Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput – Computer-to-computer data routing – Least weight routing
Reexamination Certificate
1995-12-07
2001-08-28
Banankhah, Majid A. (Department: 2151)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: multicomput
Computer-to-computer data routing
Least weight routing
C709S241000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06282561
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates generally to computer systems and more particularly to resource management of independent real-time application programs on a common machine or set of machines.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventional resource management strategies for real-time application programs have been unsatisfactory. A “real-time application program” is an application program that must execute in a predictable and timely fashion in order to operate properly. Many current efforts to provide resource management for real-time application programs may only manage a static set of resources. In other words, the resource set may not change during the course of operation of the system. Another limitation of many conventional resource management strategies is that they only accommodate one type of resource (i.e., the resources must be homogeneous). An additional limitation of many conventional resource management strategies is that they rely upon the resource or the application program to determine which application program should be allocated a resource and what quantity of the resource should be allocated. Another conventional approach has been to rely upon human experts to correctly assign priorities to tasks within the system. Unfortunately, such human experts typically cannot accurately assign priorities for a dynamic mix of real-time application programs.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes many of the limitations of conventional resource management schemes for real-time application programs. A computer system includes a number of local resources that a program may use. A resource planner is provided in the computer system for planning resource allocation. The resource planner includes a policy module for implementing a policy for arbitrating amongst requests to reserve resources and an independent planning engine that is separate from the policy module but that implements the policy of the module. A request is received at the resource planner for a program to reserve a resource, and the resource planner is used to determine whether to grant the request or not. The policy module of the resource planner may be replaced so as to implement another policy.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, multiple real-time application programs are concurrently run on a computer system. The real-time application programs require that at least some of the local resources be allocated to them in order to run properly. A resource planner is provided for programs to contact to reserve the local resources. The resource planner implements a universal policy for arbitrating amongst requests for the local resources. The resource planner receives requests for at least some of the local resources from the real-time application programs that are running on the computer system. The resource planner then arbitrates amongst the requests to grant or deny reservations for at least some of the local resources to the real-time application programs that submitted the request.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a resource planner is provided for granting reservations of shares of local resources of a computer system in response to a request. A request is received at the resource planner from a first program to reserve a first share of a selected one of the resources. A request from a second program to reserve a second share of the selected resource is received at the resource planner. The second program is not aware of the first program. The resource planner grants the first program a reservation for the first share of the selected resource and grants the second program a reservation for the second share of the selected resource so that the programs may share the selected resource.
In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a resource planner is provided in a computer system for granting reservations of shares of resources in the computer system. A request for an activity to reserve a share of at least one of the resources is received at the resource planner. The activity includes at least a portion of multiple processes that are running on the computer system. The request is processed with the resource planner and granted so that the share of the requested resource is reserved for use by the activity.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a resource planner is provided for granting reservations for a share of the resources. An activity that is aware of its resource requirements is run on the computer system. The activity submits a request to the resource planner to obtain a reservation for a share of at least one of the resources where the request reflects the resource requirements of the activity. The request is processed by the resource planner to grant or deny the request.
In accordance with a still further aspect of the present invention, an activity submits a request for a reservation of a set of resources in specific amounts to the resource planner. The request is processed and it is determined that the request may not be granted to the activity. The resource planner returns a list of amounts of the set of resources that are currently available to the activity back to the activity.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a negotiation is performed between a resource planner and activities to reserve shares of resources with the resource planner on behalf of the activities. In view of changing resource usage requirements, a renegotiation takes place between the resource planner and the activities to change reservations of resources on behalf of the activities to reflect the changing resource usage or requirements.
In accordance with an additional aspect of the present invention, allocation of an initial set of resources by activities is managed by a resource planner. The resources that are in the computer system are altered. In response, a resource planner adapts to manage allocation of the new set of resources in the computer system without interruption of operation of the resource planner.
In accordance with an additional aspect of the present invention, a first resource provider that manages access to a resource is queried. This first resource provider is called by an activity to perform an operation on behalf of the activity. The activity queries the first resource provider to determine a first set of resource requirements to perform the operation on behalf of the activity. The first resource provider, in turn, queries a second resource provider that is called by the first resource provider to complete the operation on behalf of the activity. The querying is used to determine a second set of resource requirements for the second resource provider to perform its role in the operation that is performed on behalf of the activity. The first set of resource requirements is determined to be a sum of the second set of resource requirements and any additional resource requirements for actions directly performed by the first resource provider to complete operation on behalf of the activity. The resource requirements of the activity are determined to be a sum of the first set of resource requirements and any additional resource requirements of the activity.
In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, a method is practiced in a distributed system that has computer systems connected by network connections. Each computer system performs activities and has local resources as well as a local resource planner that allocates reservations of shares of the local resources to the activities. A request for a reservation of a share of a remote resource that is present at a selected one of the computer systems is received from an activity at a local resource planner of one of the computer systems. The request is forwarded to the local resource planner at the selected computer system and processed to generate a response. The response is returned to the activity that initiated the request.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the comput
Barrera, III Joseph S.
Draves, Jr. Richard P.
Jones Michael B.
Leach Paul J.
Banankhah Majid A.
Lao Sue
Lee & Hayes PLLC
Microsoft Corporation
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