Patents by Inventor Thomas Alan Liebsch

Thomas Alan Liebsch 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: 7620841
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for re-utilizing partially failed compute resources in a massively parallel super computer system. In the preferred embodiments the compute node comprises a number of clock domains that can be enabled separately. When an error in a compute node is detected, and the failure is not in network communication blocks, a clock enable circuit enables the clocks to the network communication blocks only to allow the partially failed compute node to be re-utilized as a network resource. The computer system can then continue to operate with only slightly diminished performance and thereby improve performance and perceived overall reliability.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Dong Chen, Alan Gara, Philip Heidelberger, Thomas Alan Liebsch, Burkhard Steinmacher-Burow, Pavlos Michael Vranas
  • Patent number: 6851071
    Abstract: An apparatus and method of repairing a processor array for a failure detected at runtime in a system supporting persistent component deallocation are provided. The apparatus and method of the present invention allow redundant array bits to be used for recoverable faults detected in arrays during run time, instead of only at system boot, while still maintaining the dynamic and persistent processor deallocation features of the computing system. With the apparatus and method of the present invention, a failure of a cache array is detected and a determination is made as to whether a repairable failure threshold is exceeded during runtime. If this threshold is exceeded, a determination is made as to whether cache array redundancy may be applied to correct the failure, i.e. a bit error. If so, the cache array redundancy is applied without marking the processor as unavailable.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 11, 2001
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2005
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas Craig Bossen, Daniel James Henderson, Raymond Leslie Hicks, Alongkorn Kitamorn, David Otto Lewis, Thomas Alan Liebsch
  • Publication number: 20030074598
    Abstract: An apparatus and method of repairing a processor array for a failure detected at runtime in a system supporting persistent component deallocation are provided. The apparatus and method of the present invention allow redundant array bits to be used for recoverable faults detected in arrays during run time, instead of only at system boot, while still maintaining the dynamic and persistent processor deallocation features of the computing system. With the apparatus and method of the present invention, a failure of a cache array is detected and a determination is made as to whether a repairable failure threshold is exceeded during runtime. If this threshold is exceeded, a determination is made as to whether cache array redundancy may be applied to correct the failure, i.e. a bit error. If so, the cache array redundancy is applied without marking the processor as unavailable.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 11, 2001
    Publication date: April 17, 2003
    Applicant: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Douglas Craig Bossen, Daniel James Henderson, Raymond Leslie Hicks, Alongkorn Kitamorn, David Otto Lewis, Thomas Alan Liebsch
  • Patent number: 6047388
    Abstract: A method, apparatus, and computer program product are provided for processing an invalid address request in a computer system. A processor in the computer system receives an address requested from software and compares a real address requested with a real address range available. An invalid address request is a real address requested outside the real address range available. Responsive to identifying an invalid address, the processor issues an interrupt to supervising software. Then an address exception is posted to the user software, if appropriate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 9, 1997
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2000
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Tracy James Bashore, Thomas Alan Liebsch