System, method and recording medium for antifragile computing problem management

• US 9,934,095 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2016
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kim, Minkyong, Li, Min, Pickover, Clifford A., Salapura, Valentina
• Primary Examiner(s): Ko, Chae M
• Application Number:
  US15/196,129
• Publication Number:
  US 20180004605A1
• Time in Patent Office: 643 Days
• Field of Search: 714 15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1484 involving virtual machines
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/658 Incremental updates; Differential updates

Abstract

A computing problem management method, system, and non-transitory computer readable medium, include detecting an impending problem of a computing system, spawning a plurality of replicas when the detecting detects the impending problem, and launching a plurality of versions of an action, each version being launched and performed on a different replica of the plurality of replicas.

Claims

1. A computing problem management method, the method comprising:

detecting an impending problem of a computing system;

spawning a plurality of replicas when the detecting detects the impending problem; and

launching a plurality of versions of an action, each version being launched and performed on a different replica of the plurality of replicas.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each replica including a version of the action is presented to a user for selection by the user as to which version to perform.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

introducing a plurality of new impending problems on the plurality of replicas for the launching to launch versions of the action to resolve; and

learning a version that resolves each of the plurality of new impending problems.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

introducing a plurality of new impending problems on the plurality of replicas for the launching to launch versions of the action to resolve; and

learning a version that resolves each of the plurality of new impending problems to thereby create an antifragile computing system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the action comprises any one of:

a software patch;

different versions of the software patch;

a known solution to the impending problem;

a potential solution to the impending problem; and

a change in a time of implantation of the action.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the launching decides the plurality of versions of the action to launch based on any of:

a genetic algorithm including a random selection;

a white noise;

a Gaussian noise;

a voting;

a controlled spread relating to a mean and a standard deviation; and

a multidimensional distribution.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a number of the plurality of replicas is based on at least one of:

a cost associated with a resource required for the number of the plurality of replicas; and

a criticality of resolving the impending problem.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising learning successful versions of the action based on a prior starting state, the version of the action, and a result of the version of the action.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein a number, a location on the computing system, and a type of the versions of the action of the plurality of replicas is based on a cognitive state of a user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein, if the detecting detects the impending problem, a processing speed of the computing system is decreased.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein, if the detecting detects the impending problem, a processing speed of the computing system is decreased such that the plurality of versions of the action are performed by the plurality of replicas at a rate faster than a rate of propagation of the impending problem in the computing system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the spawning spawns the plurality of replicas in a cloud-computing system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the spawning spawns the plurality of replicas in an environment with an unlimited resource.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the spawning spawns a plurality of children replicas having a relationship to a replica of the plurality of replicas, and

wherein each of the plurality of children replicas includes a modified action of the replica with the relationship to the plurality of children replicas.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the impending problem comprises a system crash.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the impending problem comprises any of:

an impending device software or hardware status change including a fault, a system crash, a hard-to-recover state, and a speed of the impending device;

a state change; and

a hardware fault.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing system comprises any of:

a computer;

a smart phone;

a smart watch;

a head-mounted display;

a game console; and

a network component.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein a success of the action is automatically determined if the computing system continues to operate.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium recording a computing problem management program, the program causing a computer to perform:

detecting an impending problem of a computing system;

spawning a plurality of replicas when the detecting detects the impending problem; and

launching a plurality of versions of an action, each version being launched and performed on a different replica of the plurality of replicas.

20. A computing problem management system, said system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, the memory storing instructions to cause the processor to;

detect an impending problem of a computing system;

spawn a plurality of replicas when the detecting detects the impending problem; and

launch a plurality of versions of an action, each version being launched and performed on a different replica of the plurality of replicas.