Implementing performance-dependent transfer or execution decisions from service emulation indications

• US 9,378,108 B2
• Filed: 03/22/2007
• Issued: 06/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/22/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MEC Management, LLC (Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation, North Dakota)
• Original Assignee: The Invention Science Fund I, L.L.C. (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Cohen, Alexander J., Lord, Robert W., Jung, Edward K. Y., Malamud, Mark A., Levien, Royce A., Rinaldo, Jr., John D., Wood, JR., Lowell L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rivas, Omar Fernandez
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cothran, Bernard E
• Application Number:
  US11/728,268
• Publication Number:
  US 20080234999A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,386 Days
• Field of Search: 703/23, 703/22, 703/26, 703/27, 714/28
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/261 by simulating additional hardware, e.g. fault simulation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/331 with hardware acceleration, e.g. by using field programmable gate array [FPGA] or emulation

Abstract

A system, method, computer program product, and carrier are described for obtaining data from a first emulator and from a first emulation environment hosting software and signaling a decision whether to transfer any of the data to a second emulator at least partly as a result of the first emulation environment hosting the software.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

(a) obtaining data from a first emulator and a first emulation environment, on a first machine, hosting particular software, including at least;

(1) deciding whether to increase a trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment as a result of the particular software meeting one or more performance indicators while executed in the first emulation environment, including at least;

(A) deciding whether to increase a trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment as a result of the particular software meeting one or more performance indicators while being executed in the first emulation environment that include at least one of manifesting an error rate below a given threshold, completing one or more tasks within a specified time, or completing one or more specific tasks successfully; and

(b) signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator that is configured to host on a second emulation environment at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first emulation environment on the first machine, wherein the signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator includes at least signaling a decision to transfer the at least some of the data to a second emulator that is on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine, and wherein the signaling a decision to transfer is performed at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment; and

(c) wherein at least the signaling a decision to transfer is performed with at least at least one or more processing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing the second emulator to host at least one portion of the particular software.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining data from a first emulator and a first emulation environment, on a first machine, hosting particular software comprises:

receiving a first portion of the data from the first emulator and a second portion of the data from the first emulation environment hosting the software.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transferring information about at least one transfer-triggering event to the second emulator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator that is configured to host on a second emulation environment at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first emulation environment on the first machine, wherein the signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator includes at least signaling a decision to transfer the at least some of the data to a second emulator that is on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine, and wherein the signaling a decision to transfer is performed at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment comprises:

transferring to the second emulator on the second machine at least some that data that includes at least state information relating to the particular software, the state information including at least data associated with hosting of the particular software in the first emulation environment on the first machine.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said data associated with hosting of the particular software in the first emulation environment on the first machine includes at least one of an action sequence, a conditional determination, a storage configuration, a data aggregation, an execution outcome, a call stack, an interaction history, a registry, or a workspace content.

7. A system comprising:

(a) circuitry for obtaining data from a first emulator and a first emulation environment, on a first machine, hosting particular software, including at least;

(1) circuitry for deciding whether to increase a trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment as a result of the particular software meeting one or more performance indicators when executed in the first emulation environment, including at least;

(A) circuitry for deciding whether to increase a trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment as a result of the particular software meeting one or more performance indicators while being executed in the first emulation environment that include at least one of manifesting an error rate below a given threshold, completing one or more tasks within a specified time, or completing one or more specific tasks successfully; and

(b) circuitry for signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment, wherein the circuitry for signaling is configured to signal a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator that is configured to host in a second emulation environment on the second machine at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first emulation environment on the first machine.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the circuitry for signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment, wherein the circuitry for signaling is configured to signal a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator that is configured to host in a second emulation environment on the second machine at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first emulation environment on the first machine comprises:

circuitry for deciding whether to transmit at least some of the data at least partly based on whether an anomaly arises while the first emulation environment hosts the particular software.

9. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry for deciding whether to cause the second emulator to use a security restriction used by the first emulator in hosting the particular software.

10. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry for causing the second emulator to host the particular software and other software in a second emulation environment.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the circuitry for signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment, wherein the circuitry for signaling is configured to signal a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator that is configured to host in a second emulation environment on the second machine at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first emulation environment on the first machine comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one malicious code indication in the data.

12. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry for obtaining at least one result of the first emulation environment hosting the particular software.

13. The system of claim 7, wherein the circuitry for signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment, wherein the circuitry for signaling is configured to signal a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator that is configured to host in a second emulation environment on the second machine at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first emulation environment on the first machine comprises:

circuitry for transferring at least some of the data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine to configure at least one emulation environment of the second machine to host at least some of the particular software based at least partly on at least one indication of suboptimal completion.

14. The system of claim 7, wherein the circuitry for obtaining data from a first emulator and a first emulation environment, on a first machine, hosting particular software comprises:

circuitry for obtaining state information from the first emulator on the first machine hosting the particular software.

15. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry for indicating at least one trust level for the particular software.

16. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry for selecting a second emulation environment on the second machine based at least partly on at least one environmental attribute.

17. The system of claim 7, circuitry for signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment, wherein the circuitry for signaling is configured to signal a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator that is configured to host in a second emulation environment on the second machine at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first emulation environment on the first machine comprises:

circuitry for deciding whether to transmit a portion of the data from the first emulator hosting the particular software in response to a detected defect in the particular software.

18. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry for identifying at least one risk indicator for the particular software.

19. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry for identifying at least one resource requirement for the particular software.

20. The system of claim 7, wherein the first emulator includes a software program configured to run within the first emulation environment hosting software.

21. The system of claim 7, wherein the first emulator is configured to emulate at least one of a network device, a video display program, or a security logic.

22. The system of claim 7, wherein the first emulation environment hosting software includes at least one of an operating system, security logic, a standalone system, one or more primary hardware elements, a processor, a processor working space, one or more primary software elements, a library module or one or more instruction sequences.

23. The system of claim 7, wherein the circuitry for signaling a decision includes at least one of circuitry for implementing a virtual memory, circuitry for indicating an event, circuitry for signaling whether software has been hosted in a system that has experienced errors, or circuitry for emulating a standalone decision.

24. The system of claim 7, wherein the second emulator includes at least one of circuitry complementary to first emulator, circuitry for implementing security logic, circuitry for maintaining partial access to memory, or circuitry for quarantining instruction sequences.

25. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

circuitry for determining that prior usage of the hosting software hosting the first emulator has failed to generate greater than a predetermined number of errors.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein the predetermined number of errors results from prior usage of the first emulator or other software.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the circuitry for determining that prior usage of the hosting software hosting the first emulator has failed to generate greater than a predetermined number of errors includes at least circuitry for determining all instructions of the first emulator are working correctly.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein circuitry for determining that prior usage of the hosting software hosting the first emulator has failed to generate greater than a predetermined number of errors includes at least circuitry for determining that prior usage of the first emulator has failed to generate greater than a predetermined number of errors.

29. The system of claim 7, wherein at least one of the first emulation environment or the second emulation environment is a virtual machine.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein at least the first emulation environment is a Java virtual machine.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein at least the second emulation environment is a Java virtual machine.

32. A system comprising:

(a) circuitry for obtaining at least error data from a first emulator and a first virtual machine, on a first machine, hosting particular software, including at least;

(1) circuitry for deciding whether to increase a trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first virtual machine as a result of the particular software manifesting an error rate below a given threshold when executed in the first virtual machine; and

(b) circuitry for signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the error data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first virtual machine, wherein the circuitry for signaling is configured to signal a decision to transfer at least some of the error data to a second emulator that is configured to host in a second virtual machine on the second machine at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first virtual machine on the first machine.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the circuitry for signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the error data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first virtual machine, wherein the circuitry for signaling is configured to signal a decision to transfer at least some of the error data to a second emulator that is configured to host in a second virtual machine on the second machine at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first virtual machine on the first machine comprises:

circuitry for deciding whether to transmit a portion of the error data from the first emulator hosting the particular software at least partly in response to a detected defect in the particular software.

34. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

circuitry for causing the second emulator to host at least a portion of the particular software.

35. The system of claim 32, further comprising:

circuitry for deciding whether to cause the second emulator to use a security restriction used by the first emulator in hosting the particular software.

36. The system of claim 32, wherein the circuitry for obtaining at least error data from a first emulator and a first virtual machine, on a first machine, hosting particular software comprises:

circuitry for receiving a first portion of the error data from the first emulator and a second portion of the error data from the first virtual machine hosting the particular software.

37. The system of claim 32, wherein the circuitry for obtaining at least error data from a first emulator and a first virtual machine, on a first machine, hosting particular software comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one indication of malicious code in the error data.

38. The system of claim 32, wherein the circuitry for obtaining at least error data from a first emulator and a first virtual machine, on a first machine, hosting particular software comprises:

circuitry for receiving at least one indication of suboptimal completion in the error data.

39. The system of claim 32, wherein the circuitry for signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the error data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first virtual machine, wherein the circuitry for signaling is configured to signal a decision to transfer at least some of the error data to a second emulator that is configured to host in a second virtual machine on the second machine at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first virtual machine on the first machine comprises:

circuitry for transferring to the second emulator at least a portion of the error data that includes at least state information relating to the particular software.

40. The system of claim 32, wherein the circuitry for signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the error data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first virtual machine, wherein the circuitry for signaling is configured to signal a decision to transfer at least some of the error data to a second emulator that is configured to host in a second virtual machine on the second machine at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first virtual machine on the first machine comprises:

circuitry for transferring information about at least one transfer-triggering event to the second emulator.

41. A computer program product comprising:

one or more non-transitory media including at least;

(a) one or more instructions for obtaining data from a first emulator and a first emulation environment, on a first machine, hosting software, including at least;

(1) one or more instructions for deciding whether to increase a trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment as a result of the particular software meeting one or more performance indicators when executed in the first emulation environment, including at least;

(A) one or more instructions for deciding whether to increase a trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment as a result of the particular software meeting one or more performance indicators while being executed in the first emulation environment that include at least one of manifesting an error rate below a given threshold, completing one or more tasks within a specified time, or completing one or more specific tasks successfully; and

(b) one or more instructions for signaling a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator on a second machine that is physically distinct from the first machine at least partly as a result of the decision to increase or not to increase the trust level of at least a portion of the particular software hosted in the first emulation environment, wherein the one or more instructions for signaling are configured to signal a decision to transfer at least some of the data to a second emulator that is configured to host in a second emulation environment on the second machine at least a portion of the particular software hosted by the first emulation environment on the first machine.