Capacity on demand using signaling bus control
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsJohn Borkenhagen, Benjamin Carter, Stephen Levesque
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus and method is disclosed for providing capacity on demand using control to alter latency and/or bandwidth on a signaling bus in a computer system. If additional capacity is required, authorization is requested for additional capacity. If authorized, bandwidth of the signaling bus is increased to provide additional capacity in the computing system. Alternatively, upon authorization, latency of data transmissions over the signaling bus is reduced. In another alternative, upon authorization, memory timings are adjusted to speed up memory fetches and stores.
Claims22
A computing system having a controllable capacity, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a signaling bus coupled to the processor;
- wherein the controllable capacity of the computing system is controlled by monitoring demand on the computing system and altering the controllable capacity responsive to demand by controlling a characteristic of the signaling bus.
A method of providing capacity on demand for a computer system comprising the steps of:
- monitoring an indicator that relates capacity and demand;
- if capacity and demand differ by a predetermined amount, requesting a change in capacity from an authorizing source;
- receiving approval from the authorizing source for a change in capacity;
- and
- upon approval by the authorizing source, changing the capacity of the computing system by changing a bandwidth or a latency of a signaling bus.
A method for deploying capacity on demand within a computing system comprising integrating computer readable code into a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing the following:
- monitoring an indicator that relates capacity and demand;
- if capacity and demand differ by a predetermined amount, requesting a change in capacity from an authorizing source;
- receiving approval from the authorizing source for a change in capacity;
- and
- upon approval by the authorizing source, changing the capacity of the computing system by changing a bandwidth or a latency of a signaling bus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.