Patents by Inventor Robert C. Swanson

Robert C. Swanson 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).

  • Publication number: 20140040543
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes a processor that has an on-die storage such as a static random access memory to store an architectural state of one or more threads that are swapped out of architectural state storage of the processor on entry to a system management mode (SMM). In this way communication of this state information to a system management memory can be avoided, reducing latency associated with entry into SMM. Embodiments may also enable the processor to update a status of executing agents that are either in a long instruction flow or in a system management interrupt (SMI) blocked state, in order to provide an indication to agents inside the SMM. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2013
    Publication date: February 6, 2014
    Inventors: Mahesh Natu, Thanunathan Rangarajan, Gautam Doshi, Shamanna M. Datta, Baskaran Ganesan, Mohan J. Kumar, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Frank Binns, Rajesh Nagaraja Murthy, Robert C. Swanson
  • Publication number: 20130340081
    Abstract: An apparatus includes a memory that is accessible by an operating system; and a basic input/output system (BIOS) handler. The BIOS handler, in response to detected malicious software activity, stores data in the memory to report the activity to the operating system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 30, 2012
    Publication date: December 19, 2013
    Inventors: Palsamy Sakthikumar, Vincent Zimmer, Robert C. Swanson
  • Publication number: 20130325738
    Abstract: Methods, apparatuses and storage medium associated with providing location service, are disclosed. In various embodiments, a method may include receiving, by a location server, location information associated with a user of a mobile device or a party associated with user; and receiving, by the location server, from a delivery service server, a request for the location information. The request may include a credential indicative of eligibility of the delivery service server to receive the requested location information. The method may further include providing, by the location server, to the delivery service server, the location information, on confirmation of the eligibility of the delivery service server based at least in part on the credential. Other embodiments may be disclosed or claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 15, 2011
    Publication date: December 5, 2013
    Inventors: Robert C. Swanson, Robert Bruce Bahnsen, Mallik Bulusu
  • Patent number: 8601227
    Abstract: A method includes determining an amount of memory space in a memory device available for memory mirroring. The method further includes presenting the available memory space to an operating system. The method further includes selecting at least a portion of the amount of memory space to be used for memory mirroring with the operating system. The method further includes adding a non-selected portion of the available memory to memory space available to the operating system during operation. An associated system and machine readable medium are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 16, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Robert C. Swanson, John V. Lovelace, Larry D. Aaron, Jr., Sugumar Govindarajan
  • Publication number: 20130318577
    Abstract: An embodiment includes a secure and stable method for sending information across a compute continuum. For example, the method may include executing an application (e.g., video player) on a first node (e.g., tablet) with a desire to perform “context migration” to a second node (e.g., desktop). This may allow a user to watch a movie on the tablet, stop watching the movie, and then resume watching the movie from the desktop. To do so in a secure and stable manner, the first node may request security and performance credentials from the second node. If both credential sets satisfy thresholds, the first node may transfer content (e.g., encrypted copy of a movie) and state information (e.g., placeholder indicating where the movie was when context transfer began). The second node may then allow the user to resume his or her movie watching from the desktop. Other embodiments are described herein.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Publication date: November 28, 2013
    Inventors: Mallik Bulusu, Robert Bahnsen, Vincent J. Zimmer, Robert S. Gittins, Robert C. Swanson
  • Publication number: 20130305006
    Abstract: Techniques and mechanisms for providing access to a storage device of a computer platform. In an embodiment, an agent executing on the platform may be registered for access to the storage device, the agent being allocated a memory space by a host operating system of the platform. Registration of the agent may result in a location in the allocated memory space being mapped to a location in the storage device. In another embodiment, the agent may write to the location in the allocated memory space to request access to the storage device, wherein the request is independent of any system call to the host OS which describes the requested access.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 30, 2011
    Publication date: November 14, 2013
    Inventors: Asher M. Altman, Mark A. Schmisseur, Robert C. Swanson, Thomas M. Slaight
  • Patent number: 8578138
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes a processor that has an on-die storage such as a static random access memory to store an architectural state of one or more threads that are swapped out of architectural state storage of the processor on entry to a system management mode (SMM). In this way communication of this state information to a system management memory can be avoided, reducing latency associated with entry into SMM. Embodiments may also enable the processor to update a status of executing agents that are either in a long instruction flow or in a system management interrupt (SMI) blocked state, in order to provide an indication to agents inside the SMM. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 5, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Mahesh S. Natu, Thanunathan Rangarajan, Gautam B. Doshi, Shammanna M. Datta, Baskaran Ganesan, Mohan J. Kumar, Rajesh S. Parthasarathy, Frank Binns, Rajesh Nagaraja Murthy, Robert C. Swanson
  • Patent number: 8566613
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, system, and computer program product for multi-owner deployment of firmware images. The method includes obtaining a signed firmware image that comprises a first code module signed by a first code owner and a second code module signed by a second code owner. The method further includes obtaining an updated first code module comprising updated code for the first code module, verifying that the updated first code module is signed by the first code owner, and updating the signed firmware image with the updated first code module in response to verifying that the updated first code module is signed by the first code owner. The signed firmware image may further comprise an access control list that authorizes updates to the first code module by the first code owner and updates to the second code module by the second code owner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 22, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Palsamy Sakthikumar, Robert C. Swanson, Vincent J. Zimmer, Michael A. Rothman, Mallik Bulusu
  • Patent number: 8539245
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a peripheral controller coupled to a processor can include a storage controller. This storage controller can control access to a non-volatile storage coupled to the peripheral controller. The storage may include both secure and open partitions, and the storage controller can enable access to the secure partition only when the processor is in a secure mode. In turn, during unsecure operation such as third party code execution, visibility of the secure partition can be prevented. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: September 17, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Robert C. Swanson, Mallik Bulusu, Vincent J. Zimmer
  • Patent number: 8533526
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving an indication of a loss of redundancy with respect to a pair of mirrored memory regions of a partially redundant memory system, determining new mirrored memory regions, and dynamically migrating information stored in the original mirrored memory regions to the new mirrored memory regions. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 10, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Robert C. Swanson, Mallik Bulusu
  • Publication number: 20130218551
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, system, and computer program product for secure server system management. A payload containing system software and/or firmware updates is distributed in an on-demand, secure I/O operation. The I/O operation is performed via a secured communication channel inaccessible by the server operating system to an emulated USB drive. The secure communication channel can be established for the I/O operation only after authenticating the recipient of the payload, and the payload can be protected from access by a potentially-infected server operating system. Furthermore, the payload can be delivered on demand rather than relying on a BIOS update schedule, and the payload can be delivered at speeds of a write operation to a USB drive.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 21, 2013
    Publication date: August 22, 2013
    Inventors: Palsamy Sakthikumar, Michael A. Rothman, Vincent J. Zimmer, Robert C. Swanson, Mallik Bulusu
  • Publication number: 20130212426
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention provides an ability to handle an error occurring during a memory migration operation in a high availability system. In addition, a method can be used to dynamically remap a memory page stored in a non-mirrored memory region of memory to a mirrored memory region. This dynamic remapping may be responsive to a determination that the memory page has been accessed more than a threshold number of times, indicating a criticality of information on the page. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 22, 2013
    Publication date: August 15, 2013
    Inventors: Robert C. Swanson, Mahesh S. Natu, Rahul Khanna, Murugasamy K. Nachimuthu, Sarathy Jayakumar, Anil S. Keshavamurthy, Narayan Ranganathan
  • Publication number: 20130210483
    Abstract: A software-defined radio (SDR) capability may be provided in a general purpose, many core processing system by sequestering one or more partitions running on one or more cores and instantiating a communications capability by having discrete SDR functions performed by the sequestered partitions. Each SDR module embodied in a sequestered partition may be independently upgraded without modifying the hardware of the underlying processing system. By executing SDR modules in cores not accessible by application programs and/or an operating system (OS), a better Quality of Service (QoS) may be provided for wireless communications on the general purpose, multi-core processing system. An embodiment comprises isolating a core of a many core processing system as a sequestered partition, loading a software-defined radio module onto the core, and executing the software-defined module to implement wireless communications.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 4, 2013
    Publication date: August 15, 2013
    Inventors: Vincent J. Zimmer, Michael A. Rothman, Palsamy Sakthikumar, Mallik Bulusu, Robert C. Swanson
  • Patent number: 8499141
    Abstract: Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags embedded in processors within a computing system provide a separate communication path to other components of the computing system during initialization processing, apart from the system interconnect. Upon powering up, each processor causes its RFID tag to broadcast data regarding the processor's interconnect location and initialization status. A RFID receiver senses the RFID tags in the Platform Control Hub (PCH), and each processor's interconnect location and initialization status data is stored in registers within the PCH. During system initialization processing, the BIOS accesses these PCH registers to obtain the processor's data. The interconnect location and initialization status data is used by the BIOS to select the optimal routing table and configure the virtual network within the computing system based on the optimal routing table and the RFID tag data, without interrogating each processor individually over the system interconnect.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 2, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Robert C. Swanson, Vincent J. Zimmer, Mallik Bulusu, Michael A. Rothman, Palsamy Sakthikumar
  • Patent number: 8479017
    Abstract: Enhancing locality in a security co-processor module of a computing system may be achieved by including one or more additional attributes such as geographic location, trusted time, a hardware vendor string, and one or more environmental factors into an access control space for machine mode measurement of a computing system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 2, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Vincent J. Zimmer, Michael A. Rothman, Robert C. Swanson, Palsamy Sakthikumar, Mallik Bulusu
  • Patent number: 8428929
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, system, and computer program product for secure server system management. A payload containing system software and/or firmware updates is distributed in an on-demand, secure I/O operation. The I/O operation is performed via a secured communication channel inaccessible by the server operating system to an emulated USB drive. The secure communication channel can be established for the I/O operation only after authenticating the recipient of the payload, and the payload can be protected from access by a potentially-infected server operating system. Furthermore, the payload can be delivered on demand rather than relying on a BIOS update schedule, and the payload can be delivered at speeds of a write operation to a USB drive.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 23, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Palsamy Sakthikumar, Michael A. Rothman, Vincent J. Zimmer, Robert C. Swanson, Mallik Bulusu
  • Patent number: 8407516
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention provides an ability to handle an error occurring during a memory migration operation in a high availability system. In addition, a method can be used to dynamically remap a memory page stored in a non-mirrored memory region of memory to a mirrored memory region. This dynamic remapping may be responsive to a determination that the memory page has been accessed more than a threshold number of times, indicating a criticality of information on the page. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 26, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Robert C. Swanson, Mahesh S. Natu, Rahul Khanna, Murugasamy K. Nachimuthu, Sarathy Jayakumar, Anil S. Keshavamurthy, Narayan Ranganathan
  • Patent number: 8391913
    Abstract: A software-defined radio (SDR) capability may be provided in a general purpose, many core processing system by sequestering one or more partitions running on one or more cores and instantiating a communications capability by having discrete SDR functions performed by the sequestered partitions. Each SDR module embodied in a sequestered partition may be independently upgraded without modifying the hardware of the underlying processing system. By executing SDR modules in cores not accessible by application programs and/or an operating system (OS), a better Quality of Service (QoS) may be provided for wireless communications on the general purpose, multi-core processing system. An embodiment comprises isolating a core of a many core processing system as a sequestered partition, loading a software-defined radio module onto the core, and executing the software-defined module to implement wireless communications.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 18, 2007
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Vincent J. Zimmer, Michael A. Rothman, Palsamy Sakthikumar, Mallik Bulusu, Robert C. Swanson
  • Patent number: 8370667
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving the resume time of a platform. In one embodiment of the invention, the context of the platform is saved prior to entering an inactive state of the platform. When the platform is switched back to an active state, it reads the saved context and restores the platform to its original state prior to entering the inactive state. In one embodiment of the invention, the platform determines whether it should compress the saved context before storing it in a non-volatile memory based on the operating condition of the platform. This allows the platform to select the optimum method to allow faster resume time of the platform.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Intel Corporation
    Inventors: Michael A. Rothman, Palsamy Sakthikumar, Vincent J. Zimmer, Mallik Bulusu, Robert C. Swanson
  • Publication number: 20130031322
    Abstract: In one embodiment, the present invention includes a method for receiving an indication of a loss of redundancy with respect to a pair of mirrored memory regions of a partially redundant memory system, determining new mirrored memory regions, and dynamically migrating information stored in the original mirrored memory regions to the new mirrored memory regions. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 8, 2012
    Publication date: January 31, 2013
    Inventors: Mallik Bulusu, Robert C. Swanson