Patents by Inventor Sheldon R. Bailey

Sheldon R. Bailey 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: 9722859
    Abstract: To select a master controller from a plurality of controllers, a computing system may consider whether connections between components within field replaceable units (FRUs) are functional as well as the data dependencies between the FRUs. For example, in addition to identifying whether the connections between the FRUs and the controllers are functional, the computing system sends instructions to each of the FRUs coupled to the controllers to determine if inter- and intra-FRU connections required for booting a compute node hosting the FRUs are functional. For instance, one FRU may depend on data from another FRU in order to boot. If a communication link between the FRUs is non-functional, the compute node may fail to boot. The computer system uses these evaluations to determine which of the controllers to select as the master.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2014
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2017
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sheldon R. Bailey, Brent W. Jacobs
  • Patent number: 9716612
    Abstract: To select a master controller from a plurality of controllers, a computing system may consider whether connections between components within field replaceable units (FRUs) are functional as well as the data dependencies between the FRUs. For example, in addition to identifying whether the connections between the FRUs and the controllers are functional, the computing system sends instructions to each of the FRUs coupled to the controllers to determine if inter- and intra-FRU connections required for booting a compute node hosting the FRUs are functional. For instance, one FRU may depend on data from another FRU in order to boot. If a communication link between the FRUs is non-functional, the compute node may fail to boot. The computer system uses these evaluations to determine which of the controllers to select as the master.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2014
    Date of Patent: July 25, 2017
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sheldon R. Bailey, Brent W. Jacobs
  • Publication number: 20150205618
    Abstract: To select a master controller from a plurality of controllers, a computing system may consider whether connections between components within field replaceable units (FRUs) are functional as well as the data dependencies between the FRUs. For example, in addition to identifying whether the connections between the FRUs and the controllers are functional, the computing system sends instructions to each of the FRUs coupled to the controllers to determine if inter- and intra-FRU connections required for booting a compute node hosting the FRUs are functional. For instance, one FRU may depend on data from another FRU in order to boot. If a communication link between the FRUs is non-functional, the compute node may fail to boot. The computer system uses these evaluations to determine which of the controllers to select as the master.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 17, 2014
    Publication date: July 23, 2015
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sheldon R. BAILEY, Brent W. JACOBS
  • Publication number: 20150205617
    Abstract: To select a master controller from a plurality of controllers, a computing system may consider whether connections between components within field replaceable units (FRUs) are functional as well as the data dependencies between the FRUs. For example, in addition to identifying whether the connections between the FRUs and the controllers are functional, the computing system sends instructions to each of the FRUs coupled to the controllers to determine if inter- and intra-FRU connections required for booting a compute node hosting the FRUs are functional. For instance, one FRU may depend on data from another FRU in order to boot. If a communication link between the FRUs is non-functional, the compute node may fail to boot. The computer system uses these evaluations to determine which of the controllers to select as the master.
    Type: Application
    Filed: January 23, 2014
    Publication date: July 23, 2015
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sheldon R. BAILEY, Brent W. JACOBS
  • Patent number: 7747893
    Abstract: A method for managing a system's computer resources, includes: detecting an error condition in a computer resource; labeling the computer resource as not usable based on the error condition detected; reconfiguring the remaining computer resources to compensate for the detected error condition based on a failure mode policy; and wherein the failure mode policy manages the computer resources by one of: maximizing the amount of the remaining computer resources (mode 1), and maximizing the speed of the remaining computer resources (mode 2).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 15, 2007
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sheldon R. Bailey, Matthew S. Spinler
  • Patent number: 7698601
    Abstract: A minimally degraded configuration is determined when failing connections occur. Associative deconfigurations are determined from deconfiguring hardware items in a server system, associative groups are derived, and failed connections are determined. Failed connections are determined between two hardware items that are in the same associative group, and the two hardware items at both endpoints of the failed connection are deconfigured. Each associative group state is set to unknown, and the failed connections are counted where a single endpoint of the failed connection is within the associative group. The associative group state is set to deconfigured, if a member of the associative group was deconfigured. Counts of the associative groups that remain in the unknown state are analyzed, and the associative group with the smallest failed connection count is selected and set to a configured state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 13, 2007
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sheldon R. Bailey, Alwood P. Williams, III
  • Publication number: 20090019309
    Abstract: A minimally degraded configuration is determined when failing connections occur. Associative deconfigurations are determined from deconfiguring hardware items in a server system, associative groups are derived, and failed connections are determined. Failed connections are determined between two hardware items that are in the same associative group, and the two hardware items at both endpoints of the failed connection are deconfigured. Each associative group state is set to unknown, and the failed connections are counted where a single endpoint of the failed connection is within the associative group. The associative group state is set to deconfigured, if a member of the associative group was deconfigured. Counts of the associative groups that remain in the unknown state are analyzed, and the associative group with the smallest failed connection count is selected and set to a configured state.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 13, 2007
    Publication date: January 15, 2009
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sheldon R. Bailey, Alwood P. Williams, III
  • Publication number: 20080288810
    Abstract: A method for managing a system's computer resources, includes: detecting an error condition in a computer resource; labeling the computer resource as not usable based on the error condition detected; reconfiguring the remaining computer resources to compensate for the detected error condition based on a failure mode policy; and wherein the failure mode policy manages the computer resources by one of: maximizing the amount of the remaining computer resources (mode 1), and maximizing the speed of the remaining computer resources (mode 2).
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 15, 2007
    Publication date: November 20, 2008
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sheldon R. Bailey, Matthew S. Spinler