Computing device with scalable logic block to respond to data transfer requests

• US 7,349,995 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2002
• Issued: 03/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Hamilton, Tony G.
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAN, RAYMOND NGAN
• Application Number:
  US10/093,662
• Publication Number:
  US 20030188052A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,210 Days
• Field of Search: 710/356, 710/358, 710/110, 710240-244, 710/22, 710/29, 710/31, 710 33- 35, 710306-308, 710/229, 709201-203, 709/224, 709217-219, 709/258, 709/250, 709/311, 709/328, 709/238, 709/200, 709100-108, 709226-229, 713/300, 713324-340, 703201-203, 703/224, 703/219
• US Class Current: 709/250
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/324 by lowering clock frequency
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3287 by switching off individual functional units in the computer system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0485 Networking architectures for enhanced packet encryption processing, e.g. offloading of IPsec packet processing or efficient security association look-up
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1101 Session protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

An apparatus a first processor which receives a data transfer request and generates a service command that corresponds to a scalable logic block required to respond to the data transfer request, and a server computer that receives the service command and scales the scalable logic block in accordance with the service command.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a first processor to receive a data transfer request, and generate a service command that corresponds to and identifies a scalable logic block required to respond to the data transfer request, wherein the scalable logic block is selected from a choice of scalable logic blocks; and

a server computer having the scalable logic block, the server computer to receive the service command and scale the selected scalable logic block in accordance with the service command.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the first processor comprises a network interface that transfers the data transfer requests and data between the server computer and the network.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the data comprises packetized data corresponding to a class of service.

4. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first processor receives an informational signal before the data transfer request, wherein the received informational signal is used by the first processor to determine the service command generated.

5. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the selected scalable logic block comprises at least one of a clock, an encryption logic block, and a processing unit.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the first processor monitors the performance of the server computer and generates a second service command based on the monitored performance of the server computer.

7. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising:

at least two server computers connected to at least one common data device,

wherein the network interface selects one of the at least two server computers to transfer data corresponding to the data transfer request, and the service command is sent before the data transfer request is sent to the selected server.

8. The apparatus of claim 3, further comprising:

a command interface block to receive service commands and interpret the service commands based on an Ethernet protocol.

9. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the scaling is based on a ratio of a speed of a bus.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the server computer generates an acknowledgement message, the received acknowledgement message being used by a router to determine the performance of the server computer.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a server computer having a choice of scalable logic blocks, the server computer to receive a data transfer request that identifies a scalable logic block to be selected from the choice of scalable logic blocks, and scale the identified scalable logic block in accordance with the data transfer request.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the data transfer request is transmitted over a network, and data corresponding to the data transfer request is transmitted over the network after the data transfer request is received by the server computer.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the data comprises packetized data corresponding to a class of service.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the server computer receives an informational signal before the data transfer request, wherein the server computer scales the identified scalable logic block based on the received informational signal.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the scalable logic block comprises at least one of a clock, an encryption logic block, and a processing unit.

16. An article comprising a machine-readable medium that stores executable instructions to process data, the instructions causing a machine to:

monitor data transfer requests at a first processor;

generate a first service command that corresponds to a scalable logic block selected from a choice of scalable logic blocks on a server computer, wherein the selected scalable logic block is required to respond to a received data transfer request; and

send the first service command to the server computer having the selected scalable logic block, wherein the server computer scales the scalable logic block in accordance with the service command.

17. The article of claim 16, wherein the first processor comprises a network interface, wherein the instructions cause the network interface to:

transfer the data transfer requests and data between the server computer and the network interface.

18. The article of claim 17, wherein the data comprises packetized data corresponding to a class of service.

19. The article of claim 17, further comprising instructions causing the first processor to:

monitor the performance of the server computer;

generate a second service command based on the monitored performance of the server computer; and

send the second service command to the server computer, wherein the server computer scales the selected scalable logic block in accordance with the second service command.

20. The article of claim 19, wherein the server computer generates and sends an acknowledgement message to the first processor, the received acknowledgement message being used by the first processor to determine the performance of the server computer.

21. An article comprising a machine-readable medium that stores executable instructions to process data received from a network, the instructions causing a machine to:

select a scalable logic block from a choice of scalable logic blocks, wherein the selected scalable logic block is required to respond to a data transfer request received from the network; and

scale the selected scalable logic block located on server computer in accordance with the data transfer request received from the network.

22. The article of claim 21, wherein data corresponding to the data transfer request is transmitted over the network after the data transfer request is received by the server computer.

23. The article of claim 22, wherein the data comprises packetized data corresponding to a class of service.

24. A method of processing data comprising:

monitoring data transfer requests at a first processor;

generating a service command that corresponds to a scalable logic block of a server computer, wherein the scalable logic block is selected from a choice of scalable logic blocks and required to respond to a received data transfer request; and

sending the service command to the server computer having the selected scalable logic block, wherein the server computer scales the selected scalable logic block in accordance with the service command.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the first processor comprises a network interface, the method further comprising:

transferring the data transfer request and data corresponding to the data transfer request between the server computer and a network.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the data comprises packetized data corresponding to a class of service.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the scaling is based on a ratio of a speed of a bus.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

monitoring the performance of the server computer; and

generating a second service command based on the monitored performance of the server computer.

29. A method comprising:

generating a first service command to scale a scalable logic block of a computing system selected from a choice of scalable logic blocks in order to enable the computing system to respond to a data transfer request; and

monitoring a performance of the computing system as the computing system responds to the data transfer request.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

generating a second service command based on the monitored performance.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

generating a second service command to further scale the scalable logic block.

32. The method of claim 29, further comprising:

generating a second service command to scale another scalable logic block of the computing system.

33. A method comprising:

generating a first service command to scale a scalable logic block of a computing system based on a data transfer request to be serviced, wherein the scalable logic block is selected from a choice of scalable logic blocks; and

sending the first service command to the computing system prior to sending the data transfer request.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

monitoring a performance of the computing system as the computing system services the data transfer request.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

generating a second service command based on the monitored performance.

36. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

generating a second service command to further scale the selected scalable logic block.

37. The method of claim 33, further comprising:

generating a second service command to scale another scalable logic block of the computing system.