Abstract: Methods and systems are provided to control the execution of a virtual machine (VM). A VM Monitor (VMM) accesses VM Control Structures (VMCS) indirectly through access instructions passed to a processor. In one embodiment, the access instructions include VMCS component identifiers used by the processor to determine the appropriate storage location for the VMCS components. The processor identifies the appropriate storage location for the VMCS component within the processor storage or within memory.

Abstract: System and method for binding virtual machines to hardware contexts. A method includes obtaining resource requirements for a plurality of virtual machines, and binding one or more of the plurality of virtual machines to one or more of a plurality of hardware contexts associated with a processor based upon the resource requirements. The resource requirements may be the bandwidth and latency of the virtual machines. The method may be implemented as software on a storage device on a computing device having a processor that supports multiple hardware contexts. The method is particularly beneficial for real-time virtual machines.

Abstract: In one embodiment of the present invention, an output device sends a spurious data sample in place of a first data sample to be sent from a queue if the queue is in a state of underflow during which the first data sample is not available to be sent. The buffer is to store data samples for an isochronous data transmission. Circuitry skips the first data sample when the first data sample becomes available in the queue so that synchronization for subsequent data samples sent from the queue is preserved. In another embodiment of the present invention, an input device advances an input buffer pointer to point to a next location in a memory in response to receiving a data sample at a queue during a state of overflow. The input buffer pointer indicates a location in the memory to which a next data sample is to be sent from the queue. The queue stores data samples for an isochronous data transmission. By advancing the input buffer pointer, synchronization for subsequent data samples is preserved.

Abstract: In one embodiment of the present invention, an output device sends a spurious data sample in place of a first data sample to be sent from a queue if the queue is in a state of underflow during which the first data sample is not available to be sent. The buffer is to store data samples for an isochronous data transmission. Circuitry skips the first data sample when the first data sample becomes available in the queue so that synchronization for subsequent data samples sent from the queue is preserved. In another embodiment of the present invention, an input device advances an input buffer pointer to point to a next location in a memory in response to receiving a data sample at a queue during a state of overflow. The input buffer pointer indicates a location in the memory to which a next data sample is to be sent from the queue. The queue stores data samples for an isochronous data transmission. By advancing the input buffer pointer, synchronization for subsequent data samples is preserved.

Abstract: The present invention protects against failures due to data unavailability in real-time data processing. The last state of data stored in an output buffer is computed, and a pointer is updated based on the last state of the data stored in the output buffer to point to a starting location of a buffer storing spurious data. In one embodiment, if the data stored in the output buffer is entirely consumed in real-time before new data is written, the pointer is used to begin consuming the spurious data in real-time.