Systems and methods for hypervisor discovery and utilization
US8635612B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 29, 2005 |
| Grant date | Jan 21, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 14, 2031 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F9/45533
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided, whereby partitions may become enlightened and discover the presence of a hypervisor. Several techniques of hypervisor discovery are discussed, such as detecting the presence of virtual processor registers (e.g. model specific registers or special-purpose registers) or the presence of virtual hardware devices. Upon discovery, information (code and/or data) may be injected in a partition by the hypervisor, whereby such injection allows the partition to call the hypervisor. Moreover, the hypervisor may present a versioning mechanism that allows the partition to match up the version of the hypervisor to its virtual devices. Next, once code and/or data is injected, calling conventions are established that allow the partition and the hypervisor to communicate, so that the hypervisor may perform some operations on behalf of the partition. Four exemplary calling conventions are considered: restartable instructions, a looping mechanism, shared memory transport, and synchronous or asynchronous processed packets. Last, cancellation mechanisms are considered, whereby partition requests may be cancelled.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.