Kenneth M Valk, 562804 2Nd St, Rochester, MN 55902

6643818, Nov 4, 2003

Nov 19, 1999

09/443521

Kenneth Michael Valk - Rochester MN

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

H04L 100

714776, 714704, 359110

A method and apparatus is disclosed which enhances the integrity of transmitted data or detects when random data is being received which might indicate that a receiver or a transmitter is open or that random data is otherwise being transmitted. A stream of data transmitted in packets having an error code associated with each packet is received into a receiver. The receiver has an error code checker to check the error code of each packet to determine if the data packet has been transmitted error-free. The results of the error checks for n sequential packets are stored in a shift register or counter. An incoming packet then undergoes an error code check and the results of the previous n sequential packets are considered. If a predetermined number of the previous n sequential packets has a transmission error n, then the method decides to reject or accept the error packet based on the quality of data integrity. When a 32-bit CRC error code is used, an 8-bit shift register is sufficient to prevent the acceptance of a packet of random data that may otherwise be accepted.

6754753, Jun 22, 2004

Apr 27, 2001

09/844584

Bruce Leroy Beukema - Hayfield MN
Richard Charles Booth - San Jose CA
David Robert Engebretsen - Cannon Falls MN
Thomas Rembert Sand - Rochester MN
Kenneth Michael Valk - Rochester MN

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G06F 1516

710200, 709216

A clustered computer system, bridge device and method include support for an atomic ownership change operation that ensures orderly and reliable ownership management of an input/output (I/O) bridge device. A lock indicator is associated with a bridge device, and is used to indicate a âlockedâ or âunlockedâ status of the bridge device. Whenever the lock indicator indicates that the bridge device is unlocked, an atomic operation such as a read request to a lock indicator register is utilized to both set the indicator to indicate a locked status for the bridge device, and to associate the bridge device with a source node that initiated the atomic operation. In connection with the lock indicator, write access to one or more configuration parameter registers is controlled such that only the node that is associated with the bridge device is permitted to update such configuration parameter registers.

6944155, Sep 13, 2005

Mar 5, 2001

09/800398

Timothy Roy Block - Rochester MN, US
Richard Charles Booth - Rochester MN, US
David Robert Engebretsen - Cannon Falls MN, US
Thomas Rembert Sand - Rochester MN, US
Kenneth Micheal Valk - Rochester MN, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

H04L012/28

370389, 709238, 709223

A method and system for communication in a system area network (SAN) data processing system are described. The SAN includes a plurality of interconnected nodes that each have at least one port for communication. To avoid communication-induced errors that may arise, for example, if multiple nodes share the same node ID, the port of a node in the SAN is marked as “fenced” to prevent transmission of packets of a first traffic type while permitting transmission of packets of a second traffic type. The marking of the port may be recorded, for example, in a configuration register of the port. While the port is fenced, only packets of other than the first traffic type are routed via the port. In one preferred embodiment, the second traffic type represents SAN configuration traffic, and the first traffic type represents non-configuration traffic. In this preferred embodiment, the marking of the port may be removed following communication of configuration traffic utilized to negotiate unique node ID throughout the SAN.

7088715, Aug 8, 2006

Sep 3, 2004

10/933598

Timothy Roy Block - Rochester MN, US
Richard Charles Booth - Rochester MN, US
David Robert Engebretsen - Cannon Falls MN, US
Thomas Rembert Sand - Rochester MN, US
Kenneth Micheal Valk - Rochester MN, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

H04L 12/28

370389, 709238, 709223, 370392

A method and system for communication in a system area network (SAN) data processing system are described. The SAN includes a plurality of interconnected nodes that each have at least one port for communication. To avoid communication-induced errors that may arise, for example, if multiple nodes share the same node ID, the port of a node in the SAN is marked as “fenced” to prevent transmission of packets of a first traffic type while permitting transmission of packets of a second traffic type. The marking of the port may be recorded, for example, in a configuration register of the port. While the port is fenced, only packets of other than the first traffic type are routed via the port. In one preferred embodiment, the second traffic type represents SAN configuration traffic, and the first traffic type represents non-configuration traffic. In this preferred embodiment, the marking of the port may be removed following communication of configuration traffic utilized to negotiate unique node ID throughout the SAN.

7110402, Sep 19, 2006

Sep 3, 2004

10/933599

Timothy Roy Block - Rochester MN, US
Richard Charles Booth - Rochester MN, US
David Robert Engebretsen - Cannon Falls MN, US
Thomas Rembert Sand - Rochester MN, US
Kenneth Michael Valk - Rochester MN, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

H04L 12/28

370389, 709238, 709223, 370392

A method and system for communication in a system area network (SAN) data processing system are described. The SAN includes a plurality of interconnected nodes that each have at least one port for communication. To avoid communication-induced errors that may arise, for example, if multiple nodes share the same node ID, the port of a node in the SAN is marked as “fenced” to prevent transmission of packets of a first traffic type while permitting transmission of packets of a second traffic type. The marking of the port may be recorded, for example, in a configuration register of the port. While the port is fenced, only packets of other than the first traffic type are routed via the port. In one preferred embodiment, the second traffic type represents SAN configuration traffic, and the first traffic type represents non-configuration traffic. In this preferred embodiment, the marking of the port may be removed following communication of configuration traffic utilized to negotiate unique node ID throughout the SAN.

7197536, Mar 27, 2007

Apr 30, 2001

09/845933

Bruce Leroy Beukema - Hayfield MN, US
Richard Charles Booth - San Jose CA, US
David Robert Engebretsen - Cannon Falls MN, US
Thomas Rembert Sand - Rochester MN, US
Kenneth Michael Valk - Rochester MN, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G06F 15/16
H04Q 11/00

709205, 709217, 709213, 709218, 709251, 709253, 370359

A circuit arrangement, node, clustered computer system, and method incorporate a primitive communication mechanism for use in exchanging data between adjacent nodes coupled via a point-to-point network. A plurality of network ports are used to couple a node to other nodes in the clustered computer system over point-to-point network interconnects, and a plurality of communication registers are associated with each of the network ports for the purpose of storing data received through their associated network ports. A node desiring to communicate information to another node receives a port identifier from the other node that identifies the network port on the other node through which the pair of nodes are coupled. The port identifier is then used by the node to communicate data to the other node through the use of one or more write operations directed to the communication register on the other node that is associated with the network port identified by the port identifier. On the other node, a control circuit is used to automatically notify the other node whenever data is stored in any of its communication registers, e. g.

7536514, May 19, 2009

Sep 13, 2005

11/225655

Wayne Melvin Barrett - Rochester MN, US
Kenneth Michael Valk - Rochester MN, US
Brian T. Vanderpool - Byron MN, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G06F 12/06

711141, 710100

An early return indication is used to notify a first communications interface, prior to a response being received from any of a plurality of sources coupled to a second communications interface, that the return data can be used by the first communications interface when it is received thereby from a source of the return data if the source has an exclusive copy of the return data. By doing so, the first communications interface can often prepare for forwarding the return data over its associated communication link such that the data can be forwarded with little or no latency once the data is retrieved from its source, and may be able to initiate the return of data over the communication link prior to all responses being received from the other sources. The early return indication may also serves as an early coherency indication in that the first communications interface is no longer required to wait for updating of a coherency directory to complete prior to forwarding the return data over the communication link.

8010682, Aug 30, 2011

Dec 28, 2004

11/023706

Wayne Melvin Barrett - Rochester MN, US
David Alan Shedivy - Rochester MN, US
Kenneth Michael Valk - Rochester MN, US
Brian T. Vanderpool - Byron MN, US

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

G06F 15/16
G06F 13/00

709228, 711141

In a shared memory architecture, early coherency indication is used to notify a communications interface, prior to the data for a memory request is returned, and prior to updating a coherency directory in response to the memory request, that the return data can be used by the communications interface when it is received thereby from a source of the return data. By doing so, the communications interface can often begin forwarding the return data over its associated communication link with little or no latency once the data is retrieved from its source. In addition, the communications interface is often no longer required to wait for updating of the coherency directory to complete prior to forwarding the return data over the communication link. As such, the overall latency for handling the memory request is typically reduced.