Patents by Inventor Simon Benham

Simon Benham 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: 8180897
    Abstract: An apparatus in one embodiment handles service requests over a network, wherein the network utilizes a protocol. In this aspect, the apparatus includes: a network subsystem for receiving and transmitting network service requests using the network protocol; and a service subsystem, coupled to the network subsystem, for satisfying the network service requests. At least one of the network subsystem and the service subsystem is hardware-implemented; the other of the network subsystem and the service subsystem may optionally be hardware-accelerated. A variety of related embodiments are also provided, including file servers and web servers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: BlueArc UK Limited
    Inventors: Geoffrey S. Barrall, Trevor Willis, Simon Benham, Michael Cooper, Jonathan Meyer, Christopher J. Aston, John Winfield
  • Publication number: 20090292850
    Abstract: A file system adapter card that may be plugged into a host computer system for providing hardware-based file system accesses outside the purview of a host operating system running on the host computer system. The file system adapter card includes a hardware-implemented or hardware-accelerated file service subsystem and a computer bus that permits a host computer system to communicate directly with the file service subsystem for providing file service requests and receiving file service responses. The file service subsystem includes dedicated hardware that operates outside the immediate control of a host operating system, including specialized circuitry for performing at least one major subsystem function.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 4, 2009
    Publication date: November 26, 2009
    Inventors: Geoffrey S. Barrall, Trevor E. Willis, Simon Benham, Michael Cooper, Jonathan Meyer, Christopher J. Aston, John Winfield
  • Publication number: 20080040385
    Abstract: A hardware-based file system includes multiple linked sub-modules that perform functions ancillary to client data handling. Each sub-module is associated with a metadata cache. A doubly-rooted structure is used to store each file system object at successive checkpoints. Metadata is stored within an object and/or as a separate object. Provisions are made for allocating sparse objects. A delayed write feature is used for writing certain objects into non-volatile storage. Checkpoints can be retained as read-only versions of the file system. Modifications to the file system are accomplished without affecting the contents of retained checkpoints. The file system can be reverted to a retained checkpoint. Multiple file servers can be interconnected as a cluster, and each file server stores requests from another file server. Interconnections between file servers can be dynamically modified. A distributed locking mechanism is used to control access to file system objects stored by the file servers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 20, 2007
    Publication date: February 14, 2008
    Applicant: BLUEARC UK LIMITED
    Inventors: Geoffrey Barrall, Simon Benham, Trevor Willis, Christopher Aston
  • Publication number: 20050021764
    Abstract: An apparatus in one embodiment handles service requests over a network, wherein the network utilizes a protocol. In this aspect, the apparatus includes: a network subsystem for receiving and transmitting network service requests using the network protocol; and a service subsystem, coupled to the network subsystem, for satisfying the network service requests. At least one of the network subsystem and the service subsystem is hardware-implemented; the other of the network subsystem and the service subsystem may optionally be hardware-accelerated. A variety of related embodiments are also provided, including file servers and web servers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 12, 2004
    Publication date: January 27, 2005
    Inventors: Geoffrey Barrall, Trevor Willis, Simon Benham, Michael Cooper, Jonathan Meyer, Christopher Aston, John Winfield
  • Patent number: 6826615
    Abstract: An apparatus in one embodiment handles service requests over a network, wherein the network utilizes a protocol. In this aspect, the apparatus includes: a network subsystem for receiving and transmitting network service requests using the network protocol; and a service subsystem, coupled to the network subsystem, for satisfying the network service requests. At least one of the network subsystem and the service subsystem is hardware-implemented; the other of the network subsystem and the service subsystem may optionally be hardware-accelerated. A variety of related embodiments are also provided, including file servers and web servers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2001
    Date of Patent: November 30, 2004
    Assignee: BlueArc UK Limited
    Inventors: Geoffrey S. Barrall, Trevor Willis, Simon Benham, Michael Cooper, Jonathan Meyer, Christopher J. Aston, John Winfield
  • Publication number: 20020065924
    Abstract: An apparatus in one embodiment handles service requests over a network, wherein the network utilizes a protocol. In this aspect, the apparatus includes: a network subsystem for receiving and transmitting network service requests using the network protocol; and a service subsystem, coupled to the network subsystem, for satisfying the network service requests.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 12, 2001
    Publication date: May 30, 2002
    Inventors: Geoffrey S. Barrall, Trevor Willis, Simon Benham, Michael Cooper, Jonathan Meyer, Christopher J. Aston, John Winfield
  • Patent number: 5297869
    Abstract: A receiving apparatus for synchronising a digital data clock in a receiver with a digital data clock in a transmitter and a method therefor is disclosed which utilizes two phase-locked loops so as to improve accuracy and jitter performance. One of the phase-locked loops is locked onto positive edges in a received waveform and the other phase-locked loop is locked onto negative edges. The phase-locked loops independently decode the 1's and 0's in the data allowing the transmit data and clock to be readily recovered. Each of the phase-locked loops uses a decoding method in which mid-bit transitions in the encoded received waveform are detected in more than half of the sampling periods within one bit period which further improves the performance of the apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1992
    Date of Patent: March 29, 1994
    Assignee: Research Machines PLC
    Inventor: Simon Benham