Determining an approximate number of instances of an item for an organization
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsVinay Deolalikar, Kave Eshghi, Pankaj Mehra
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention pertain to determining an approximate number of instances of an item for an organization. According to one embodiment, instances of items that reside on computer systems associated with the organization are determined. Instances of the same item can reside on different computers and an identification uniquely identifies an item. Random numbers are associated with identifications of the items. An approximate number of instances of the item is determined based on a highest random number associated with the item. The highest random number is the highest of the random numbers that were generated for the instances of the item.
Claims20
A computer implemented method of determining an approximate number of instances of an item for an organization, the method comprising:
- determining instances of items that reside on computer systems associated with the organization, wherein instances of the same item reside on different computers and wherein an identification uniquely identifies an item;
- associating random numbers with identifications of the items;
- and
- determining an approximate number of instances of the item based on a highest random number associated with the item, wherein the highest random number is highest of random numbers that were generated for the instances of the item.
A system for enabling determination of an approximate number of instances of an item for an organization, the system comprising:
- random-number-to-identification-pairing-for-approximating-number-of-instances-component configured for associating a first random number with an identification of an instance of an item, wherein the instance resides on a first computer system associated with the organization and wherein the identification uniquely identifies instances of the item that reside on different computer systems associated with the organization;
- random-number-receiving-for-approximating-number of-instances-component configured for receiving from a second computer system associated with the organization a second random number that is associated with the identification of the item;
- and
- random-number-comparing-for-approximating-number-of-instances-component configured for comparing the first random number to the second random number to determine which is the higher of the first and second random numbers whereby a determination of an approximate number of instances of the item associated with the organization is enabled.
A computer-usable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein for causing a computer system to perform a method of determining an approximate number of instances of an item for an organization, the method comprising
- determining instances of items that reside on computer systems associated with the organization, wherein instances of the same item reside on different computers and wherein an identification uniquely identifies an item;
- associating random numbers with identifications of the items;
- and
- determining an approximate number of instances of the item based on a lowest random number associated with the item, wherein the lowest random number is lowest of random numbers that were generated for the instances of the item.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.