Apparatus and method to allocate limited resources

• US 8,799,474 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2009
• Issued: 08/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Chatterton, Deon J., Shaffer, Shmuel
• Primary Examiner(s): JEAN, FRANTZ B
• Application Number:
  US12/371,285
• Publication Number:
  US 20100211680A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,999 Days
• Field of Search: 709/226, 718/104
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/5021 Priority
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5011 the resources being hardware resources other than CPUs, Servers and Terminals

Abstract

A computerized method and apparatus to allocate a shared resource are described. The method may comprise accessing sensor data corresponding to an availability of the shared resource, and identifying when the availability of the shared resource reaches a threshold level below which the activities compete for the shared resource. Thereafter, when the activities compete for the shared resource, the method may allocate at least a portion of the shared resource to the activity associated with an active policy having a higher priority.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

executing at least two active policies using one or more processors, each active policy including an activity that consumes electrical power from a shared resource for electrical power, and each active policy being associated with a corresponding priority for allocations of the shared resource;

accessing a database to obtain reference resource data corresponding to an availability of the shared resource;

determining a threshold level for electrical power below which the activities compete for the shared resource by using reference resource data from the database to estimate power consumption values corresponding to the active policies for the shared resource and to identify a conflict in which the active policies compete for the shared resource;

adjusting a priority of at least one active policy relative to another active policy in response to the identified conflict, at least one power-consuming entity performing operations corresponding to active policies with different priorities;

identifying when the availability of the shared resource reaches the threshold level for electrical power below which the activities compete for the shared resource; and

when the activities compete for the shared resource, allocating at least a portion of the shared resource to the activity associated with an active policy having a higher priority, the at least one power-consuming entity being allocated power for performing operations in correspondence to the different priorities of the corresponding active policies.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a plurality of reference resource data values for the shared resource;

using the reference resource data values to simulate when the activities compete for the shared resource by estimating power consumption as a function of time;

using a display screen to display policies including activities that compete for the shared resource from the reference resource data values, the displayed policies including a first displayed policy and a second displayed policy, and values for the displayed policies including estimated power consumption values for the shared resource; and

receiving an input that changes a priority of the first displayed policy relative to the second displayed policy.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing reference power consumption data that identifies a completion level of the shared resource required to complete execution of the activity associated with the active policy having the higher priority; and

setting the threshold level to at least the completion level.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

identifying when the activities compete for the shared resource; and

using a display screen to display an identification of when the activities compete for the shared resource with an identification of policies corresponding to the activities competing for the shared resource, the identification of policies including a first identified policy and a second identified policy; and

receiving an input that changes a priority of the first identified policy relative to the second identified policy.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

simulating activities associated with the plurality of policies over a period of time that includes a complete execution of the activity associated with the active policy having the higher priority;

monitoring power consumption during simulation of the activities to obtain power consumption data for the activity associated with the active policy having the higher priority; and

storing the power consumption data to identify the threshold level that corresponds to the complete execution of the activity associated with the active policy having the higher priority.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing the activities serially when the shared resource reaches the threshold level so that an activity with a relatively higher priority is completed before executing an activity with a relatively lower priority.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the activity is a time-sensitive activity, the method comprising assigning the higher priority to the time-sensitive activity so that the time-sensitive activity is completed before executing an activity with a relatively lower priority.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least delaying execution of an activity associated with an active policy having a lower priority so that an activity with a higher priority is completed before executing the activity associated with the active policy having the lower priority.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating with a plurality of devices associated with the at least two active policies to determine a power required by each device for operation to complete activities associated with each active policy; and

storing the power required by each device in the database to provide the reference resource data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying an availability of shared remaining resources for electrical power;

accessing reference resource data values associated with the plurality of policies;

identifying from the reference resource data when there are insufficient shared remaining resources to complete execution of a high priority activity;

when there are insufficient remaining resources, terminating the execution of the high priority activity; and

allocating at least a portion of the remaining resources previously allocated to the high priority activity to a lower priority activity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one power-consuming entity includes a first power-consuming entity that performs operations corresponding to an active policy with an adjusted priority and an active policy with an unadjusted priority.

12. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operations of;

executing at least two active policies, each active policy including an activity that consumes electrical power from a shared resource for electrical power, and each active policy being associated with a corresponding priority for allocations of the shared resource;

accessing sensor data corresponding to an availability of the shared resource;

determining a threshold level for electrical power below which the activities compete for the shared resource by using reference resource data from a database to estimate power consumption values corresponding to the active policies for the shared resource and to identify a conflict in which the active policies compete for the shared resource;

adjusting a priority of at least one active policy relative to another active policy in response to the identified conflict, at least one power-consuming entity performing operations corresponding to active policies with different priorities;

identifying when the availability of the shared resource reaches the threshold level for electrical power below which the activities compete for the shared resource; and

when the activities compete for the shared resource, allocating at least a portion of the shared resource to the activity associated with an active policy having a higher priority, the at least one power-consuming entity being allocated power for performing operations in correspondence to the different priorities of the corresponding active policies.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising the operations of:

generating a plurality of reference resource data values for the shared resource;

using the reference resource data values to simulate when the activities compete for the shared resource by estimating power consumption as a function of time;

using a display screen to display policies including activities that compete for the shared resource from the reference resource data values, the displayed policies including a first displayed policy and a second displayed policy, and values for the displayed policies including estimated power consumption values for the shared resource; and

receiving an input that changes a priority of the first displayed policy relative to the second displayed policy.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising the operations of:

accessing reference power consumption data that identifies a completion level of the shared resource required to complete execution of the activity associated with the active policy having the higher priority; and

setting the threshold level to at least the completion level.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising the operations of:

identifying when the activities compete for the shared resource;

using a display screen to display an identification of when the activities compete for the shared resource with an identification of policies corresponding to the activities competing for the shared resource, the identification of policies including a first identified policy and a second identified policy; and

receiving an input that changes a priority of the first identified policy relative to the second identified policy.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising the operations of:

executing activities associated with the plurality of policies over a period of time that includes a complete execution of the activity associated with the active policy having the higher priority;

monitoring power consumption during execution of the activities to obtain power consumption data for the activity associated with the active policy having the higher priority; and

storing the power consumption data to identify the threshold level that corresponds to the complete execution of the activity associated with the active policy having the higher priority.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising the operations of executing the activities serially when the shared resource reaches the threshold level so that an activity with a relatively higher priority is completed before executing an activity with a relatively lower priority.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the activity is a time-sensitive activity, and the apparatus further comprises the operations of assigning the higher priority to the time-sensitive activity so that the time-sensitive activity is completed before executing an activity with a relatively lower priority.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein execution of an activity associated with an active policy having a lower priority is terminated when the policies compete for the shared resource so that an activity with a higher priority is completed before executing the activity associated with the active policy having the lower priority.

20. A non-transitory machine-readable medium that stores a set of instructions that, when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

executing at least two active policies using one or more processors, each active policy including an activity that consumes electrical power from a shared resource for electrical power, and each active policy being associated with a corresponding priority for allocations of the shared resource;

accessing a database to obtain reference resource data corresponding to an availability of the shared resource;

determining a threshold level for electrical power below which the activities compete for the shared resource by using reference resource data from the database to estimate power consumption values corresponding to the active policies for the shared resource and to identify a conflict in which the active policies compete for the shared resource;

adjusting a priority of at least one active policy relative to another active policy in response to the identified conflict, at least one power-consuming entity performing operations corresponding to active policies with different priorities;

identifying when the availability of the shared resource reaches the threshold level for electrical power below which the activities compete for the shared resource; and

when the activities compete for the shared resource, allocating at least a portion of the shared resource to the activity associated with an active policy having a higher priority, the at least one power-consuming entity being allocated power for performing operations in correspondence to the different priorities of the corresponding active policies.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

generating a plurality of reference resource data values for the shared resource;

using the reference resource data values to simulate when the activities compete for the shared resource by estimating power consumption as a function of time;

using a display screen to display policies including activities that compete for the shared resource from the reference resource data values, the displayed policies including a first displayed policy and a second displayed policy, and values for the displayed policies including estimated power consumption values for the shared resource; and

receiving an input that changes a priority of the first displayed policy relative to the second displayed policy.

22. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions further cause the machine to perform operations comprising:

accessing reference power consumption data that identifies a completion level of the shared resource required to complete execution of the activity associated with the active policy having the higher priority; and

setting the threshold level to at least the completion level.