Patents by Inventor Damien Walker

Damien Walker 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: 10467139
    Abstract: A cache coherence system manages both internode and intranode cache coherence in a cluster of nodes. Each node in the cluster of nodes is either a collection of processors running an intranode coherence protocol between themselves, or a single processor. A node comprises a plurality of coherence ordering units (COUs) that are hardware circuits configured to manage intranode coherence of caches within the node and/or internode coherence with caches on other nodes in the cluster. Each node contains one or more directories which tracks the state of cache line entries managed by the particular node. Each node may also contain one or more scoreboards for managing the status of ongoing transactions. The internode cache coherence protocol implemented in the COUs may be used to detect and resolve communications errors, such as dropped message packets between nodes, late message delivery at a node, or node failure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2019
    Assignee: Oracle International Corporation
    Inventors: Paul N. Loewenstein, Damien Walker, Priyambada Mitra, Ali Vahidsafa, Matthew Cohen, Josephus Ebergen, Andrew Brock
  • Patent number: 10452547
    Abstract: A cache coherence system manages both internode and intranode cache coherence in a cluster of nodes. Each node in the cluster of nodes is either a collection of processors running an intranode coherence protocol between themselves, or a single processor. A node comprises a plurality of coherence ordering units (COUs) that are hardware circuits configured to manage intranode coherence of caches within the node and/or internode coherence with caches on other nodes in the cluster. Each node contains one or more directories which tracks the state of cache line entries managed by the particular node. Each node may also contain one or more scoreboards for managing the status of ongoing transactions. The internode cache coherence protocol implemented in the COUs may be used to detect and resolve communications errors, such as dropped message packets between nodes, late message delivery at a node, or node failure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2019
    Assignee: Oracle International Corporation
    Inventors: Paul N. Loewenstein, Damien Walker, Priyambada Mitra, Ali Vahidsafa, Matthew Cohen, Josephus Ebergen, Andrew Brock
  • Publication number: 20190207714
    Abstract: A cache coherence system manages both internode and intranode cache coherence in a cluster of nodes. Each node in the cluster of nodes is either a collection of processors running an intranode coherence protocol between themselves, or a single processor. A node comprises a plurality of coherence ordering units (COUs) that are hardware circuits configured to manage intranode coherence of caches within the node and/or internode coherence with caches on other nodes in the cluster. Each node contains one or more directories which tracks the state of cache line entries managed by the particular node. Each node may also contain one or more scoreboards for managing the status of ongoing transactions. The internode cache coherence protocol implemented in the COUs may be used to detect and resolve communications errors, such as dropped message packets between nodes, late message delivery at a node, or node failure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Publication date: July 4, 2019
    Applicant: Oracle International Corporation
    Inventors: PAUL N. LOEWENSTEIN, DAMIEN WALKER, PRIYAMBADA MITRA, ALI VAHIDSAFA, MATTHEW COHEN, JOSEPHUS EBERGEN, ANDREW BROCK
  • Publication number: 20190205252
    Abstract: A cache coherence system manages both internode and intranode cache coherence in a cluster of nodes. Each node in the cluster of nodes is either a collection of processors running an intranode coherence protocol between themselves, or a single processor. A node comprises a plurality of coherence ordering units (COUs) that are hardware circuits configured to manage intranode coherence of caches within the node and/or internode coherence with caches on other nodes in the cluster. Each node contains one or more directories which tracks the state of cache line entries managed by the particular node. Each node may also contain one or more scoreboards for managing the status of ongoing transactions. The internode cache coherence protocol implemented in the COUs may be used to detect and resolve communications errors, such as dropped message packets between nodes, late message delivery at a node, or node failure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2017
    Publication date: July 4, 2019
    Inventors: PAUL N. LOEWENSTEIN, DAMIEN WALKER, PRIYAMBADA MITRA, ALI VAHIDSAFA, MATTHEW COHEN, JOSEPHUS EBERGEN, ANDREW BROCK
  • Patent number: 8972663
    Abstract: A method for cache coherence, including: broadcasting, by a requester cache (RC) over a partially-ordered request network (RN), a peer-to-peer (P2P) request for a cacheline to a plurality of slave caches; receiving, by the RC and over the RN while the P2P request is pending, a forwarded request for the cacheline from a gateway; receiving, by the RC and after receiving the forwarded request, a plurality of responses to the P2P request from the plurality of slave caches; setting an intra-processor state of the cacheline in the RC, wherein the intra-processor state also specifies an inter-processor state of the cacheline; and issuing, by the RC, a response to the forwarded request after setting the intra-processor state and after the P2P request is complete; and modifying, by the RC, the intra-processor state in response to issuing the response to the forwarded request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Date of Patent: March 3, 2015
    Assignee: Oracle International Corporation
    Inventors: Paul N. Loewenstein, Stephen E. Phillips, David Richard Smentek, Connie Wai Mun Cheung, Serena Wing Yee Leung, Damien Walker, Ramaswamy Sivaramakrishnan
  • Patent number: 8848576
    Abstract: Systems and methods that allow for dynamically deconfiguring, reconfiguring and/or otherwise configuring nodes (e.g., processors) in a symmetric multiprocessing system (e.g., a symmetric multiprocessor) in a manner that avoids, or at least limits, inefficiencies such as renumbering of node IDs, system reboots, SW configuration handle changes, and the like. In one arrangement, a number of modules, tables and/or the like that are configured to generate node IDs and/or convert node IDs from one form to another form can be intelligently implemented within an SMP to allow the various processes and/or components of an SMP to utilize the node IDs in a more efficient manner. For instance, as SDs in an SMP are often configured to work with CNIDs (e.g., for use in determining at which node a particular requested cache line resides), any node GNIDs that are sent to the SD for processing can first be converted into corresponding CNIDs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 30, 2014
    Assignee: Oracle International Corporation
    Inventors: Bruce J. Chang, Damien Walker, Bruce Petrick
  • Publication number: 20140281237
    Abstract: A method for cache coherence, including: broadcasting, by a requester cache (RC) over a partially-ordered request network (RN), a peer-to-peer (P2P) request for a cacheline to a plurality of slave caches; receiving, by the RC and over the RN while the P2P request is pending, a forwarded request for the cacheline from a gateway; receiving, by the RC and after receiving the forwarded request, a plurality of responses to the P2P request from the plurality of slave caches; setting an intra-processor state of the cacheline in the RC, wherein the intra-processor state also specifies an inter-processor state of the cacheline; and issuing, by the RC, a response to the forwarded request after setting the intra-processor state and after the P2P request is complete; and modifying, by the RC, the intra-processor state in response to issuing the response to the forwarded request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 14, 2013
    Publication date: September 18, 2014
    Applicant: ORACLE INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Paul N. Loewenstein, Stephen E. Phillips, David Richard Smentek, Connie Wai Mun Cheung, Serena Wing Yee Leung, Damien Walker, Ramaswamy Sivaramakrishnan
  • Publication number: 20140040526
    Abstract: Systems and methods for efficient data transport across multiple processors when link utilization is congested. In a multi-node system, each of the nodes measures a congestion level for each of the one or more links connected to it. A source node indicates when each of one or more links to a destination node is congested or each non-congested link is unable to send a particular packet type. In response, the source node sets an indication that it is a candidate for seeking a data forwarding path to send a packet of the particular packet type to the destination node. The source node uses measured congestion levels received from other nodes to search for one or more intermediate nodes. An intermediate node in a data forwarding path has non-congested links for data transport. The source node reroutes data to the destination node through the data forwarding path.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2012
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Inventors: Bruce J. Chang, Sebastian Turullols, Brian F. Keish, Damien Walker, Ramaswamy Sivaramakrishnan, Paul N. Loewenstein
  • Publication number: 20140029616
    Abstract: Systems and methods that allow for dynamically deconfiguring, reconfiguring and/or otherwise configuring nodes (e.g., processors) in a symmetric multiprocessing system (e.g., a symmetric multiprocessor) in a manner that avoids, or at least limits, inefficiencies such as renumbering of node IDs, system reboots, SW configuration handle changes, and the like. In one arrangement, a number of modules, tables and/or the like that are configured to generate node IDs and/or convert node IDs from one form to another form can be intelligently implemented within an SMP to allow the various processes and/or components of an SMP to utilize the node IDs in a more efficient manner. For instance, as SDs in an SMP are often configured to work with CNIDs (e.g., for use in determining at which node a particular requested cache line resides), any node GNIDs that are sent to the SD for processing can first be converted into corresponding CNIDs.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 26, 2012
    Publication date: January 30, 2014
    Applicant: ORACLE INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION
    Inventors: Bruce J. Chang, Damien Walker, Bruce Petrick