Resource management via periodic distributed time

• US 20060265738A1
• Filed: 05/23/2005
• Published: 11/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Chrysanthakopoulos, Georgios, Gray, Donald M. III
• Granted Patent: US 8,881,233 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/04 Generating or distributing clock signals or signals derived directly therefrom
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/08 Clock generators with changeable or programmable clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/10 Distribution of clock signals , e.g. skew
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing resource management in a distributed network are disclosed. A loose collection of devices in a network may not be aware of the power restrictions for other devices. Wall powered devices will generally have drastically different power settings than battery powered mobile devices. The invention provides a federation policy for time that can be used to slave to a local service responsible for understanding the local resource requirements of each device (or node) on the network. In such a distributed time system, all services in a particular time domain may be sped up, slowed down, or completely halted.

Claims

1. A system for managing resources utilized by devices on a network, the system comprising:

a distributed clock service that maintains a time domain associated with a resource utilized by a device on the network; and

a resource utilization coordinator that causes the distributed clock service to alter the time domain in order to alter a rate at which the resource is utilized by the device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the distributed clock service includes a timekeeper service that tracks the time domain.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the resource utilization coordinator causes the timekeeper service to alter the time domain in order to alter a rate at which the resource is utilized by the device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the timekeeper service is on the device.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the timekeeper service is on a network node that is remote from the device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource is associated with electrical power, and the resource utilization coordinator causes the distributed clock service to alter the time domain in order to alter a rate at which power is consumed by the device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein a first network node sends messages to the device, and wherein the resource utilization coordinator causes the distributed clock service to alter the time domain in order to alter a rate at which the first network node sends messages to the device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein a second network node sends messages to the first network node, and wherein the resource utilization coordinator causes the distributed clock service to alter a second time domain in order to alter a rate at which the second network node sends messages to the first network node.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the distributed clock service includes a sequencer that manages timing events generated by one or more services running on the device.

10. A method for managing resource utilization, the method comprising:

receiving information that provides an indication of a current state of a device;

identifying, based on the current state of the device and a resource management policy associated with a resource utilized by the device, a service that affects utilization of the resource; and

altering a rate at which the service affects utilization of the resource.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein altering the rate at which the service affects utilization of the resource comprises altering a time domain associated with the service.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein altering the time domain affects a rate at which the service generates messages.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein altering the time domain affects a rate at which the service generates messages to device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein altering the time domain affects a rate at which the service generates messages to a remote device that generates messages to the device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein altering the time domain affects a rate at which the service causes a central processing unit on the device to be utilized.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein altering the rate at which the service affects utilization of the resource comprises altering bandwidth utilized by the service.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein altering the rate at which the service affects utilization of the resource comprises altering bandwidth utilized by the service.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the resource is associated with electrical power, and altering the rate at which the service affects utilization of the resource comprises altering a rate at which the service affects battery utilization by the device.

19. A method for managing resource utilization, the method comprising:

detecting a change of a state of a device;

identifying a resource that is affected by the change of the state of the device; and

affecting a rate at which the resource is utilized by altering a time domain associated with a service that affects utilization of the resource.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

identifying, based on the state of the device and a resource management policy associated with the resource, a service that affects utilization of the resource.