Patent Issued for Dynamic allocation of resources (USPTO 11366702): United Services Automobile Association

2022 JUL 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Culbertson, II, William Preston (San Antonio, TX, US), Osterkamp, Bryan J. (New Braunfels, TX, US), Philbrick, Ashley Raine (San Antonio, TX, US), Post, Nathan Lee (San Antonio, TX, US), Russell, Ryan Thomas (San Antonio, TX, US), filed on September 30, 2019, was published online on June 21, 2022, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11366702 is assigned to United Services Automobile Association (San Antonio, Texas, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors from the background information supplied by the inventors:

“1. Field of the Invention

“The present invention relates to dynamic allocation of computer resources. In particular, the invention relates to dynamical allocation of resources in a shared system of virtual computing machines.

“2. Description of Related Art

“Computing machines are available in a variety of configurations. For example, personal computers are designed to be used by one user. Personal computers may be configured to emphasize computing power, memory, or storage, depending upon the interests of the user and the intended uses.

“Whereas a personal computer may be convenient for a user, providing a personal computer to each employee of a business may become costly as costs for individuals individual licenses for software may be required. Administrative tasks required to monitor and administer such licenses for individual computers owned by the company and loaned to individuals may be significant. Further, security may be an issue, as individual computers may be stolen or lost.

“Individual computers given to employees of companies are subject to the same costs, failures, and risks. Thus, an enterprise may prefer to utilize a central computing system. Using a central computing system increases security both for the individual and for the business. However, central computing systems may increase downtime if a server must be removed from service to re-configure an individual user’s machine when the user’s needs change. Downtime also may increase if security on the server is compromised, and each of the users of the server must be inconvenienced by the interruption of service.

“Thus, there is a need in the art for a system and method that addresses the shortcomings of the prior art discussed above.”

In addition to the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “In one aspect, the disclosure is directed to a method for dynamically allocating computing resources to plural virtual computing machines in a shared system. The computing resources include processing resources, memory resources, and storage resources. In accordance with the method, an initial allocation is made for each computing resource for each virtual computing machine. The system monitors a current demand for each computing resource for each of the plurality of virtual computing machines to identify changes in the current demand.

“The system then identifies a first virtual computing machine of the plurality of virtual computing machines for which usage of a first computing resource is approaching a first predetermined threshold of the first computing resource allotted to the first virtual computing machine. The system then dynamically allocates unused first computing resource to the first virtual computing machine to satisfy the current demand for the first computing resource.

“In another aspect, the disclosure is directed to a method for dynamically allocating computing resources to plural virtual computing machines in a shared system. Computing resources includes processing resources, memory resources, and storage resources.

“In accordance with this aspect of the disclosure, the system determines an initial allocation for each computing resource for each virtual computing machine. The system monitors a current demand for each computing resource for each one of a plurality of virtual computing machines to identify changes in the current demand. The system identifies a first virtual computing machine of the plurality of virtual computing machines for which usage of a first computing resource is approaching a first predetermined threshold of the first computing resource allotted to the first virtual computing machine. The system also identifies a second virtual computing machine of the plurality of virtual computing machines for which usage of the first computing resource is less than a second predetermined threshold of the first computing resource allotted to the second virtual computing machine.

“The server then makes a dynamic allocation of at least part of the first computing resource from the second virtual computing machine to the first virtual computing machine to meet the current demand for the first computing resource in the first virtual computing machine.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A method for dynamically allocating computing resources including processing resources, memory resources, and storage resources to a plurality of virtual computing machines in a shared system, the method comprising the steps of: determining an initial allocation for each computing resource for each virtual computing machine of the plurality of virtual computing machines; monitoring a current demand for each computing resource for each one of the plurality of virtual computing machines to identify changes in the current demand; identifying a first virtual computing machine of the plurality of virtual computing machines for which usage of a first computing resource is approaching a first predetermined threshold of the first computing resource allotted to a first user of the first virtual computing machine; identifying a second virtual computing machine of the plurality of virtual computing machines in which a second user uses a portion of computing resources provided by the second virtual computing machine and a third virtual computing machine of the plurality of virtual computing machines in which a third user uses a portion of computing resources provided by the third virtual computing machine; consolidating a computing resource usage for each computing resource of the second user and a computing resource usage for each computing resource of the third user into the second virtual computing machine by dynamically allocating computing resources from the second virtual computing machine and computing resources from the third virtual computing machine and then freeing all computing resource usage of the third virtual computing machine; and dynamically allocating unused computing resources of the third virtual computing machine to the first user of the first virtual computing machine to satisfy a current demand for each computing resource by the first user in excess of resources provided by the first virtual computing machine, wherein an order in which the computing resources from the second virtual computing machine and the computing resources from the third virtual computing machine are dynamically allocated is based on whether it is likely that a return of a dynamically allocated resource will be required before return allocation of other dynamically allocated resources.

“2. The method for dynamically allocating computing resources of claim 1, wherein the first predetermined threshold is 80 percent.

“3. The method for dynamically allocating computing resources of claim 1, wherein the first computing resource is a processing core.

“4. The method for dynamically allocating computing resources of claim 3, further comprising identifying a second computing resource having a second predetermined threshold.

“5. The method for dynamically allocating computing resources of claim 4, wherein the second computing resource is a memory resource.

“6. The method for dynamically allocating computing resources of claim 4, wherein the second predetermined threshold is 30 percent.

“7. A shared system for a plurality of virtual computing machines for dynamically allocating computing resources including processing resources, memory resources, and storage resources to the plurality of virtual computing machines in the shared system, the shared system comprising: a device processor; and a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that are executable by the device processor to: determine an initial allocation for each computing resource for each virtual computing machine of the plurality of virtual computing machines; monitor a current demand for each computing resource for each one of the plurality of virtual computing machines in the system to identify changes in the current demand; identify a first virtual computing machine of the plurality of virtual computing machines having usage of a first computing resource approaching a first predetermined threshold of the first computing resource allotted to the first virtual computing machine; identify a second virtual computing machine of the plurality of virtual computing machines for which usage of the first computing resource is less than a second predetermined threshold of the first computing resource allotted to the second virtual computing machine; and dynamically allocate a fraction of the first computing resource from the second virtual computing machine to the first virtual computing machine to meet the current demand for the first computing resource for the first virtual computing machine, wherein computing resources are also dynamically allocated from a third virtual computing machine to meet the current demand for the first computing resource for the first virtual computing machine, wherein an order in which the computing resources from the second virtual computing machine and the computing resources from the third virtual computing machine are dynamically allocated is based on whether it is likely that a return of a dynamically allocated resource will be required before return allocation of other dynamically allocated resources.

“8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first predetermined threshold of the first computing resource is 75 percent.

“9. The system of claim 7, wherein the second predetermined threshold of the first computing resource is 20 percent.

“10. The system of claim 8, wherein the second predetermined threshold of the first computing resource is 20 percent.

“11. The system of claim 7, wherein the system further comprises a virtual computing machine that has a zero initial allocation.

“12. The system of claim 7, wherein all computing resources from a virtual computing machine are dynamically allocated together.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Culbertson, II, William Preston. Dynamic allocation of resources. U.S. Patent Number 11366702, filed September 30, 2019, and published online on June 21, 2022. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=11366702.PN.&OS=PN/11366702RS=PN/11366702

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)