Patents by Inventor Mark James Seaman

Mark James Seaman 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: 8738961
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to handling failures in a cluster of computer resources. The resources are represented as nodes in a dependency graph in which some nodes are articulation points and the removal of any articulation point due to a resource failure results in a disconnected graph. The embodiments perform a failover when a resource corresponding to an articulation point fails. The failover is to a local resource if the failed resource does not affect all local resources. The failover is to a remote resource if no local resource can meet all resource requirements of the failed resource, and to a remote resource running in a degraded mode if the remote resource cannot meet all of the requirements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 27, 2014
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Reshu Jain, Prasenjit Sarkar, Mark James Seaman
  • Patent number: 8161142
    Abstract: A method, system, and article are provided to enable a Hyperswap operation in a clustered computer system. Each node in the system is configured with flash memory, with a hierarchical list of boot volumes therein. Following a Hyperswap operation, the current boot volume is communicated to each node in the cluster and each node joining the cluster. All previously inactive nodes that were booted from the improper boot volume are re-booted from the correct and the flash memory is amended to reflect the correct boot volume.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ahmed Mohammad Bashir, Prasenjit Sarkar, Soumitra Sarkar, Mark James Seaman
  • Publication number: 20120047394
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention relate to handling failures in a cluster of computer resources. The resources are represented as nodes in a dependency graph in which some nodes are articulation points and the removal of any articulation point due to a resource failure results in a disconnected graph. The embodiments perform a failover when a resource corresponding to an articulation point fails. The failover is to a local resource if the failed resource does not affect all local resources. The failover is to a remote resource if no local resource can meet all resource requirements of the failed resource, and to a remote resource running in a degraded mode if the remote resource cannot meet all of the requirements.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 17, 2010
    Publication date: February 23, 2012
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Reshu Jain, Prasenjit Sarkar, Mark James Seaman
  • Patent number: 8074020
    Abstract: A mechanism to permit consolidation of storage subsystem volumes into larger, more easily managed volumes and an operating system device driver which includes a trap mechanism for intercepting calls from a host into logical unit devices that were previously consolidated into a single physical volume. A map converts such calls to a logical unit device into a corresponding offset in the single physical volume. A driver accesses the single physical volume with corresponding offsets to transfer data associated with a particular logical unit device. So, logical unit devices can be consolidated and reconsolidated to single physical volumes and other physical volumes without requiring changes to the operating system or its application software and without requiring application or host downtime.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Mark James Seaman, Lu Nguyen, Prasenjit Sarkar
  • Patent number: 7984313
    Abstract: The invention provides a method, apparatus and system for reducing power consumption involving data storage devices. One embodiment involves a process for storing data in a first memory, and in response to the first memory exceeding a first threshold, migrating the data from the first memory to a second memory. In response to the second memory exceeding a second threshold, the process then involves migrating the data from the second memory to the third memory, wherein the second memory is sized and configured to store data targeted for the third memory to intelligently maintain a portion of the third memory in an inactive state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 19, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Lu Nguyen, Mark James Seaman
  • Publication number: 20090265567
    Abstract: The invention provides a method, apparatus and system for reducing power consumption involving data storage devices. One embodiment involves a process for storing data in a first memory, and in response to the first memory exceeding a first threshold, migrating the data from the first memory to a second memory. In response to the second memory exceeding a second threshold, the process then involves migrating the data from the second memory to the third memory, wherein the second memory is sized and configured to store data targeted for the third memory to intelligently maintain a portion of the third memory in an inactive state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 17, 2008
    Publication date: October 22, 2009
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Lu Nguyen, Mark James Seaman
  • Publication number: 20090204759
    Abstract: A mechanism to permit consolidation of storage subsystem volumes into larger, more easily managed volumes and an operating system device driver which includes a trap mechanism for intercepting calls from a host into logical unit devices that were previously consolidated into a single physical volume. A map converts such calls to a logical unit device into a corresponding offset in the single physical volume. A driver accesses the single physical volume with corresponding offsets to transfer data associated with a particular logical unit device. So, logical unit devices can be consolidated and reconsolidated to single physical volumes and other physical volumes without requiring changes to the operating system or its application software and without requiring application or host downtime.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 13, 2008
    Publication date: August 13, 2009
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Mark James Seaman, Lu Nguyen, Prasenjit Sarkar
  • Patent number: 7146474
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method includes, in response to detecting that a fast copy function has been invoked, automatically selecting at least one target volume for writing fast copy-related data, where the at least one target volume is selected for optimizing fast copy performance, and writing the fast copy data to the selected at least one target volume. Also disclosed is a data processing system having circuitry that operates in accordance with the method, as well as a computer program product, embodied on a computer readable media, that implements the method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 12, 2003
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2006
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Lu Nguyen, Mark James Seaman, Syed Mohammad Amir Ali Jafri
  • Publication number: 20040181641
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method includes, in response to detecting that a fast copy function has been invoked, automatically selecting at least one target volume for writing fast copy-related data, where the at least one target volume is selected for optimizing fast copy performance, and writing the fast copy data to the selected at least one target volume. Also disclosed is a data processing system having circuitry that operates in accordance with the method, as well as a computer program product, embodied on a computer readable media, that implements the method.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 12, 2003
    Publication date: September 16, 2004
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Lu Nguyen, Mark James Seaman, Syed Mohammad Amir Ali Jafri