The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jun. 12, 2012
Filed:
Mar. 26, 2008
Ronald Leroy Billau, Rochester, MN (US);
Charles Scott Graham, Rochester, MN (US);
Harvey Gene Kiel, Rochester, MN (US);
Chetan Mehta, Austin, TX (US);
Lee Anton Sendelback, Rochester, MN (US);
Jaya Srikrishnan, Wappinger Falls, NY (US);
Ronald Leroy Billau, Rochester, MN (US);
Charles Scott Graham, Rochester, MN (US);
Harvey Gene Kiel, Rochester, MN (US);
Chetan Mehta, Austin, TX (US);
Lee Anton Sendelback, Rochester, MN (US);
Jaya Srikrishnan, Wappinger Falls, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
An I/O adapter sharing mechanism in a logically partitioned computer system allows sharing a network I/O adapter between logical partitions in an efficient manner. A first logical partition owns (or controls) the I/O adapter, and a second logical partition desires to use (or share) the I/O adapter. An I/O adapter device driver that includes a hardware interface is provided in the first logical partition. A virtual device driver is provided in the second logical partition that provides a set of functions that is at least partially defined by querying the I/O adapter device driver in the first logical partition. The I/O adapter sharing mechanism includes a transfer mechanism that allows data to be transferred directly from the virtual device driver in the second logical partition to the I/O adapter without passing through the I/O adapter device driver in the first logical partition.