Saving power by managing the state of inactive computing devices according to specific constraints
First Claim
1. A system for managing inactive states of computing devices comprising:
- a memory,a processor unit in communication with said memory, for performing a method comprising;
receiving, at said processor unit, a request to one of;
activate or deactivate one or more computing devices from a respective group of inactive or active computing devices, each said inactive or active computing device initially in a pre-determined state of readiness;
activating or deactivating said one or more computing devices, said activating or deactivating resulting in a number of computing devices in one or more activation states of readiness i;
computing an optimal configuration of said computing devices in said one or more said states of readiness i by minimizing an expected power consumption Σ
i Ai Pi where i represents all inactive computing device states, Ai represents a number of said computing devices currently in each state i, and, Pi represents an average power consumption of computing devices while in said state i; and
placing said computing devices in said optimized configuration, said processor unit is further configured to;
formulate an objective function to be minimized, said objective function representing said expected power consumption Σ
i AiPi subject to a constraint,wherein, after one of said activating or deactivating one or more computing devices, said processor unit is further configured to;
compute activation vector A″
representing a number of computing devices in said optimized one or more activation states of readiness i;
specify an upper threshold Tmax representing a maximum expected time to activate additional computing devices; and
compute probabilities pi for i additional computing devices to be needed, where i ranges from 1 to a specified upper threshold, wherein said activation vector A″
is computed by formulating said objective function to minimize an expected power consumption Σ
i A″
i Pi given a constraint Σ
iRipi<
Tmax, where Σ
iRipi is a weighted sum representing the expected time required to make the i computing devices available.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system method and computer program product for managing readiness states of a plurality of computing devices. In response to a request, a computer system operates to either: provide one or more computing devices from an inactive pool to an active pool, or accept one or more active computing devices into the inactive pool. An Inactive Pool Manager proactively manages the inactive states of each computing device by: determining the desired number (and identities) of computing devices to be placed in each inactive state of readiness by solving a constraint optimization problem that describes a user-specified trade-off between expected readiness (estimated time to be able to activate computing devices when they are needed next) and conserving energy; generating a plan for changing the current set of inactive states to the desired set; and, executing the plan. Multiple alternative ways of quantifying the desired responsiveness to surges in demand are provided.
53 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A system for managing inactive states of computing devices comprising:
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a memory, a processor unit in communication with said memory, for performing a method comprising; receiving, at said processor unit, a request to one of;
activate or deactivate one or more computing devices from a respective group of inactive or active computing devices, each said inactive or active computing device initially in a pre-determined state of readiness;activating or deactivating said one or more computing devices, said activating or deactivating resulting in a number of computing devices in one or more activation states of readiness i; computing an optimal configuration of said computing devices in said one or more said states of readiness i by minimizing an expected power consumption Σ
i Ai Pi where i represents all inactive computing device states, Ai represents a number of said computing devices currently in each state i, and, Pi represents an average power consumption of computing devices while in said state i; andplacing said computing devices in said optimized configuration, said processor unit is further configured to; formulate an objective function to be minimized, said objective function representing said expected power consumption Σ
i AiPi subject to a constraint,wherein, after one of said activating or deactivating one or more computing devices, said processor unit is further configured to; compute activation vector A″
representing a number of computing devices in said optimized one or more activation states of readiness i;specify an upper threshold Tmax representing a maximum expected time to activate additional computing devices; and compute probabilities pi for i additional computing devices to be needed, where i ranges from 1 to a specified upper threshold, wherein said activation vector A″
is computed by formulating said objective function to minimize an expected power consumption Σ
i A″
i Pi given a constraint Σ
iRipi<
Tmax, where Σ
iRipi is a weighted sum representing the expected time required to make the i computing devices available. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A computer program product for managing inactive states of computing devices, the computer program product comprising:
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a storage medium that is not a propagating signal readable by a processing circuit and storing instructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing a method comprising; receiving a request to one of;
activate or deactivate one or more computing devices from a respective group of inactive or active computing devices, each said inactive or active computing device initially in a pre-determined state of readiness;activating or deactivating said one or more computing devices, said activating or deactivating resulting in a number of computing devices in one or more states of readiness i; computing an optimal configuration of said computing devices in said one or more said states of readiness i by minimizing an expected power consumption Σ
i Ai Pi where i represents all inactive computing devices, Ai represents a number of said computing devices currently in each state i, and, Pi represents an average power consumption of computing devices while in said state i; andplacing said computing devices in said optimized configuration, and formulating an objective function to be minimized, said objective function representing said expected power consumption Σ
i AiPi subject to a constraint,said optimizing including computing activation vector A″
representing a number of computing devices in said optimized one or more activation states of readiness i;specifying an upper threshold Tmax representing a maximum expected time to activate additional computing devices; and computing probabilities pi for i additional computing devices to be needed, where i ranges from 1 to a specified upper threshold, wherein said activation vector A″
is computed by formulating said objective function to minimize an expected power consumption Σ
i A″
i Pi given a constraint Σ
iRi pi<
Tmax, where Σ
iRipi is a weighted sum representing the expected time required to make the i computing devices available.- View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for managing power consumption in a system including computing devices in both active and one or more inactive states of readiness, the method comprising:
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receiving, at a processing unit, a request to one of;
activate or deactivate one or more computing devices from a respective group of inactive or active computing devices, each said inactive or active computing device initially in a pre-determined state of readiness;activating or deactivating said one or more computing devices, said activating or deactivating resulting in a number of computing devices in one or more states of readiness i; computing an optimal configuration of said computing devices in said one or more said states of readiness i by minimizing an expected power consumption Σ
i Ai Pi where i represents all inactive computing device states, Ai represents a number of said computing devices currently in each state i, and, Pi represents an average power consumption of computing devices while in said state i; and
,placing said computing devices in said optimized configuration, formulating an objective function to be minimized, said objective function representing said expected power consumption Σ
i AiPi subject to a constraint,computing an activation vector A″
representing a number of computing devices in said optimized one or more activation states of readiness i;specifying an upper threshold Tmax representing a maximum expected time to activate additional computing devices; and computing probabilities pi for i additional computing devices to be needed, where i ranges from 1 to a specified upper threshold, wherein said activation vector A″
is computed by formulating said objective function to minimize an expected power consumption Σ
i A″
i Pi given a constraint Σ
iRi pi<
Tmax, where Σ
iRipi is a weighted sum representing the expected time required to make the i computing devices available,wherein a program using said processor unit is configured to perform one or more of said receiving, activating, computing, placing, formulating and computing probabilities. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification