Patents by Inventor Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal

Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal 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: 8140822
    Abstract: Maintaining data integrity for a logical partition by enabling nonintrusive switching of page tables used during a migration of the logical partition from a source computer system to a target computer system. A first page table stores a plurality of page entries made within a logically partitioned environment. A second page table stores one or more page entries generated during the migration. After migration, the processor page table pointer is switched to point to the first page table. A page entry in the second page table corresponding to a page entry made to the first page table by the logical partition may be invalidated in response to a page table hypervisor call made by the logical partition. In parallel, a plurality of entries generated during the migration of the logical partition in the second page table may be read through and invalidated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 20, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Stuart Zachary Jacobs, David Anthony Larson, Naresh Nayar, Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal, Kenneth Charles Vossen
  • Patent number: 8112759
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that in an embodiment determine a group associated with a command, wherein the command comprises a resource-allocating command in a logically-partitioned electronic device and determine when to perform the command based on the group. By grouping commands and scheduling the commands based on the group to which they belong, in an embodiment commands may be performed at an appropriate time when their impact on the performance of the logical partitions will be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 7, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Patrick Abbey, Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal
  • Patent number: 7984262
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, and program product manage data during a logical partition migration. Data from a source logical partition is transformed into partition state records by a source migration services partition. The records are transmitted to a target migration services partition that processes the records and loads the data into a target logical partition. The logical partition migration may take place from a first computer to a second computer, or solely in a first computer. The migration services partitions may be configured with multiple virtual processors to create and send, or receive and process, partition state records in parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Robert J. Battista, Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal
  • Publication number: 20090182970
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, and program product manage data during a logical partition migration. Data from a source logical partition is transformed into partition state records by a source migration services partition. The records are transmitted to a target migration services partition that processes the records and loads the data into a target logical partition. The logical partition migration may take place from a first computer to a second computer, or solely in a first computer. The migration services partitions may be configured with multiple virtual processors to create and send, or receive and process, partition state records in parallel.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 16, 2008
    Publication date: July 16, 2009
    Inventors: Robert J. Battista, Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal
  • Publication number: 20080256327
    Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method maintains data integrity for a logical partition by enabling nonintrusive switching of page tables used during a migration of the logical partition from a source computer system to a target computer system. A first page table may be configured to store a plurality of page entries made within a logically partitioned environment. A second page table may be used during migration to store one or more page entries generated during the migration. After migration, the processor page table pointer may be transparently switched to point to the first page table. A page entry in the second page table corresponding to a page entry made to the first page table by the logical partition may be invalidated in response to a page table hypervisor call made by the logical partition. In parallel, a plurality of entries generated during the migration of the logical partition in the second page table may be read through and invalidated.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2007
    Publication date: October 16, 2008
    Inventors: Stuart Zachary Jacobs, David Anthony Larson, Naresh Nayar, Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal, Kenneth Charles Vossen
  • Publication number: 20080256530
    Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method for facilitating logical partition migrations between computers by determining if the firmware of the computers is compatible. A hypervisor of a source logical partition may transfer a token and compatibility table indicative of firmware running on the source computer. A hypervisor on the system of the target logical partition may compare the firmware indicated by the token with a token and/or compatibility table listing firmware versions compatible with the target computer. Conversely, a token of the target computer may be compared to a compatibility table associated with firmware that is compatible with the source computer. In either instance, a match may result in the migration of the logical partition. Alternatively, an absence of a match may result in the migration being prohibited.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 16, 2007
    Publication date: October 16, 2008
    Inventors: William Joseph Armstrong, Robert J. Battista, David Anthony Larson, Naresh Nayar, Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal
  • Patent number: 7316019
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that in an embodiment determine a group associated with a command, wherein the command comprises a resource-allocating command in a logically-partitioned electronic device and determine when to perform the command based on the group. By grouping commands and scheduling the commands based on the group to which they belong, in an embodiment commands may be performed at an appropriate time when their impact on the performance of the logical partitions will be reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Patrick Abbey, Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal
  • Patent number: 7103763
    Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method utilize a nonvolatile solid state memory organized so as to store variable amounts of configuration data for a logically-partitioned computer in an efficient, compact and cost-effective manner. A nonvolatile solid state memory is partitioned into fixed size blocks that are linked together into chains for the purpose of storing variable amounts of configuration data for a plurality of logical entities, e.g., logical partitions, hardware devices, networks, and other resources. A chain of fixed size blocks is used to maintain configuration data for a given type of logical entity, with each block in a chain storing configuration data for a particular logical entity of the associated entity type. The fixed size blocks include full blocks and shared blocks, with full blocks storing data for a single logical entity, and shared blocks storing data for multiple logical entities of a common entity type.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 24, 2003
    Date of Patent: September 5, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Christopher Patrick Abbey, Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal
  • Publication number: 20040215837
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, system, and signal-bearing medium that in an embodiment determine a group associated with a command, wherein the command comprises a resource-allocating command in a logically-partitioned electronic device and determine when to perform the command based on the group. By grouping commands and scheduling the commands based on the group to which they belong, in an embodiment commands may be performed at an appropriate time when their impact on the performance of the logical partitions will be reduced.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2003
    Publication date: October 28, 2004
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christopher Patrick Abbey, Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal
  • Publication number: 20040215948
    Abstract: An apparatus, program product and method utilize a nonvolatile solid state memory organized so as to store variable amounts of configuration data for a logically-partitioned computer in an efficient, compact and cost-effective manner. A nonvolatile solid state memory is partitioned into fixed size blocks that are linked together into chains for the purpose of storing variable amounts of configuration data for a plurality of logical entities, e.g., logical partitions, hardware devices, networks, and other resources. A chain of fixed size blocks is used to maintain configuration data for a given type of logical entity, with each block in a chain storing configuration data for a particular logical entity of the associated entity type. The fixed size blocks include full blocks and shared blocks, with full blocks storing data for a single logical entity, and shared blocks storing data for multiple logical entities of a common entity type.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 24, 2003
    Publication date: October 28, 2004
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Christopher Patrick Abbey, Jonathan Ross Van Niewaal