Patents by Inventor William L. Bircher

William L. Bircher 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: 8484498
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for performance control of processing nodes is disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes a processing node and a power management unit configured to, for each of a plurality of time intervals, monitor an activity level of the processing node, cause the processing node to operate at a high operating point during one successive time interval if the activity level in the given interval is greater than a high activity threshold, operate at a low operating point at least one successive time interval if the activity level is less than a low activity threshold, or enable operating system software to cause the processing node to operate at one of one or more predefined intermediate operating points of the plurality of operating points if the activity level is less than the high activity threshold and greater than the low activity threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Advanced Micro Devices
    Inventors: Alexander Branover, Maurice Steinman, William L. Bircher
  • Publication number: 20120297232
    Abstract: A system, method, and medium for adjusting an input clock frequency of a processor in real-time based on one or more hardware metrics. First, the processor is characterized for a plurality of workloads. Next, the frequency sensitivity value of the processor for each of the workloads is calculated. Hardware metrics are also monitored and the values of these metrics are stored for each of the workloads. Then, linear or polynomial regression is performed to match the metrics to the frequency sensitivity of the processor. The linear or polynomial regression will produce a formula and coefficients, and the coefficients are applied to the metrics in real-time to calculate a frequency sensitivity value of an application executing on the processor. Then, the frequency sensitivity value is utilized to determine whether to adjust the input clock frequency of the processor.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2011
    Publication date: November 22, 2012
    Inventor: William L. Bircher
  • Publication number: 20120054519
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for performance control of processing nodes is disclosed. In one embodiment, a system includes a processing node and a power management unit configured to, for each of a plurality of time intervals, monitor an activity level of the processing node, cause the processing node to operate at a high operating point during one successive time interval if the activity level in the given interval is greater than a high activity threshold, operate at a low operating point at least one successive time interval if the activity level is less than a low activity threshold, or enable operating system software to cause the processing node to operate at one of one or more predefined intermediate operating points of the plurality of operating points if the activity level is less than the high activity threshold and greater than the low activity threshold.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 26, 2010
    Publication date: March 1, 2012
    Inventors: Alexander Branover, Maurice Steinman, William L. Bircher
  • Patent number: 7873754
    Abstract: A design structure embodied in a machine readable storage medium for designing, manufacturing, and/or testing a design is disclosed for option ROM characterization by establishing an isolating execution environment for an expansion adapter of a computer, the adapter having an option ROM containing initialization code for the adapter, executing the initialization code for the expansion adapter in the isolating execution environment, identifying operating characteristics of the option ROM, including characteristics of the option ROM unavailable prior to execution of the initialization code in the isolating execution environment, and allocating virtual memory address space in a normal execution environment of the computer to the option ROM of the expansion adapter in dependence upon the identified operating characteristics of the option ROM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2011
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: William L. Bircher, Shiva R. Dasari, Wingcheung Tam
  • Patent number: 7526578
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus, and computer program products are disclosed for option ROM characterization by establishing an isolating execution environment for an expansion adapter of a computer, the adapter having an option ROM containing initialization code for the adapter, executing the initialization code for the expansion adapter in the isolating execution environment, identifying operating characteristics of the option ROM, including characteristics of the option ROM unavailable prior to execution of the initialization code in the isolating execution environment, and allocating virtual memory address space in a normal execution environment of the computer to the option ROM of the expansion adapter in dependence upon the identified operating characteristics of the option ROM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 17, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2009
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: William L. Bircher, Shiva R. Dasari, Wingcheung Tam
  • Publication number: 20080276011
    Abstract: A design structure embodied in a machine readable storage medium for designing, manufacturing, and/or testing a design is disclosed for option ROM characterization by establishing an isolating execution environment for an expansion adapter of a computer, the adapter having an option ROM containing initialization code for the adapter, executing the initialization code for the expansion adapter in the isolating execution environment, identifying operating characteristics of the option ROM, including characteristics of the option ROM unavailable prior to execution of the initialization code in the isolating execution environment, and allocating virtual memory address space in a normal execution environment of the computer to the option ROM of the expansion adapter in dependence upon the identified operating characteristics of the option ROM.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 10, 2008
    Publication date: November 6, 2008
    Inventors: WILLIAM L. BIRCHER, SHIVA R. DASARI, WINGCHEUNG TAM