Patent · US Active

Capacity upgrade on-demand for I/O adapters

US7571307B2 · kind B2 · utility

1Cited by
4References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 26, 2006
Grant dateAug 4, 2009
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 6, 2027

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F9/4411
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Mechanisms are provided for performing capacity upgrade on-demand operations for input/output(I/O) adapters of a data processing device. The mechanisms involve providing a data processing device with additional I/O adapters in excess of current I/O capacity requirements of an owner/user of the data processing device. These additional I/O adapters remain in an inactive state after booting of the data processing device until they are specifically activated by the owner/user. Although inactive, memory resources are reserved for the address translation data structures for these inactive I/O adapters. The owner/user may, at a later time, obtain an activation code from a provider of the data processing device and enter the activation code into a hardware management console to thereby activate the additional I/O adapters. The reserved memory resources are then utilized to initialize the address translation data structures for these now active I/O adapters.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.