Patents by Inventor Kevin Scott Christopher

Kevin Scott Christopher 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: 11900138
    Abstract: A method of enabling remote access to a console of a virtual machine (VM) running in a host and managed by a VM management server, from a remote computing device, includes the steps of: in response to a request to access the console of the VM from the remote computing device, issuing a request for a first ticket, the first ticket including an identifier of the host in which the VM is running; upon receiving the first ticket, issuing a request for a second ticket to access a proxy server; and upon receiving the second ticket, transmitting a uniform resource locator (URL) identifying the proxy server and the second ticket to the remote computing device. The remote computing device accesses the console of the VM through the URL and the proxy server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 13, 2024
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Fangchi Wang, Duo Zhang, Chuanwei Guo, Lijie Gao, Kevin Scott Christopher
  • Patent number: 11775362
    Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for providing content to virtual machines. A request for content can be received, wherein the request originates from a virtual machine hosted by the computing device, comprises a unique identifier for the content, and is received from the virtual machine through an inter-process communication mechanism. The unique identifier can be validated. Content can then be retrieved using the unique identifier. A copy of the content can then be provided to the virtual machine in response to validation of the unique identifier, the content being provided to the virtual machine through the inter-process communication mechanism.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: VMWare, Inc.
    Inventors: Ravindra Kumar, Yogendra Baldev Bhasin, Kevin Scott Christopher, Petr Vandrovec, Ming Hua Zhou
  • Publication number: 20210224092
    Abstract: A method of enabling remote access to a console of a virtual machine (VM) running in a host and managed by a VM management server, from a remote computing device, includes the steps of: in response to a request to access the console of the VM from the remote computing device, issuing a request for a first ticket, the first ticket including an identifier of the host in which the VM is running; upon receiving the first ticket, issuing a request for a second ticket to access a proxy server; and upon receiving the second ticket, transmitting a uniform resource locator (URL) identifying the proxy server and the second ticket to the remote computing device. The remote computing device accesses the console of the VM through the URL and the proxy server.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 17, 2020
    Publication date: July 22, 2021
    Inventors: Fangchi WANG, Duo ZHANG, Chuanwei GUO, Lijie GAO, Kevin Scott CHRISTOPHER
  • Publication number: 20210117255
    Abstract: Disclosed are various embodiments for providing content to virtual machines. A request for content can be received, wherein the request originates from a virtual machine hosted by the computing device, comprises a unique identifier for the content, and is received from the virtual machine through an inter-process communication mechanism. The unique identifier can be validated. Content can then be retrieved using the unique identifier. A copy of the content can then be provided to the virtual machine in response to validation of the unique identifier, the content being provided to the virtual machine through the inter-process communication mechanism.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2019
    Publication date: April 22, 2021
    Inventors: Ravindra Kumar, Yogendra Baldev Bhasin, Kevin Scott Christopher, Petr Vandrovec, Ming Hua Zhou
  • Patent number: 10430261
    Abstract: The subject matter described herein is generally directed towards detection and remediation of virtual computing instance (VCI) failure on host devices. Monitoring is performed to detect suspected failures of different guest operating systems, identify failure information, and perform remediation to provide high availability for the VCI.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 15, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 1, 2019
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Keith Farkas, Kevin Scott Christopher, Aalap Desai, Manoj Krishnan, Jesse Andrew Mendonca, Rohan Patil
  • Publication number: 20190056985
    Abstract: The subject matter described herein is generally directed towards detection and remediation of virtual computing instance (VCI) failure on host devices. Monitoring is performed to detect suspected failures of different guest operating systems, identify failure information, and perform remediation to provide high availability for the VCI.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 15, 2017
    Publication date: February 21, 2019
    Inventors: Keith Farkas, Kevin Scott Christopher, Aalap Desai, Manoj Krishnan, Jesse Andrew Mendonca, Rohan Patil
  • Patent number: 9772907
    Abstract: Systems and methods for performing backups to a storage device are provided. For virtual disks of a virtual machine, snapshots are used to backup data periodically to a storage device. A disk virtualization layer “retires” data blocks associated with a snapshot, while retaining a list of block addresses, for comparison in future backup operations. The retired snapshot can be compared against future snapshots to generate incremental backups without occupying storage space with data blocks that have already been copied to another storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Kevin Scott Christopher, Trevor John Thompson
  • Patent number: 9514002
    Abstract: Systems and methods for performing backups to a storage device are provided. For virtual disks of a virtual machine, snapshots are used to backup data periodically to a storage device. A disk virtualization layer “retires” data blocks associated with a snapshot, while retaining a list of block addresses, for comparison in future backup operations. The retired snapshot can be compared against future snapshots to generate incremental backups without occupying storage space with data blocks that have already been copied to another storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2016
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Kevin Scott Christopher, Trevor John Thompson
  • 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
  • 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
  • Publication number: 20150081994
    Abstract: Systems and methods for performing backups to a storage device are provided. For virtual disks of a virtual machine, snapshots are used to backup data periodically to a storage device. A disk virtualization layer “retires” data blocks associated with a snapshot, while retaining a list of block addresses, for comparison in future backup operations. The retired snapshot can be compared against future snapshots to generate incremental backups without occupying storage space with data blocks that have already been copied to another storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2013
    Publication date: March 19, 2015
    Applicant: VMware,Inc
    Inventors: Kevin Scott CHRISTOPHER, Trevor John THOMPSON
  • Publication number: 20150081993
    Abstract: Systems and methods for performing backups to a storage device are provided. For virtual disks of a virtual machine, snapshots are used to backup data periodically to a storage device. A disk virtualization layer “retires” data blocks associated with a snapshot, while retaining a list of block addresses, for comparison in future backup operations. The retired snapshot can be compared against future snapshots to generate incremental backups without occupying storage space with data blocks that have already been copied to another storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2013
    Publication date: March 19, 2015
    Applicant: VMWARE, INC.
    Inventors: Kevin Scott CHRISTOPHER, Trevor John THOMPSON
  • Publication number: 20140164723
    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: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2012
    Publication date: June 12, 2014
    Applicant: VMWARE, INC.
    Inventors: Alexander Thomas GARTHWAITE, Yury BASKAKOV, Irene ZHANG, Kevin Scott CHRISTOPHER, Jesse POOL
  • Publication number: 20140164722
    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: Application
    Filed: December 10, 2012
    Publication date: June 12, 2014
    Applicant: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexander Thomas GARTHWAITE, Yury BASKAKOV, Irene ZHANG, Kevin Scott CHRISTOPHER, Jesse POOL
  • Patent number: 8281318
    Abstract: A method of data communication between a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine is disclosed. The second virtual machine is executing in a record/replay mode. Data from the first virtual machine is copied to a first queue. The first queue receives the data from the first virtual machine. The first queue has a header section and a data section, wherein the header section being write protected and stores a tail pointer of the data in the first queue. The tail pointer is updated in the header section. This update of the tail pointer causes a page fault, which is handled-through a page fault handler. The handling includes copying the data from the first queue to a second queue. The second queue being configured to receive a copy of the data and to allow the second virtual machine to access the copy of the data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Anupam Chanda, Kevin Scott Christopher, Jeremy Sugerman, Petr Vandrovec, Gustav Seth Wibling
  • Publication number: 20090249357
    Abstract: A method of data communication between a first virtual machine and a second virtual machine is disclosed. The second virtual machine is executing in a record/replay mode. The method includes copying data from the first virtual machine to a first queue. The first queue is configured to receive the data from the first virtual machine. The first queue has a first queue header section and a first queue data section. The first queue header being write protected and configured to store a tail pointer of the data in the first queue. The tail pointer is updated in the first header section. This update of the tail pointer causes a page fault. The method further includes handling page fault through a page fault handler. The handling includes copying the data from the first queue to a second queue. The second queue being configured to receive a copy of the data and to allow the second virtual machine to access the copy of the data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 2, 2008
    Publication date: October 1, 2009
    Applicant: VMWARE, INC.
    Inventors: Anupam CHANDA, Kevin Scott CHRISTOPHER, Jeremy SUGERMAN, Petr VANDROVEC, Gustav Seth WIBLING