IP Library Granted Patent US 10,983,834
Granted Patent B2
US 10,983,834 · App. 16/819,646 · Granted Apr 20, 2021

Communication fabric coupled compute units

Inventors: Christopher R. Long (Colorado Springs, CO); James Scott Cannata (Denver, CO); Jason Breakstone (Broomfield, CO)
Assignee: Liqid Inc.
G06F9/5044G06F3/0482G06F3/0484G06F9/5016G06F9/5061G06F9/5077G06F9/54G06F12/02G06F9/451G06F2203/04803G06F2213/0026
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,983,834
App. No.
16/819,646
Granted
Apr 20, 2021
Kind
B2
Abstract

Communication fabric-coupled computing architectures, platforms, and systems are provided herein. In one example, an apparatus includes a management entity configured to establish compute units each comprising components selected among a plurality of physical computing components. The apparatus includes a fabric interface configured to instruct a communication fabric communicatively coupling the plurality of physical computing components to establish logical isolation within the communication fabric to form the compute units.

Claims (35)

1. An apparatus, comprising:

a management entity configured to establish compute units each comprising components selected among a plurality of physical computing components;

a fabric interface configured to instruct a communication fabric communicatively coupling the plurality of physical computing components to establish logical isolation within the communication fabric to form the compute units;

responsive to forming each of the compute units, the management entity configured to deploy a software component for use by least an associated processor within each of the compute units.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the compute units comprise one or more physical computing components selected from among central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), storage modules, and network interface modules.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the communication fabric comprises a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) communication fabric comprising one or more PCIe switch circuits, and wherein the logical isolation is formed in the communication fabric with segregation established using domain-based segregation among ports of the one or more PCIe switch circuits.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the communication fabric comprises a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) communication fabric comprising one or more PCIe switch circuits, and wherein the logical isolation is formed in the communication fabric with segregation established using non-transparent (NT) port-based segregation among ports of the one or more PCIe switch circuits.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , comprising:

the management entity configured to alter composition of physical computing components within a selected compute unit by at least changing the logical isolation within the communication fabric for the selected compute unit.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein altering composition comprises adding or removing a physical computing component from the selected compute unit.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the software component is configured to report telemetry data related to operation of an associated compute unit.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the software component comprises an operating system.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the software component comprises a driver function configured to emulate operation of an Ethernet interface to an operating system of the associated processor, and wherein the driver function is further configured to transfer communications received by the Ethernet interface over the communication fabric.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the compute units have visibility over the communication fabric using the logical isolation to only assigned physical computing components.

11. A method comprising:

establishing compute units each comprising components selected among a plurality of physical computing components; and

instructing a communication fabric communicatively coupling the plurality of physical computing components to establish logical isolation within the communication fabric to form the compute units;

responsive to forming each of the compute units, deploying a software component for use by least an associated processor within each of the compute units.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein each of the compute units comprise one or more physical computing components selected from among central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), storage modules, and network interface modules.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the communication fabric comprises a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) communication fabric comprising one or more PCIe switch circuits, and wherein the logical isolation is formed in the communication fabric with segregation established using domain-based segregation among ports of the one or more PCIe switch circuits.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the communication fabric comprises a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) communication fabric comprising one or more PCIe switch circuits, and wherein the logical isolation is formed in the communication fabric with segregation established using non-transparent (NT) port-based segregation among ports of the one or more PCIe switch circuits.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

altering composition of physical computing components within a selected compute unit by at least changing the logical isolation within the communication fabric for the selected compute unit.

16. The method of claim 11 , 1

wherein the software component comprises at least one among a driver, a monitoring function and an operating system.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein each of the compute units have visibility over the communication fabric using the logical isolation to only assigned physical computing components.

18. A computing apparatus comprising:

one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media;

a processing system operatively coupled with the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media; and

program instructions stored on the one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media, that when executed by the processing system, direct the processing system to at least:

establish compute units each having a corresponding set of physical computing components selected among a plurality of physical computing components; and

instruct a communication fabric communicatively coupling the plurality of physical computing components to establish logical isolation within the communication fabric to form the compute units;

responsive to forming each of the compute units, deploy a software component for use by least an associated processor within each of the compute units.

19. The computing apparatus of claim 18 ,

wherein the software component comprises at least one among a driver, a monitoring function and an operating system.

Assignments (4)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Apr 16, 2021
From: CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE
To: LIQID INC.
Reel/Frame 055953/0860 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jan 5, 2021
From: LIQID INC.
To: HORIZON TECHNOLOGY FINANCE CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 054900/0539 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Oct 30, 2020
From: LIQID INC.
To: CANADIAN IMPERIAL BANK OF COMMERCE
Reel/Frame 054221/0235 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 16, 2020
From: BREAKSTONE, JASON; LONG, CHRISTOPHER R.; CANNATA, JAMES SCOTT
To: LIQID INC.
Reel/Frame 052124/0341 →
Continuity (4)
Continuation 15675377 · Aug 11, 2017
Provisional Application 62468231 · Mar 7, 2017
Provisional Application 62374573 · Aug 12, 2016
Related Publication 20200218578A1 · Jul 9, 2020