Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090012922 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR REWARD-BASED LEARNING OF IMPROVED SYSTEMS MANAGEMENT POLICIES - In one embodiment, the present invention is a method for reward-based learning of improved systems management policies. One embodiment of the inventive method involves supplying a first policy and a reward mechanism. The first policy maps states of at least one component of a data processing system to selected management actions, while the reward mechanism generates numerical measures of value responsive to particular actions (e.g., management actions) performed in particular states of the component(s). The first policy and the reward mechanism are applied to the component(s), and results achieved through this application (e.g., observations of corresponding states, actions and rewards) are processed in accordance with reward-based learning to derive a second policy having improved performance relative to the first policy in at least one state of the component(s). | 01-08-2009 |
20120117399 | SAVING POWER BY MANAGING THE STATE OF INACTIVE COMPUTING DEVICES - A system method and computer program product for managing readiness states of a plurality of computing devices. A programmed processor unit operates, upon receipt of a request, to either: provide one or more computing devices from an inactive pool to an active pool, or accept one or more active computing devices into the inactive pool. An Inactive Pool Manager proactively manages the inactive states of each computing device by: determining the desired number (and identities) of computing devices to be placed in each inactive state of readiness by solving a constraint optimization problem that describes a user-specified trade-off between expected readiness (estimated time to be able to activate computing devices when they are needed next) and conserving energy; generating a plan for changing the current set of inactive states to the desired set; and, executing the plan. Multiple alternative ways of quantifying the desired responsiveness to surges in demand are provided, and, in each case, the tradeoff between responsiveness and power savings is formulated as an objective function with constraints, and the desired number of devices in each inactive state emerges as the solution to a constraint optimization problem. | 05-10-2012 |
20120290135 | UNIFIED AND FLEXIBLE CONTROL OF MULTIPLE DATA CENTER COOLING MECHANISMS - Techniques are described for controlling the climate in a data center. Using the input of an administrator, multiple desired attributes of a data center (e.g., temperature, energy consumption, costs, or system performance) may be balanced using a utility function that maximizes the utility of the computing systems in the data center according to the administrator's preferences. Additionally, a cooling model is generated that represents the affect of a control parameter (e.g., the fan speed of a CRAC) on the desire attributes of the data center. The cooling model may then be substituted into the utility function to replace the desired attributes. Using this new utility function, the control parameters may be varied such that the maximum utility is achieved. | 11-15-2012 |
20120317265 | Automatically Detecting and Locating Equipment Within an Equipment Rack - A mechanism is provided for automatically detecting and locating equipment within an intelligent equipment rack. The intelligent equipment rack comprises a rack controller that determines whether a signal has been received indicating that a rack space in a plurality of rack spaces in the intelligent equipment rack has been occupied by a piece of electronic equipment. Responsive to receiving the signal indicating that the rack space has been occupied by the piece of electronic equipment, the rack controller updates a rack information table in the memory with occupation information related to the rack space occupied by the piece of electronic equipment. | 12-13-2012 |
20120331318 | SAVING POWER BY MANAGING THE STATE OF INACTIVE COMPUTING DEVICES - Managing readiness states of a plurality of computing devices. A programmed processor unit operates, upon receipt of a request, to: provide one or more computing devices from an inactive pool to an active pool, or accept one or more active computing devices into the inactive pool. The system proactively manages the inactive states of each computing device by: determining the desired number (and identities) of computing devices to be placed in each inactive state of readiness by solving a constraint optimization problem that describes a user-specified trade-off between expected readiness (estimated time to be able to activate computing devices when they are needed next) and conserving energy; generating a plan for changing the current set of inactive states to the desired set; and, executing the plan. Multiple alternative ways of quantifying the desired responsiveness to surges in demand are provided. | 12-27-2012 |
20130085611 | UNIFIED AND FLEXIBLE CONTROL OF MULTIPLE DATA CENTER COOLING MECHANISMS - Techniques are described for controlling the climate in a data center. Using the input of an administrator, multiple desired attributes of a data center (e.g., temperature, energy consumption, costs, or system performance) may be balanced using a utility function that maximizes the utility of the computing systems in the data center according to the administrator's preferences. Additionally, a cooling model is generated that represents the affect of a control parameter (e.g., the fan speed of a CRAC) on the desire attributes of the data center. The cooling model may then be substituted into the utility function to replace the desired attributes. Using this new utility function, the control parameters may be varied such that the maximum utility is achieved. | 04-04-2013 |
20140059367 | SAVING POWER BY MANAGING THE STATE OF INACTIVE COMPUTING DEVICES - A system method and computer program product for managing readiness states of a plurality of computing devices. In response to a request, a computer system operates to either: provide one or more computing devices from an inactive pool to an active pool, or accept one or more active computing devices into the inactive pool. An Inactive Pool Manager proactively manages the inactive states of each computing device by: determining the desired number (and identities) of computing devices to be placed in each inactive state of readiness by solving a constraint optimization problem that describes a user-specified trade-off between expected readiness (estimated time to be able to activate computing devices when they are needed next) and conserving energy; generating a plan for changing the current set of inactive states to the desired set; and, executing the plan. Multiple alternative ways of quantifying the desired responsiveness to surges in demand are provided. | 02-27-2014 |
20140211983 | Information Technology Asset Location Using Visual Detectors - Mechanisms are provided for determining the physical location of a physical asset in a physical area. A plurality of physical assets are controlled to cause each physical asset to output a visual output pattern on visual output elements of the physical asset. An image of a target physical asset is captured that has the current state of the visual output elements. An identification of the target physical asset is determined based on the current state of the visual output elements. A physical location of the target physical asset is determined based on a physical location of the image capture device when the image was captured. Location data identifying the determined physical location of the target physical asset is stored in an asset database in association with configuration information for the physical asset. | 07-31-2014 |
20140211984 | Information Technology Asset Location Using Visual Detectors - Mechanisms are provided for determining the physical location of a physical asset in a physical area. A plurality of physical assets are controlled to cause each physical asset to output a visual output pattern on visual output elements of the physical asset. An image of a target physical asset is captured that has the current state of the visual output elements. An identification of the target physical asset is determined based on the current state of the visual output elements. A physical location of the target physical asset is determined based on a physical location of the image capture device when the image was captured. Location data identifying the determined physical location of the target physical asset is stored in an asset database in association with configuration information for the physical asset. | 07-31-2014 |
20140237269 | ESTIMATING POWER USAGE IN A COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - Power usage is estimated in a computing environment by automatically detecting hardware configuration information by use of a software agent that is translated into power consumption information for implementing a plurality of power estimation models for efficient power consumption and utilization. | 08-21-2014 |
20140237283 | ESTIMATING POWER USAGE IN A COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT - Power usage is estimated in a computing environment by automatically detecting hardware configuration information by use of a software agent that is translated into power consumption information for implementing a plurality of power estimation models for efficient power consumption and utilization. | 08-21-2014 |
20150336274 | Information Technology Asset Type Identification Using a Mobile Vision-Enabled Robot - Mechanisms are provided for classifying an obstacle as an asset type. The mechanisms receive a digital image of an obstacle from an image capture device of an automated robot. The mechanisms perform a classification operation on the digital image of the obstacle to identify a proposed asset type classification for the obstacle. The mechanisms determine a final asset type for the obstacle based on the proposed asset type classification for the obstacle. The mechanisms update a map data structure for a physical premises in which the obstacle is present based on the final asset type. | 11-26-2015 |
20160026927 | BAYESIAN INTERACTIVE DECISION SUPPORT FOR MULTI-ATTRIBUTE PROBLEMS WITH EVEN SWAPS - A system, method, and/or computer program product that provides a first table including a plurality of alternative choices, each alternative choice including a plurality of attributes, and analyzes the first table to identify a set of alternatives of the plurality of alternative choices. The analyzing includes identifying alternatives that are practically dominated in accordance with a probability distribution over user preferences. The system, method, and/or computer program product may also recommend an even swap based on the probability distribution over the user preferences. Next, an input is solicited by displaying the set of alternatives. In response to receiving the input responsive to the displaying, zero or more of the plurality of alternative choices are removed from the table. | 01-28-2016 |
20160026929 | BAYESIAN INTERACTIVE DECISION SUPPORT FOR MULTI-ATTRIBUTE PROBLEMS WITH EVEN SWAPS - A system, method, and/or computer program product that provides a first table including a plurality of alternative choices, each alternative choice including a plurality of attributes, and analyzes the first table to identify a set of alternatives of the plurality of alternative choices. The analyzing includes identifying alternatives that are practically dominated in accordance with a probability distribution over user preferences. The system, method, and/or computer program product may also recommend an even swap based on the probability distribution over the user preferences. Next, an input is solicited by displaying the set of alternatives. In response to receiving the input responsive to the displaying, zero or more of the plurality of alternative choices are removed from the table. | 01-28-2016 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20110072138 | VIRTUAL MACHINE DEMAND ESTIMATION - A method for use in a system in which computational entities are distributed across physical computing resources to place the entities on the resources includes estimating actual resource demand for each entity on each resource based on application resource usage data collected from a data source external from the entity, computing a best allocation of the resources to the entities from the estimated actual resource demand for each entity and distributing the resources to the entities in accordance with the computed best allocation. | 03-24-2011 |
20110072316 | SYSTEM TO REDUCE THE TIME AND COMPLEXITY OF SELF CONFIGURING SYSTEMS - A system and method for testing a self configuring computer which includes a computer system. Sensors electrically communicating with respective electrical connectors in the computer system. The sensors detecting when the electrical connector has a change of status from a previous start up. The sensor indicating a state change when the connector has a change of status. The computer system electrically communicating with the sensor for detecting the sensor state. The computer system initiating a power up and a self test of the connector and a new device connected to the connector using the program upon start up of the computer system when a change in the state of the sensor indicates a change in the status of the connector. The computer system by-passing a power up and self test of the connector when there is no change in the state of the sensor. | 03-24-2011 |
20140164804 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR DIMM-TARGETED POWER SAVING FOR HYPERVISOR SYSTEMS - A method of saving power in a computing system having a plurality of dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) and employing a suspend-to-RAM sleep mode includes, when entering suspend-to-RAM sleep mode, consolidating selected information into a subset of DIMMs, and turning off power to all other DIMMs. A DIMM power rail may be coupled to each of the DIMMs, the DIMM power rail being configured to selectively have power being supplied to respective DIMMs turned off in response to enable/disable logic signals. | 06-12-2014 |
20140164810 | SYSTEM AND METHODS FOR DIMM-TARGETED POWER SAVING FOR HYPERVISOR SYSTEMS - A method of saving power in a computing system having a plurality of dial in-line memory modules (DIMMs) and employing a suspend-to-RAM sleep mode includes, when entering suspend-to-RAM sleep mode, consolidating selected information into a subset of DIMMs, and turning off power to all other DIMMs. A DIMM power rail may be coupled to each of the DIMMs, the DIMM power rail being configured to selectively have power being supplied to respective DIMMs turned off in response to enable/disable logic signals. | 06-12-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080221858 | Dynamic Online Multi-Parameter Optimization System and Method for Autonomic Computing Systems - An improved method and system for performing dynamic online multi-parameter optimization for autonomic computing systems are provided. With the method and system of the present invention, a simplex, i.e. a set of points in the parameter space that has been directly sampled, is maintained. The system's performance with regard to a particular utility value is measured for the particular setting of configuration parameters associated with each point in the simplex. A new sample point is determined using the geometric transformations of the simplex. The method and system provide mechanisms for limiting the size of the simplex that is generated through these geometric transformations so that the present invention may be implemented in noisy environments in which the same configuration settings may lead to different results with regard to the utility value. In addition, mechanisms are provided for resampling a current best point in the simplex to determine if the environment has changed. If a sufficiently different utility value is obtained from a previously sampled utility value for the point in the simplex, then rather than contracting, the simplex is expanded. If the difference between utility values is not sufficient enough, then contraction of the simplex is performed. In addition, in order to allow for both real and integer valued parameters in the simplex, a mechanism is provided by which invalid valued parameters that are generated by geometric transformations being performed on the simplex are mapped to a nearest valid value. Similarly, parameter values that violate constraints are mapped to values that satisfy constraints taking care that the dimensionality of the simplex is not reduced. | 09-11-2008 |
20080225326 | POLICY BASED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OPTIMIZING OUTPUT DEVICE SUBMISSION, USE AND WAIT TIMES - Disclosed is a system and method for optimizing submission of output jobs to a network of output devices, using an output job manager to assign jobs to devices. The assignments are done automatically, based on policies associated with users, output devices, organizations responsible for the output devices, and the system as a whole. User output preferences are expressed as one or more user policies. System and organizational constraints associated with users and output devices and the managing of groups of output devices are also expressed as policies. An optimizing scheduler calculates tradeoffs between user preferences, and factors in constraints to optimize submission of jobs to output devices, and to optimize use and wait times on the output devices. | 09-18-2008 |
20080235705 | Methods and Apparatus for Global Systems Management - Techniques for globally managing systems are provided. One or more measurable effects of at least one hypothetical action to achieve a management goal are determined at a first system manager. The one or more measurable effects are sent from the first system manager to a second system manager. At the second system manager, one or more procedural actions to achieve the management goal are determined in response to the one or more received measurable effects. The one or more procedural actions are executed to achieve the management goal. | 09-25-2008 |
20080263559 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UTILITY-BASED DYNAMIC RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTING SYSTEM - In one embodiment, the present invention is a method for allocation of finite computational resources amongst multiple entities, wherein the method is structured to optimize the business value of an enterprise providing computational services. One embodiment of the inventive method involves establishing, for each entity, a service level utility indicative of how much business value is obtained for a given level of computational system performance. The service-level utility for each entity is transformed into a corresponding resource-level utility indicative of how much business value may be obtained for a given set or amount of resources allocated to the entity. The resource-level utilities for each entity are aggregated, and new resource allocations are determined and executed based upon the resource-level utility information. The invention is thereby capable of making rapid allocation decisions, according to time-varying need or value of the resources by each of the entities. | 10-23-2008 |
20090254660 | SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR COORDINATED MANAGEMENT OF POWER USAGE AND RUNTIME PERFORMANCE IN PERFORMANCE-MANAGED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS - Systems and methods are provided for dynamically controlling application placement and server resource allocation in a distributed system wherein a performance manager and power manager collaborate during run-time execution of data processing tasks to coordinate management and control of workload placement and server usage and dynamically determine a tradeoff between performance level and power usage that meets power and performance objectives | 10-08-2009 |
20090254909 | Methods and Apparatus for Power-aware Workload Allocation in Performance-managed Computing Environments - An exemplary method of allocating a workload among a set of computing devices includes obtaining at least one efficiency model for each device. The method also includes, for each of a set of allocations of the workload among the devices, determining, for each device, the power consumption for the device to perform the workload allocated to the device by the allocation, the power consumption being determined based on the at least one efficiency model for each device; and determining a total power consumption of the devices. The method also includes selecting an allocation of the workload among the devices based at least in part on the total power consumption of the devices for each allocation. The method also includes implementing the selected allocation of the workload among the devices. | 10-08-2009 |
20120078417 | Detecting Energy and Environmental Leaks In Indoor Environments Using a Mobile Robot - Techniques for energy and environmental leak detection in an indoor environment using one or more mobile robots are provided. An energy leak detection system is provided. The energy leak detection system includes one or more mobile robots configured to move throughout at least a portion of a building and to take temperature and air flow measurements at a plurality of locations within the building. An environmental leak detection system is also provided. The environmental leak detection system includes one or more mobile robots configured to move throughout at least a portion of a building and to take airborne matter measurements at a plurality of locations within the building. | 03-29-2012 |
20130159351 | Asset Identity Resolution Via Automatic Model Mapping Between Systems With Spatial Data - Techniques for mapping between data models where objects represented in the data models include common physical objects or assets are provided. In one aspect, a method for mapping between data models, each of which describes a location of objects in a physical area includes the following steps. Common attributes are found in each of the data models. Location attributes are found among the common attributes in each of the data models, i.e., those attributes that describe the location of the objects in the physical area. The location attributes are used to identify a given one of the objects common to each of the data models, based on a placement of the given object by the data models at a same location (at a same time) in the physical area to establish a common identity of the object within the models. Attributes other than location attributes may then be mapped. | 06-20-2013 |