Multiprocessor servers with controlled numbered of CPUs
US6453344B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Mar 31, 1999 |
| Grant date | Sep 17, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Mar 31, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F15/17
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A multiprocessor system having a total number of available CPUs partitioned into one or more smaller pools of CPUs called servers where the number of CPUs available to a server is reduced below the total number of available CPUs. Software licensing costs are thereby reduced because the number of CPUs available to run the operating system or ISV software has been reduced to the number of CPUs in the pool of the server rather than the total number of available CPUs in the multiprocessor system. In order to enforce the isolation of CPUs required by software licensing, separate identification codes, CPUIDs, that contain unique system serial numbers are assigned to each server in the multiprocessing system. The multiprocessor system has multiple CPUIDs, one for each server (each pool of CPUs that can execute operating systems and ISV software).
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.