Patent ID: 7334142
Filing Date: 2008-02-19
Classification: G06F,Y02D

Abstract:
1. A method in a data processing system for managing a set of processors, the method comprising: receiving a call from an operating system, wherein the call indicates that a selected processor in the set of processors is unneeded for a period of time that is included in the call from the operating system, wherein the call is a sub-processor partitioning call sent from one of a plurality of different operating systems which are each executing in a respective partition of a multi-partitioned data processing system, where each partition of the multi-partitioned data processing system is managed by a runtime abstraction layer and (i) is assigned a non-overlapping subset of resources of the data processing system, and (ii) can be individually booted and shut down without having to power-cycle entirety of the data processing system; and altering operation of the selected processor to reduce power usage during the period of time, wherein the receiving step and the altering step are performed by the runtime abstraction layer that receives the call from at least one of a plurality of operating systems that are concurrently executing in the data processing system.