System level acceleration server

• US 9,842,001 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2012
• Issued: 12/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Beijing Zitiao Network Technology Company Limited (ByteDance Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Drahzal, Matthew R., Jordan, Kirk E., Sexton, James C., Simpson, Richard O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Jeong S
• Application Number:
  US13/534,880
• Publication Number:
  US 20140006477A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,994 Days
• Field of Search: 709203, 709217, 709226, 718 1, 718104
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/509 Offload
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45533 Hypervisors; Virtual machine monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5005 to service a request
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5044 considering hardware capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5061 Partitioning or combining of resources
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5072 Grid computing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455

Abstract

A method for system level acceleration includes managing, by a system level acceleration server, an accelerator program running on an accelerator machine on behalf of a client, receiving, by the system level acceleration server, a communication from the client, interacting, by the system level acceleration server, with the accelerator program on behalf of the client according to the communication from the client, and generating, by the accelerator machine, a deliverable for provision to the client based upon an output of the accelerator program.

Claims

1. A method for executing a computer application, comprising:

running a computer application from a client machine, the computer application including one or more parallel computations that are too large to be computed by the client machine;

sending the one or more parallel computations to a system level acceleration server;

assigning, at the system level acceleration server, each of the one or more parallel computations to one of a plurality of accelerators;

computing each of the one or more parallel computations in its assigned accelerator;

returning computation results from the plurality of accelerators back to the system level acceleration server; and

passing each of the computation results from the system level acceleration server back to the computer application running on the client machine,

wherein commands and simple responses are sent between the plurality of accelerators and the computer application running on the client machine via the system level acceleration server, while bulk data is transferred directly between the plurality of accelerators and the computer application running on the client machine, bypassing the system level acceleration server by using a file system that is shared between the plurality of accelerators and the computer application running on the client machine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the system level acceleration server assigns parallel computations to the plurality of accelerators from multiple client machines simultaneously.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the system level acceleration server assigned each of the one or more parallel computations to one of a plurality of accelerators according to the computational needs of the parallel computations and the capabilities and availability of the accelerators.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of accelerators includes distinct accelerators with varying capabilities.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of accelerators includes at least one accelerator for computing MATLAB commands.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of accelerators includes at least one accelerator for computing Octave commands.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of accelerators includes at least one accelerator for computing simulations.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of accelerators includes at least one accelerator for processing medical images.

9. A computer program product for executing a computer application, the computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code comprising:

computer readable program code configured to run a computer application from a client machine, the computer application including one or more parallel computations that are too large to be computed by the client machine;

computer readable program code configured to send the one or more parallel computations to a system level acceleration server;

computer readable program code configured to assign, at the system level acceleration server, each of the one or more parallel computations to one of a plurality of accelerators;

computer readable program code configured to compute each of the one or more parallel computations in its assigned accelerator;

computer readable program code configured to compute return computation results from the plurality of accelerators back to the system level acceleration server; and

computer readable program code configured to pass each of the computation results from the system level acceleration server back to the computer application running on the client machine,

wherein commands and simple responses are sent between the plurality of accelerators and the client machine via the system level acceleration server, while bulk data is transferred directly between the plurality of accelerators and the client machine, bypassing the system level acceleration server by using a file system that is shared between the plurality of accelerators and the client machine.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the system level acceleration server assigns parallel computations to the plurality of accelerators from multiple client machines simultaneously.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the system level acceleration server assigned each of the one or more parallel computations to one of a plurality of accelerators according to the computational needs of the parallel computations and the capabilities and availability of the accelerators.

12. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the plurality of accelerators includes distinct accelerators with varying capabilities.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the plurality of accelerators includes at least one accelerator for computing MATLAB commands.

14. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the plurality of accelerators includes at least one accelerator for computing Octave commands.

15. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the plurality of accelerators includes at least one accelerator for computing simulations.

16. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the plurality of accelerators includes at least one accelerator for processing medical images.