it can be augmented with sharing across VMs. Memory pages whose content can be described by some succinct grammar, such as a regular expression or simple pattern, are identified for sharing within a VM. If the content of a page matches some simple pattern, it is proposed to share such a page, but only in the scope of the VM to which it belongs, i.e., intra-VM sharing. All other pages, i.e., those that are not simple patterns, can be candidates for sharing in the scope of all currently active VMs, i.e., inter-VM sharing. Either fully functional page sharing across VMs and/or page sharing in the context of each VM can be implemented.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2015
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Yury Baskakov, Alexander Thomas Garthwaite
  • Patent number: 9135171
    Abstract: Page data of a virtual machine is represented for efficient save and restore operations. One form of representation applies to each page with an easily identifiable pattern. The page is described, saved, and restored in terms of metadata reflective of the pattern rather than a complete page of data reflecting the pattern. During a save or restore operation, however, the metadata of the page is represented, but not the page data. Another form of representation applies to each page sharing a canonical instance of a complex pattern that is instantiated in memory during execution, and explicitly saved and restored. Each page sharing the canonical page is saved and restored as a metadata reference, without the need to actually save redundant copies of the page data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Yury Baskakov, Alexander Thomas Garthwaite, Jesse Pool, Carl A. Waldspurger, Rajesh Venkatasubramanian, Ishan Banerjee
  • Patent number: 9121600
    Abstract: An illuminated wallpaper system according to various embodiments can include a laminated wallpaper and an electronic control unit. The laminated wallpaper can be configured to include a bottom layer and an outer layer. A flexible circuit board is interdisposed between the bottom layer and the outer layer. The electronic control unit wirelessly or directly connects to the laminated wallpaper for controlling the operation of the laminated wallpaper.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 5, 2014
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2015
    Inventor: Russell Alexander Thomas
  • Patent number: 9074073
    Abstract: The invention relates to a rubber composition which contains silica reinforcement and functionalized crosslinks, particularly crosslinked functionalized precipitated silica, including sulfur crosslinked functionalized silica and associated cured rubber compositions, and to articles of manufacture having a component thereof such as, for example tires. A dimercaptothiadiazole is used to form the crosslinked network within the rubber composition. The mercapto moieties of said dimercaptothiadiazole are desirably protected from prematurely reacting with, for example, diene-based elastomers and sulfur-containing silica coupling agents by pre-reaction with an aromatic carboxylic acid chloride or by reacting in situ with an aromatic carboxylic acid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2015
    Assignee: The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company
    Inventors: Bruce Raymond Hahn, Alexander Thomas Miller
  • Patent number: 9053065
    Abstract: A process for lazy checkpointing is enhanced to reduce the number of read/write accesses to the checkpoint file and thereby speed up the checkpointing process. The process for restoring a state of a virtual machine (VM) running in a physical machine from a checkpoint file that is maintained in persistent storage includes the steps of detecting access to a memory page of the virtual machine that has not been read into physical memory of the VM from the checkpoint file, determining a storage block of the checkpoint file to which the accessed memory page maps, writing contents of the storage block in a buffer, and copying contents of a block of memory pages that includes the accessed memory page from the buffer to corresponding locations of the memory pages in the physical memory of the VM. The storage block of the checkpoint file may be compressed or uncompressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Thomas Garthwaite, Yury Baskakov, Irene Zhang, Kevin Scott Christopher, Jesse Pool
  • Patent number: 9053064
    Abstract: A process for lazy checkpointing a virtual machine is enhanced to reduce the number of read/write accesses to the checkpoint file and thereby speed up the checkpointing process. The process for saving a state of a virtual machine running in a physical machine to a checkpoint file maintained in persistent storage includes the steps of copying contents of a block of memory pages, which may be compressed, into a staging buffer, determining after the copying if the buffer is full, and upon determining that the buffer is full, saving the buffer contents in a storage block of the checkpoint file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: June 9, 2015
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Thomas Garthwaite, Yury Baskakov, Irene Zhang, Kevin Scott Christopher, Jesse Pool
  • Publication number: 20150153172
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and computer storage mediums are provided for positioning image markers on a virtual canvas. An exemplary method includes positioning one or more virtual objects on the virtual canvas. Each virtual object corresponds to a physical object located within the physical space. The position of each virtual object on the virtual canvas approximates the location of its corresponding physical object within the physical space. A plurality of image markers are also positioned on the virtual canvas. Each image marker's position on the virtual canvas corresponds to a physical location within the physical space where a photographic image's photo capture device was located when the photographic image was captured. A link between a first image marker and a second image marker is also created. The link indicates a path, traversable by a user, within the physical space between the physical locations represented by the first and second image markers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 13, 2012
    Publication date: June 4, 2015
    Applicant: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Thomas STARNS, Jichao Li, Mark Christopher Colbert
  • Publication number: 20150155546
    Abstract: A battery electrode composition is provided that comprises composite particles. Each composite particle may comprise, for example, active fluoride material and a nanoporous, electrically-conductive scaffolding matrix within which the active fluoride material is disposed. The active fluoride material is provided to store and release ions during battery operation. The storing and releasing of the ions may cause a substantial change in volume of the active material. The scaffolding matrix structurally supports the active material, electrically interconnects the active material, and accommodates the changes in volume of the active material.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 25, 2014
    Publication date: June 4, 2015
    Inventors: Gleb Nikolayevich YUSHIN, Bogdan ZDYRKO, Alexander Thomas JACOBS, Eugene Michael BERDICHEVSKY
  • Publication number: 20150131982
    Abstract: In one aspect, a tunable vibration damper may include a housing and a damper stack disposed within the housing. The damper stack may be formed from a viscoelastic material and may have a vertical stiffness and a horizontal stiffness. The damper stack may also include a plurality of column sections and a plurality of disk sections, with each pair of adjacent column sections being separated by one of the disk sections. The disk sections may extend radially outwardly relative to the column sections. In addition, at least one of the vertical stiffness or the horizontal stiffness may be tunable by adjusting a stiffness-related parameter of the damper stack.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 20, 2013
    Publication date: May 14, 2015
    Inventors: Alexander Thomas Starns, Matthew Thomas Valente, Iain Richard Tyrone McClatchie
  • Patent number: 9032398
    Abstract: Activity level of memory pages is classified in virtual machine environment, so that processes such as live VM migration and checkpointing, among others, can be carried out more efficiently. The method includes the steps of scanning page table entries of hypervisor-managed page tables continuously over repeating scan periods to determine whether memory pages have been accessed or not, and for each memory page, determining an activity level of the memory page based on whether the memory page has been accessed or not since a prior scan and storing the activity level of the memory page. The activity level of the memory page may be represented by one or more bits of its page table entry and may be classified as having at least two states ranging from hot to cold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 12, 2015
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Irfan Ahmad, Carl A. Waldspurger, Alexander Thomas Garthwaite, Kiran Tati, Pin Lu
  • Patent number: 9022436
    Abstract: An actuator arrangement is disclosed herein for an electronically actuatable door latch that controls a door of a vehicle. The actuator arrangement includes, but is not limited to, an actuating member that is connected to the door and that is operatively coupled to the electronically actuatable door latch. The actuating member is configured to actuate the electronically actuatable door latch when the actuating member is pushed in an outboard direction. The actuator arrangement further includes a bracing member that is mounted to the door proximate the actuating member at a position that is inboard of the actuating member. The bracing member permits a user to brace against the bracing member when pushing the actuating member in an outboard direction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 5, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 5, 2015
    Assignee: GM Global Technology Operations LLC
    Inventors: Carl W. Wellborn, Sr., Michael Joseph Levy, Alexander Thomas Riegelman
  • Publication number: 20150120302
    Abstract: Disclosed is a system, method, and computer program product for allowing an entity to access social media data, and to perform term analysis upon that data. The approach is capable of accessing data across multiple types of internet-based sources of social data and commentary. A user interface is provided that allows the user to view and interact with the results of performing term analysis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2014
    Publication date: April 30, 2015
    Applicant: ORACLE INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Timothy P. MCCANDLESS, Mehrshad SETAYESH, Alexander Thomas TAUJENIS