Patents by Inventor Paul Matthew Richards

Paul Matthew Richards 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: 7634649
    Abstract: Provided are a method, system, deployment and article of manufacture, wherein in one embodiment, a mode of operation may be switched to a service mode by detecting a device inserted into a connector of an input/output port of a system. In the illustrated embodiment, the device has a connector and a wire which loops a code received from the input/output port back to the input/output port. Upon detecting receipt of the transmitted code, the mode of operation may be switched to a service mode. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2007
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen LaRoux Blinick, Paul Matthew Richards
  • Patent number: 7624336
    Abstract: Techniques are provided for selecting status data. Redundant views are obtained from multiple synchronous redundant devices. It is determined that the redundant views from the multiple synchronous redundant devices are conflicting. A redundant view score is calculated for each of the redundant views based on one or more characteristics from each of at least two characteristic types, wherein the characteristics are associated with weighted scores. One of the redundant views is selected based on the calculated redundant view score for each of the redundant views.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 8, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Timothy James Crawford, James Mathew Davison, Daniel Fernando de Araujo, Paul Matthew Richards
  • Patent number: 7523359
    Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for facilitating monitoring and responding to error events. An apparatus may includes a set of counters associated with a processing system resource, each counter associated with an error event and having attributes defining a count value, counter thresholds directly related to time, and empirical status information for the error event related to time. A user may adjust counter thresholds indirectly to set an error tolerance. An update module may update counters within the set based on an error event for the processing system resource. The management module persists and maintains a life cycle for counters based on counter attributes. Each counter may be of two types either a fixed counter that counts error events from a start time for a defined duration or a sliding counter that counts error events up to a predefined number of error events within a window of time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 21, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Paul Matthew Richards, Brian Anthony Rinaldi
  • Publication number: 20090049342
    Abstract: A method is disclosed for adjusting trace data granularity. An initialization module sets a base granularity for trace data recorded for a component. A registration module registers a condition counter comprising a condition set. The threshold module sets a count threshold for the condition counter. An increment module counts each instance of the condition set. An adjustment module adjusts the granularity of trace data stored for the component to a modified granularity if the condition count exceeds the count threshold. In one embodiment, a timer module times an adjusted trace data granularity time interval. The adjustment module may set the granularity of the trace data to the base granularity when the adjusted trace data granularity time interval exceeds a specified time interval.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 27, 2008
    Publication date: February 19, 2009
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Gary I. Dickenson, Thomas Charles Jarvis, Paul Matthew Richards
  • Patent number: 7451357
    Abstract: An apparatus and system are disclosed for adjusting trace data granularity. An initialization module sets a base granularity for trace data recorded for a component. A registration module registers a condition counter comprising a condition set. The threshold module sets a count threshold for the condition counter. An increment module counts each instance of the condition set. An adjustment module adjusts the granularity of trace data stored for the component to a modified granularity if the condition count exceeds the count threshold. In one embodiment, a timer module times an adjusted trace data granularity time interval. The adjustment module may set the granularity of the trace data to the base granularity when the adjusted trace data granularity time interval exceeds a specified time interval.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2004
    Date of Patent: November 11, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Gary I. Dickenson, Thomas Charles Jarvis, Paul Matthew Richards
  • Patent number: 7366890
    Abstract: Provided are a method, system, deployment and article of manufacture, wherein in one embodiment, a mode of operation may be switched to a service mode by detecting a device inserted into a connector of an input/output port of a system. In the illustrated embodiment, the device has a connector and a wire which loops a code received from the input/output port back to the input/output port. Upon detecting receipt of the transmitted code, the mode of operation may be switched to a service mode. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 16, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 29, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Stephen LaRoux Blinick, Paul Matthew Richards
  • Patent number: 7251753
    Abstract: An apparatus, method, and system associates an identifier with a data packet. The identifier uniquely identifies a communication module, such as a host interface card, within a data storage system. In operation, a computer host sends a data packet to a server. The communication module receives the data packet and associates an identifier, unique to the communication module, with the data packet. The data packet is stored in a disk array, such as a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) system. When the computer host later requests the stored data packet, a validation module, which may be implemented within a PCI adapter such as a host interface card, retrieves the data packet and determines whether the data packet is corrupt. If the data packet is corrupt, the validation module identifies which host interface card corrupted the data with the use of the unique identifier associated with the data packet. The faulty communication module may then be removed from operation in the data storage system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2003
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2007
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Thomas Benhase, Susan Kay Candelaria, Paul Matthew Richards, Brian Anthony Rinaldi