Patent · US Expired

Computing machine with redundancy and related systems and methods

US7676649B2 · kind B2 · utility

9Cited by
83References
19Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 3, 2005
Grant dateMar 9, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateNov 6, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F11/2038
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the invention, a computing machine comprises a pipeline accelerator, a host processor coupled to the pipeline accelerator, and a redundant processor, a redundant pipeline unit, or both, coupled to the host processor and to the pipeline accelerator. The computing machine may also include a system-restore server and a system-restore bus that allow the machine to periodically save the machine states in case of a failure. Such a computing machine has a fault-tolerant scheme that is often more flexible than conventional schemes. For example, if the pipeline accelerator has more extra “space” than the host processor, then one can add to the computing machine one or more redundant pipeline units that can provide redundancy to both the pipeline and the host processor. Therefore, the computing machine can include redundancy for the host processor even though it has no redundant processing units.

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