Patents by Inventor Bruce A. Wilkie

Bruce A. Wilkie 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).

  • Publication number: 20070283070
    Abstract: A data processing assembly includes one or more hosts connected to one or more I/O Expansion Drawers. Assignment state information is stored on the Expansion Drawer to convey the assignment state of Expansion Drawer(s) resources to the hosts. The host retrieves the assignment state and, from it, determines, for each Expansion Buss cable connected to the host, the number of Expansion Cards in the Expansion Drawer to configure. A change in the number of Expansion Cards in the expansion apparatus may necessitate a change in the assignment state, which can be electronically accommodated (as opposed to a manual reconfiguration). Similarly, a failure of an Expansion Buss cable is addressed by electronically reassigning resources to another host or to the same host over a different Expansion Buss cable without the need for further manual intervention. The assembly is capable of verifying correct cable connection between a host and the Expansion Drawer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 13, 2007
    Publication date: December 6, 2007
    Inventors: Lawrence Grasso, Barney Hallman, Bruce Wilkie
  • Publication number: 20070192638
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to power sequencing, and provide a method, system and computer program product for supporting coupling with independent logic circuits. In one embodiment of the invention, a computer system supporting coupling with independent logic circuits may include an independent logic circuit including at least one voltage regulator that regulates voltage to core logic such that voltage is transferred to the core logic upon receiving a first level of voltage. The independent logic circuit may further include an I/O driver that becomes operational upon receiving a highest level of voltage higher than the first level of voltage. The computer system may further include a voltage ramp for transferring voltage to the independent logic circuit at the first level voltage for a predetermined period of time and subsequently at the highest level of voltage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 15, 2006
    Publication date: August 16, 2007
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Lawrence Grasso, Bruce Wilkie
  • Publication number: 20070162787
    Abstract: A method and system for improving Field Replacement Unit (FRU) isolation in memory sub-systems by monitoring Voltage Regulator Module (VRM) induced memory errors. A comparator compares the output voltage coming from the VRM to memory. If the comparator detects a VRM output voltage transient that is outside a rated threshold, then a counter is increased by one. If the counter exceeds a count threshold, a VRM error is posted. If a memory failure occurs within a predetermined period of time, then the VRM error pinpoints the VRM output voltage transient as being the likely cause of the memory failure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2007
    Publication date: July 12, 2007
    Inventors: Charles Dart, Edmund Gamble, Gary Jansma, Terence Rodrigues, Robert Ruckriegel, Bruce Wilkie
  • Publication number: 20060117124
    Abstract: A data processing assembly includes one or more hosts connected to one or more I/O Expansion Drawers. Assignment state information is stored on the Expansion Drawer to convey the assignment state of Expansion Drawer(s) resources to the hosts. The host retrieves the assignment state and, from it, determines, for each Expansion Buss cable connected to the host, the number of Expansion Cards in the Expansion Drawer to configure. A change in the number of Expansion Cards in the expansion apparatus may necessitate a change in the assignment state, which can be electronically accommodated (as opposed to a manual reconfiguration). Similarly, a failure of an Expansion Buss cable is addressed by electronically reassigning resources to another host or to the same host over a different Expansion Buss cable without the need for further manual intervention. The assembly is capable of verifying correct cable connection between a host and the Expansion Drawer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2004
    Publication date: June 1, 2006
    Inventors: Lawrence Grasso, Barney Hallman, Bruce Wilkie
  • Publication number: 20050283686
    Abstract: A method and system for improving Field Replacement Unit (FRU) isolation in memory sub-systems by monitoring Voltage Regulator Module (VRM) induced memory errors. A comparator compares the output voltage coming from the VRM to memory. If the comparator detects a VRM output voltage transient that is outside a rated threshold, then a counter is increased by one. If the counter exceeds a count threshold, a VRM error is posted. If a memory failure occurs within a predetermined period of time, then the VRM error pinpoints the VRM output voltage transient as being the likely cause of the memory failure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 18, 2004
    Publication date: December 22, 2005
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corp.
    Inventors: Charles Dart, Edmund Gamble, Gary Jansma, Terence Rodrigues, Robert Ruckriegel, Bruce Wilkie
  • Patent number: 4490847
    Abstract: In image recognition systems of the type employing a frame store having groups (N-tuples) of locations mapped to storage forming discriminators trained, or capable of being trained, to respond to different images, a problem arises in that either a large number of separate discriminator stores are required or recognition times are long. In the present invention the discriminator storage comprises p discrete stores having address terminals divided into two groups: one group directly mapped to respective portions of the frame store and the other group being connected in parallel and used to count through a number of N-tuple groups (each of size p) and/or a number of discriminators. Such a storage arrangement allows many different combinations of number of discriminator stores and recognition time, making possible an optimum combination for a particular application.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 1982
    Date of Patent: December 25, 1984
    Assignee: National Research Development Corporation
    Inventors: Igor Aleksander, Thomas J. Stonham, Bruce A. Wilkie