Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090031169 | Self-Repairing Of Microprocessor Array Structures - A level of indirection is utilized when writing to a microprocessor array structure, thereby masking hard faults in the array structure. Among other benefits, this minimizes the use of a backward error recovery mechanism with its inherent delay for recovery. The indirection is used to effectively remove from use faulty portions of the array structure and substitute spare, functioning portions to perform the duties of the faulty portions. Thus, for example, faulty rows in microprocessor array structures are mapped out in favor of substitute, functioning rows. | 01-29-2009 |
20090070611 | Managing Computer Power Consumption In A Data Center - Methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for managing computer power consumption in a data center. Embodiments include monitoring aggregate power consumption of a plurality of computers in the data center, each of the computers being supplied power individually from a shared circuit in the data center; determining whether the aggregate power consumption exceeds a predetermined maximum threshold; if the aggregate power consumption exceeds the predetermined maximum threshold, selecting a number of computers for throttling in dependence upon priority; and throttling-down the selected computers, reducing the aggregate power consumption to a level below the predetermined maximum threshold. Some embodiments may also include determining whether the aggregate power consumption is below a predetermined minimum threshold; if the aggregate power consumption is below the predetermined minimum threshold, selecting a number of computers for throttling in dependence upon priority; and throttling-up the selected computers, increasing the aggregate power consumption to a level above the predetermined minimum threshold. | 03-12-2009 |
20110282979 | Network Address Assignment In A Data Center - In a data center that includes a number of chassis, with each chassis including a chassis management module and a number of slots, each slot associated with a service processor: network address assignment includes discovering, by a chassis management module of a particular chassis, one or more other chassis management modules; negotiating, by the chassis management module with the other chassis management modules via IPv6 data communications, a chassis-specific range of IPv4 addresses available for assignment to service processors of the particular chassis; providing, by the chassis management module to the service processors of the particular chassis, in dependence upon the chassis-specific range of IPv4 addresses, a base IPv4 address; and determining, by each service processor of the particular chassis, in dependence upon the base IPv4 address and a slot identifier of the slot associated with the service processor, an IPv4 address for the service processor. | 11-17-2011 |
20120005683 | Data Processing Workload Control - Data processing workload control in a data center is provided, where the data center includes computers whose operations consume power and a workload controller composed of automated computing machinery that controls the overall data processing workload in the data center. The data processing workload is composed of a plurality of specific data processing jobs, including scheduling, by the workload controller in dependence upon power performance information, the data processing jobs for execution upon the computers in the data center, the power performance information including power consumption at a plurality of power-conserving states for each computer in the data center that executes data processing jobs and dispatching by the workload controller the data processing jobs as scheduled for execution on computers in the data center. | 01-05-2012 |
20120036346 | PARTIAL HIBERNATION RESTORE FOR BOOT TIME REDUCTION - Checkpoint snapshots of segments of system memory are taken while an operating system is booting in a computer system. The segments of system memory are stored in non-volatile memory as hibernation files. In response to detecting a request for a system reboot of the OS, an affected hibernation file, which corresponds to an affected segment of system memory that will change during the system reboot of the OS, is identified. A restoration of the system memory via a wake-up from hibernation is then initiated. The wake-up from hibernation proceeds until the affected hibernation file is reached, such that initial steps in the system reboot are bypassed. Thereafter, subsequent steps, which are after the bypassed initial steps in the system reboot, are executed. | 02-09-2012 |
20120072765 | JOB MIGRATION IN RESPONSE TO LOSS OR DEGRADATION OF A SEMI-REDUNDANT COMPONENT - A computer program product and method of managing the workload in a computer system having one or more semi-redundant hardware components are provided. The method comprises detecting loss or degradation of the level of performance of one or more of the semi-redundant hardware components, identifying hardware components that are affected by the loss or degradation of the one or more semi-redundant components, migrating a critical job from an affected hardware component to an unaffected hardware component, and performing less-critical jobs on an affected hardware component. Loss or degradation of the semi-redundant component reduces the capacity of affected hardware components in the computer system without entirely disabling the computer system. Jobs identified as being critical are run on hardware components having the most capacity and reliability, while allowing less-critical jobs to make use of the remaining capacity of affected hardware components. Optionally, the semi-redundant hardware component may be selected from a memory module, CPU core, Ethernet port, power supply, fan, disk drive, and an input output port. | 03-22-2012 |
20120123595 | CONTROLLING FLUID COOLANT FLOW IN COOLING SYSTEMS OF COMPUTING DEVICES - Methods and systems for controlling fluid coolant flow in cooling systems of computing devices are disclosed. According to an aspect, a method may include determining a temperature of a fluid coolant in a cooling system of a computing device. For example, a temperature of water exiting a cooling system of a server may be determined. The method may also include determining an operational condition of the computing device. For example, a temperature of a processor, memory, or input/output (I/O) component may be determined. Further, the method may include controlling a flow of the fluid coolant through the cooling system based on the temperature of the fluid coolant and/or the operational condition. | 05-17-2012 |
20120151248 | REDUCED POWER FAILOVER SYSTEM AND METHOD - Embodiments include a power-efficient failover system and method. In one embodiment, a primary server operating in a normal operating state is configured to dynamically backup device states or transaction logs. A redundant server coupled to the primary server in a failover cluster is operated at a reduced power state. The redundant server dynamically receives the backup from the primary server and is elevated to a normal operating state in response to a failure of the primary server. By enforcing a reduced power state of the redundant server, a failover system provides a desired combination of high power efficiency with low latency. | 06-14-2012 |
20120154165 | ELECTRONIC GUIDANCE FOR RESTORING A PREDETERMINED CABLING CONFIGURATION - In one embodiment, a computer system has a plurality of chassis interconnected by cables. Each cable initially connects a unique port pair consisting of a port of one chassis and a port of another chassis. The disconnection of cables is monitored, including electronically recording a disconnection sequence in which the port pairs are disconnected by removing each cable from at least one port of the respective port pair. Visual guidance is provided for re-cabling the computer system by sequentially identifying the port pairs in a reversal of the disconnection sequence, wherein identifying each port pair includes illuminating visual indicators associated with the ports of each port pair with a matching illumination pattern. | 06-21-2012 |
20120272094 | REDUCED POWER FAILOVER - Embodiments include a power-efficient failover method. The method includes operating a primary server at a normal operating state in which program code is executed, and dynamically generating a backup of the results of the executed program code while in the normal operating state. The method further includes operating a redundant server at a reduced power state in which less power is consumed than in the normal operating state of the primary server. The workload of the primary server may be assumed according to the backup in response to a failure of the primary server. The power state of the redundant server is managed, including maintaining the redundant server in the reduced power state prior to detecting a failure of the primary server and increasing the power state of the redundant server and assuming the workload of the primary server in response to the failure of the primary server. | 10-25-2012 |
20120290874 | JOB MIGRATION IN RESPONSE TO LOSS OR DEGRADATION OF A SEMI-REDUNDANT COMPONENT - A method of managing the workload in a computer system having one or more semi-redundant hardware components is provided. The method comprises detecting loss or degradation of the level of performance of one or more of the semi-redundant hardware components, identifying hardware components affected by the loss or degradation, migrating a critical job from an affected hardware component to an unaffected hardware component, and performing less-critical jobs on an affected hardware component. Loss or degradation of the semi-redundant component reduces the capacity of affected hardware components in the computer system without entirely disabling the computer system. Jobs identified as critical run on hardware components having the most capacity and reliability, while less-critical jobs use the remaining capacity of affected hardware components. Examples of semi-redundant hardware components include a memory module, CPU core, Ethernet port, power supply, fan, disk drive, and an input output port. | 11-15-2012 |
20130103974 | Firmware Management In A Computing System - Managing firmware in a computing system storing a plurality of different firmware images for the same firmware includes: calculating, for each firmware image in dependence upon a plurality of predefined factors, a preference score; responsive to a failure of a particular firmware image, selecting a firmware image having a highest preference score; and failing over to the selected firmware image. | 04-25-2013 |
20140032862 | Backing Up An Image In A Computing System - Methods, apparatus, and products for backing up an image in a computing system that includes computer memory, including: receiving, by a backup image manager, an image for one or more computing devices within the computing system; identifying, by the backup image manager, available protected computer memory within the computing system, wherein the available protected computer memory within the computing system is restricted from alteration by a user of the computing system; slicing, by the backup image manager, the image into a plurality of image slices; and storing, by the backup image manger, one or more of the image slices in the available protected computer memory. | 01-30-2014 |
20140075170 | AUTOMATED FIRMWARE VOTING TO ENABLE MULTI-ENCLOSURE FEDERATED SYSTEMS - One embodiment provides a method of initializing a federated computer system from a fabric of nodes connected by a federated interface. Each node casts a vote to the federated interface for a candidate firmware version supported by the node casting the vote. The candidate firmware version having received the greatest number of votes is identified, and the computer system is initialized as a federated system of the nodes that support the firmware version identified as having received the greatest number of votes. A process of iterative voting may be used to identify a greater number of nodes supporting a compatible firmware version. | 03-13-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120246081 | Systems and Methods for Automated Itinerary Modification - Systems and methods are disclosed which allow for changes to be made to an existing order using an automated system. A user may interact with an automated agent using any communication modality that generally emulates an interaction with a human customer service representative. Should the interaction exceed a predefined level of complexity, or meet other criteria, the user may be routed to a human customer service representative. | 09-27-2012 |
20130174034 | Providing Variable Responses in a Virtual-Assistant Environment - Virtual assistants intelligently emulate a representative of a service provider by providing variable responses to user queries received via the virtual assistants. These variable responses may take the context of a user's query into account both when identifying an intent of a user's query and when identifying an appropriate response to the user's query. | 07-04-2013 |
20130283168 | Conversation User Interface - A conversation user interface enables users to better understand their interactions with computing devices, particularly when speech input is involved. The conversation user interface conveys a visual representation of a conversation between the computing device, or virtual assistant thereon, and a user. The conversation user interface presents a series of dialog representations that show input from a user (verbal or otherwise) and responses from the device or virtual assistant. Associated with one or more of the dialog representations are one or more graphical elements to convey assumptions made to interpret the user input and derive an associated response. The conversation user interface enables the user to see the assumptions upon which the response was based, and to optionally change the assumption(s). Upon change of an assumption, the conversation GUI is refreshed to present a modified dialog representation of a new response derived from the altered set of assumptions. | 10-24-2013 |
20140074454 | Conversational Virtual Healthcare Assistant - A conversation user interface enables patients to better understand their healthcare by integrating diagnosis, treatment, medication management, and payment, through a system that uses a virtual assistant to engage in conversation with the patient. The conversation user interface conveys a visual representation of a conversation between the virtual assistant and the patient. An identity of the patient, including preferences and medical records, is maintained throughout all interactions so that each aspect of this integrated system has access to the same information. The conversation user interface presents allows the patient to interact with the virtual assistant using natural language commands to receive information and complete task related to his or her healthcare. | 03-13-2014 |
20140244266 | Interaction with a Portion of a Content Item through a Virtual Assistant - Techniques for interacting with a portion of a content item through a virtual assistant are described herein. The techniques may include identifying a portion of a content item that is relevant to user input and causing an action to be performed related to the portion of the content item. The action may include, for example, displaying the portion of the content item on a smart device in a displayable format that is adapted to a display characteristic of the smart device, performing a task for a user that satisfies the user input, and so on. | 08-28-2014 |
20140245140 | Virtual Assistant Transfer between Smart Devices - Techniques for transferring an interaction with a virtual assistant from a smart device to another smart device are described herein. The virtual assistant may act as an interface between an end user and content stored locally or remotely. The techniques may include outputting the virtual assistant on the smart device to facilitate an interaction of the virtual assistant with a user. Thereafter, the virtual assistant may be output on the other smart device to continue the interaction of the virtual assistant with the user on the other smart device. In some instances, one or more pieces of context of the interaction of the virtual assistant with the user are transferred with the virtual assistant to the other smart device. | 08-28-2014 |
20140317502 | VIRTUAL ASSISTANT FOCUSED USER INTERFACES - Conversation user interfaces that are configured for virtual assistant interaction may include contextual interface items that are based on contextual information. The contextual information may relate to a current or previous conversation between a user and a virtual assistant and/or may relate to other types of information, such as a location of a user, an orientation of a device, missing information, and so on. The conversation user interfaces may additionally, or alternatively, control an input mode based on contextual information, such as an inferred input mode of a user or a location of a user. Further, the conversation user interfaces may tag conversation items by saving the conversation items to a tray and/or associating the conversation items with indicators. | 10-23-2014 |
20140337048 | Conversational Virtual Healthcare Assistant - A conversation user interface enables patients to better understand their healthcare by integrating diagnosis, treatment, medication management, and payment, through a system that uses a virtual assistant to engage in conversation with the patient. The conversation user interface conveys a visual representation of a conversation between the virtual assistant and the patient. An identity of the patient, including preferences and medical records, is maintained throughout all interactions so that each aspect of this integrated system has access to the same information. The conversation user interface presents allows the patient to interact with the virtual assistant using natural language commands to receive information and complete task related to his or her healthcare. | 11-13-2014 |
20150121216 | MAPPING ACTIONS AND OBJECTS TO TASKS - Techniques for mapping actions and objects to tasks may include identifying a task to be performed by a virtual assistant for an action and/or object. The task may be identified based on a task map of the virtual assistant. In some examples, the task may be identified based on contextual information of a user, such as a conversation history, content output history, user preferences, and so on. The techniques may also include customizing a task map for a particular context, such as a particular user, industry, platform, device type, and so on. The customization may include assigning an action, object, and/or variable value to a particular task. | 04-30-2015 |
20150185996 | VIRTUAL ASSISTANT TEAM IDENTIFICATION - Techniques and architectures for implementing a team of virtual assistants are described herein. The team may include multiple virtual assistants that are configured with different characteristics, such as different functionality, base language models, levels of training, visual appearances, personalities, and so on. The characteristics of the virtual assistants may be configured by trainers, end-users, and/or a virtual assistant service. The virtual assistants may be presented to end-users in conversation user interfaces to perform different tasks for the users in a conversational manner. The different virtual assistants may adapt to different contexts. The virtual assistants may additionally, or alternatively, interact with each other to carry out tasks for the users, which may be illustrated in conversation user interfaces. | 07-02-2015 |
20150186154 | VIRTUAL ASSISTANT TEAM CUSTOMIZATION - Techniques and architectures for implementing a team of virtual assistants are described herein. The team may include multiple virtual assistants that are configured with different characteristics, such as different functionality, base language models, levels of training, visual appearances, personalities, and so on. The characteristics of the virtual assistants may be configured by trainers, end-users, and/or a virtual assistant service. The virtual assistants may be presented to end-users in conversation user interfaces to perform different tasks for the users in a conversational manner. The different virtual assistants may adapt to different contexts. The virtual assistants may additionally, or alternatively, interact with each other to carry out tasks for the users, which may be illustrated in conversation user interfaces. | 07-02-2015 |
20150186155 | VIRTUAL ASSISTANT ACQUISITIONS AND TRAINING - Techniques and architectures for implementing a team of virtual assistants are described herein. The team may include multiple virtual assistants that are configured with different characteristics, such as different functionality, base language models, levels of training, visual appearances, personalities, and so on. The characteristics of the virtual assistants may be configured by trainers, end-users, and/or a virtual assistant service. The virtual assistants may be presented to end-users in conversation user interfaces to perform different tasks for the users in a conversational manner. The different virtual assistants may adapt to different contexts. The virtual assistants may additionally, or alternatively, interact with each other to carry out tasks for the users, which may be illustrated in conversation user interfaces. | 07-02-2015 |
20150186156 | VIRTUAL ASSISTANT CONVERSATIONS - Techniques and architectures for implementing a team of virtual assistants are described herein. The team may include multiple virtual assistants that are configured with different characteristics, such as different functionality, base language models, levels of training, visual appearances, personalities, and so on. The characteristics of the virtual assistants may be configured by trainers, end-users, and/or a virtual assistant service. The virtual assistants may be presented to end-users in conversation user interfaces to perform different tasks for the users in a conversational manner. The different virtual assistants may adapt to different contexts. The virtual assistants may additionally, or alternatively, interact with each other to carry out tasks for the users, which may be illustrated in conversation user interfaces. | 07-02-2015 |