Patent · US Active

Communicating between host computers and peripheral resources in an input/output (I/O) virtualization system

US8521915B2 · kind B2 · utility

9Cited by
7References
106Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 31, 2010
Grant dateAug 27, 2013
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 31, 2030

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2213/0058
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An Input/Output (IO) Virtualization (IOV) system provides for sharing of computer peripheral devices between multiple host computers by presenting a single device multiple times to numerous host systems. The IOV system, in coupling or connecting multiple host computers and multiple IO devices, provides IO virtualization and host-to-host communication services to the host computers. The system comprises device interfaces coupled to IO devices, and host interfaces coupled to each of a number of host computers. The IO devices are initialized in a first domain. Each host interface exposes functions of the independent IO devices to the host computer to which it is coupled. Each host computer accesses functions from a host domain that is an independent domain specific to the host computer performing the access. The first domain is different from the host domain.

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