Abstract:
A computer system includes one or more single board computers (“SBCs”), that are arranged connectively with a personal computer that acts as a host computer for the entire system. The host computer contains standard I/O and storage devices, including a hard disk drive, video monitor, mouse and keyboard. The SBCs do not contain such devices. Rather, the SBCs are managed using a single GUI utility generated by through the host computer; and the SBCs use one or more partitioned portions of the host computer&#39;s hard disk drive as storage. Images may be swapped on and off the SBCs rapidly to reconfigure their respective “personalities”.

Description:
RELATED APPPLICATION  
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/384,761, filed May 31, 2002. 
     
    
     
       TECHNICAL FIELD  
         [0002]    This invention relates to a networked computing system, and more particularly, a system wherein a host computer can manage a number of individual computers and the individual computers can interact with the host and can interchangeably run different operating systems and programs, and change between different ones of these on the fly.  
         BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0003]    Typical modern-day computer networks utilize a number of disparate hardware and software components to facilitate communication among the networked computers. Transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (“TCP/IP”) network communication standards are the most prolific today. They are the standards used on the Internet and in countless other home, office, local and wide area networks. To utilize these standards, computer networks require some or all of the following: network interface cards (“NICs”) for each computer, hubs, routers, switches, software drivers for all of these pieces of hardware, and various wires and cables to interconnect all of this hardware.  
           [0004]    A typical four computer, small office network may be configured as follows:  
           [0005]    1 host personal computer or server  
           [0006]    3 satellite personal computers or nodes  
           [0007]    4 network operating systems (one for each personal computer)  
           [0008]    4 NICs (one for each personal computer)  
           [0009]    4 NIC software drivers (one for each personal computer)  
           [0010]    1 hub  
           [0011]    1 hub software driver  
           [0012]    Total=18 components, plus assorted wire and cable  
           [0013]    Not only are there 18 components in this network, but also the three nodes are each fully outfitted personal computers, including disk drives, memory and CPUs comparable to the demands of the network. These nodes each take up all of the space, energy and expense that is associated with a personal computer. Also, the hub and the three nodes are separate from the host computer; each requires driver software and the three nodes each require independent network operating systems. The physical separation of the hardware slows down the speed of the network simply because the data has to travel physically farther than it would if the components were all onboard the host computer. The necessary overhead software slows down the speed of the network by adding functions to the system that must be processed by the various computers.  
           [0014]    Also, the operating systems used by the various computers within a given network are generally wed to their particular systems. These operating systems are generally stored onboard each node in its hard drive. In a given network, should a node running a particular operating system crash due to some catastrophic failure, there is no easy was to swap the operating system out of the failed node and into another node which may be running some other operating system. Nor is there an easy way to swap an unblemished, golden master operating system if the operating system being used by a particular node becomes corrupted and renders the node unusable.  
           [0015]    In the scenario wherein the node fails, a user or administrator would need to manually move the operating system and all associated applications software to a second node by either 1) physically removing the hard drive from the failed node and transferring it to the second node, or 2) ghosting the drive, copying the entire contents of the failed node&#39;s hard drive to the second node&#39;s hard drive, if possible. In the scenario where the operating system becomes corrupted, if the identical operating system has been saved on another computer, purely for backup purposes, or is available online from its developer, it can be ghosted onto the hard drive of corrupted node. If not, the entire operating system must be manually reloaded from CD-ROM or floppy disk, a time and labor intensive process. Disks, which have become virus-infected, are often removed, discarded and replaced with a fresh rebuild or duplicated copy. None of these actions can be done on-the-fly. Each requires the manual manipulation of hardware and/or software, and usually will require the shutdown and rebooting of the nodes involved.  
           [0016]    In short, prior multinode computer systems typically consist of numerous relatively independent and noninterchangeable nodes, each of which is relatively fixed in functionality with respect to the remainder of the network nodes, and each of which is thus relatively inflexible.  
         OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0017]    It is an object of this invention to provide a self-contained, high-speed networked computer system.  
           [0018]    It is another object of this invention to provide a computer system wherein a number of individual computers are contained within and interact with a single host computer. Preferably, the individual computers are single board computers (SBCs).  
           [0019]    It is still another object of this invention to provide a computer system wherein each individual computer is managed by a single host computer and can access one or a group of data storage devices via the host computer.  
           [0020]    It is yet another object of this invention to provide a computer system wherein each individual computer may interchangeably operate a different operating system or application at any given time and may change operating systems or applications on the fly.  
           [0021]    It is another further object of this invention to provide a computer system wherein each individual can typically be managed via a single utility to monitor and control the SBC and operating system/application environments. The utility is designed with a graphical user interface (“GUI”) for human interface or command structure when directed by automated equipment.  
           [0022]    It is still a further object of the invention to provide a system of SBCs that can take on a variety of different personalities depending upon the image loaded onto the SBC to operate and configure it.  
           [0023]    The computer system includes one or more SBCs, that are arranged in the slots of a PCI bus of a personal computer that may act as a host computer for the entire system. The host computer contains standard I/O and storage devices, including a hard disk drive, video monitor, mouse and keyboard. The SBCs need not contain such devices. Rather, the SBCs are managed using a single utility generated through the host computer; and the SBCs use one or more partitioned portions of the host computer&#39;s hard disk drive as storage.  
           [0024]    Each SBC contains a module to interface with the PCI bus of the host computer. The module is comprised of an SBC-side network communication adapter, a host-side network communication adapter and a wide silicon media path between the two adapters. This module is direct and exclusive in its interface between the specific SBC and the host computer. No wires, hubs, routers or extraneous network cards need be interposed between the host and the SBC. This facilitates remarkable data transfer speeds that are not limited by distance or network capacity, only by the speed of the PCI bus, the CPUs of the host computer and SBC and the software they are each running. The communications software for the host and the SBC with which it communicates are normally stored together, to ensure that the same version of software is utilized on both sides of the communications link, and that the host and SBC software is loaded together.  
           [0025]    The module operates generally using well-known TCP/IP network communication standards and thus is compatible with most hardware, software and network applications. However, it differs from typical uses of TCP/IP in that the adapters for both ends of the peer network are 1) resident on the SBC module, and 2) the drivers for these adapters are always loaded onto both the SBC and the host computer together, ensuring compatibility. Further, data transfers from the module can be tagged as file operations, not including boot or startup functions. File operations do not require the processor and memory capacity necessary to perform network functions. This again facilitates much greater speed than is available via a typical client/server network configuration using mapped files in TCP/IP standards. The module can also operate using network protocols other than TCP/IP to similar effect.  
           [0026]    In this computer system, while the host and the SBC generally interact as a TCP/IP network, file operations interface at the module, along a physical layer, without the processor and memory overhead that is typical of TCP/IP networks. The SBC basic input/output system (“BIOS”) redirects file operations from its onboard disk adapter, directs them to the SBC drive and tags such operations as “special file operations.” The host driver interprets this tag as a file operation. The data is then either written to or read from a “virtual file partition” on the hard drive that is organized by track and sector, just as a physical file is. The hard drive in its entirety is embedded in one large virtual file partition, which appears to the host operating system as a single large file. The virtual file partition works with all variety of files, including data files, application files and the boot record, such that the virtual partition is a complete substitute for an actual, physical file storage device.  
           [0027]    The virtual partitioned files usually appear as large, but otherwise ordinary data files to the host computer into the hard drive of which they are installed. For disk creation and file maintenance, these files can also be mounted as files to the host system. The SBC and the host computer can maintain an exact association between each SBC and its appropriate virtual partition file due to private and dedicated modular path between each SBC and the host. Multiple virtual partitioned files may be stored on the host computer&#39;s hard drive or disk subsystem.  
           [0028]    The reduction of these components saves space and increases network speed by cutting down the number of software processes and eliminating hub processes. Plus, because the nodes&#39; processing power is centrally located in the SBC, the actual nodes themselves may be inexpensive “dumb” terminals, essentially monitors, keyboards and de minimus CPUs. The high network speed enables high bandwidth operations, such as motion video, high resolution graphics, animation and time dependent responsiveness common in games between the “thin client” SBC cards and the host, operating as an application processor. The result is a thin client that can more closely emulate a PC when operating software applications that define these operations.  
           [0029]    Each SBC in the computer system is capable of swapping operating systems with another SBC substantially instantly when followed by a reset, restart or shutdown simply by changing the pointers in the management utility that defines the association between virtual disk image and a given SBC. For example, should one SBC fail, a second SBC can be directed, either manually or automatically, to access the “image” of the operating system and/or applications that was being used by the first SBC. This image is stored in the virtual partition file that was associated with the first SBC. The second SBC is reassociated from its virtual partition file to that of the first SBC. The second SBC then functions as the first SBC. This process can be repeated as necessary, whether associating a “spare” SBC or virtual disk image that was previously not in use or reassociating another SBC that was in use for a lower priority function.  
           [0030]    Virtual Disk Management  
           [0031]    A further function of this computer system is virtual disk management. All of the virtual files in use by the host computer and the individual SBCs are on the host&#39;s disk system and are under the direct control of the host&#39;s processor. Virtual disk management is a utility that allows a user to control the creation, replication, assignment, destruction and other management of the virtual partition files. The utility allows an entire operating system, including Windows, Linux and Unix systems, to be installed into a virtual partition file. The utility allows SBCs only to access these operating systems. Further, the utility allows only an SBC to access an operating system, as contained within a virtual partitioned file, with which it has been specifically associated. This provides a user or network administrator control over the use of licensed software and helps prevent unauthorized use of such software.  
           [0032]    The virtual disk management utility typically employs a graphical user interface (“GUI”) for user input/output. The GUI is comprised of enumerators with pull down menu windows to facilitate user control of the computer system. Each SBC in the computer system is depicted as an icon and is listed either by its MAC address or by any other convenient identifier that the user may designate. The virtual partition file images that are in the computer system are also depicted as icons. Alternatively, the utility can respond to command strings through a text oriented command port or a web based interface.  
           [0033]    The menus control the actions of the SBCs and the host computer-based file storage devices, such as the hard drive. In regard to the SBC, the menus allow the user to control the virtual partition file image available to a specific SBC from the host drive and allow the user to reset, reboot or shutdown each SBC, individually or as a group. In regard to the host computer, the menus allow the user to copy an image or create one from an existing image imported to the system from an external source. This feature allows one image to be the seed for many images (operating systems/applications/program groupings) thereby radically reducing the deployment time in large configurations. The menus also allow for the deployment of a new configuration entirely within the computer system, without the need for removal and ghosting of actual drives. Such a utility would typically communicate to the host operating system via an Application Programming Interface (API).  
           [0034]    The virtual disk management utility also permits the deletion of a virtual partition icon or the assignment of one or more virtual partition icons to a selected SBC, as a more typical C: drive or D: drive, etc. identifier. The utility also permits the same file or image to be assigned to multiple SBC, so long as it is labeled read-only and thereby not alterable by the variety of SBC users.  
           [0035]    It is possible to have more virtual partition file images created than SBCs in a given computer system of the present invention. Extra images may be pre-configured operating system environments with defined application configurations, which may be alternately loaded into the SBCs. Extra images may also be hot-standby replacements for software environments that become corrupted. Or extra images may be “golden” images from which new standby and active image are created. The ability to pre-configure complex operating system and application scenarios reduces both the setup time and the user requirement for in-depth knowledge of the desired application. The virtual disk management utility can also respond to scripts through the command port that permit macro functions for automatic swap-on-the-fly of images, such as “discard and replace image with backup image and create backup image from golden master image.” Any one or more of the SBCs or host may serve to distribute the images at various points in operation of the system to other SBCs. 
       
    
    
     BREIF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0036]    [0036]FIG. 1 is an overview diagram showing the computer system of the present invention.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the interface between the host computer and the individual computers of the present invention;  
         [0038]    [0038]FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the communication module and PCI bus of the present invention;  
         [0039]    [0039]FIG. 4 is a diagram of the graphical user interface of the virtual disk management utility of the present invention;  
         [0040]    [0040]FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart showing a method using the virtual disk management utility of the present invention;  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart showing an alternate method of using the virtual disk management utility of the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0042]    In the exemplary embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 1, the host computer  100  is a typical personal computer, having a hard disk drive  110  and a PCI bus  120 . Single board computers (“SBCs”)  200 ,  300 ,  400  are identical in physical dimension and resemble typical PCI bus-compatible computer peripherals, such as network interface cards, internal modems, sound cards and video cards. The resemblance is such that SBCs  200 ,  300 ,  400  are physically and communicatively PCI bus-compatible.  
         [0043]    As shown in FIG. 2, SBC  200  physically and communicatively connects with host computer  100  via a communication module  250  on SBC  200  and PCI bus  120  on host computer  100 . PCI bus  120  is communicatively connected to the other components of host computer  100 . SBCs  300  and  400  plug into further open slots along PCI bus  120 , in a manner identical to that of SBC  200 . SBC  300  connects with PCI bus  120  via module  350 . SBC  400  connects with PCI bus  120  via module  450 .  
         [0044]    As shown in FIG. 3, module  250  of SBC  200  is comprised of two Gigabit Ethernet adapters,  260  and  270 , and a wide silicon media  265 , together in an IC chip configuration. Adapter  260  is an SBC-side adapter and facilitates SBC  200  communication with host computer  100 . Adapter  270  is a host-side adapter and facilitates host computer  100  communication with SBC  200 . Silicon media  265  provides a physical connection between adapters  260  and  270 , which is the path followed by the communication between the two adapters. When SBC  200  is plugged into PCI bus  120 , adapter  270  is the portion of it that is in physical and communicative contact with PCI bus  120 . Thus, unlike in a typical network configuration, host computer  100  does not require its own onboard network adapter to facilitate communication with other computers on the network. SBCs  300  and  400  are similarly configured to communicate with host computer  100  in the same manner as SBC  200  does. Modules  350  and  450  are identical to module  250 .  
         [0045]    Hard drive  110  may be a typical personal computer storage device or other storage media, such as a Storage Area Network. Its storage space is virtually partitioned, that is there are no physical partitions, into five portions,  111 ,  112 ,  113 ,  114  and  115  as shown in FIG. 1. Portion  112  is assigned to SBC  200 , portion  113  is assigned to SBC  300  and portion  114  is assigned to SBC  400 . The remainder of the storage space on hard drive  110  is not assigned to any of the SBCs and can be made available to the host system. Each SBC may only access that portion which is assigned to it. Each portion may contain all variety of files, including data files, application files and boot record. The host computer may view the entire contents hard drive  110 . Typically, it can only view the contents of each portion assigned to an SBC as a single, virtual partitioned file, not as the collection of individual files available to the SBC to which the portion is assigned. An exception to this usual mode of operation is when an authorized administrator can mount the file to the host system for initial creation and maintenance of virtual disk images. Host computer  100  can freely access unassigned portion  111  of the storage space, for all computing purposes. Other portions of hard drive  110  may be partitioned and filled with files, such as secondary operating systems or applications. An example of this is partitioned portion  115 . It is initially not assigned to any SBC but may be assigned either manually by a user or automatically as a contingency upon the realization of some action. This function is discussed further, infra.  
         [0046]    As shown in FIGS. 4 a  and  4   b , the computer system is controlled by a virtual disk management software utility, VDM utility  500 . VDM utility  500  contains an Application Programming Interface to the operating system, a GUI user interface, a command line interface for responding to command scripts and a monitoring service to detect the status and state of the SBC(s). VDM typically employs a GUI  510  for user input/output. GUI  510  is comprised of two pull-down window enumerators  515  and  525 . Each SBC in the computer system is depicted as an icon. Referring to FIGS. 1, 4 a  and  4   b , SBC  200  is depicted by icon  1200 , SBC  300  is depicted by icon  1300 , and SBC  400  is depicted by icon  1400 . Each icon is listed either by the MAC address of its associated SBC, or by any other convenient identifier that the user may designate. The virtual partition file images that are in the computer system are also depicted as icons. Each image may be the entire contents of a virtual disk, including the operating system and applications software, as well as any other data.  
         [0047]    Portion  111  is depicted as icon  1111 , portion  112  is depicted by icon  1112 , portion  113  is depicted by icon  1113 , and portion  114  is depicted as icon  1114 . The entire hard drive  110  is depicted by icon  1110 . Each of these portions operates as its own virtual disk with its own image, and, as explained herein, can be hot swapped onto other SBCs when needed. Alternatively, these virtual disk devices could be created by VDM as virtual floppy drives, virtual CD-ROM devices and so on (e.g., floppy icon  1115 ). A virtual floppy disk may be implemented to emulate a removable disk device for the installation process when creating virtual disk images from standard software installation processes. The virtual disk devices can be mounted to the host system for initial creation and maintenance of virtual disk images, but the virtual disk devices are typically assigned to the SBC&#39;s as file resources. For system security, only an authorized system administrator typically invokes this function.  
         [0048]    Pull down menu  515  controls the actions of SBC  200 ,  300  and  400 . By clicking on the representative icons in menu  515 , the user can control the assignment of virtual partition file images available to each SBC  200 ,  300  and  400  from hard drive  110 . Menu  515  also allows the user to reset, reboot or shutdown each SBC  200 ,  300  and  400 , individually, selected SBCs, or as a group. Pull down menu  525  controls the actions of hard drive  110 . Menu  525  allows the user to copy an image or create one from an existing image imported to the computer system from an external source. Menus  515  and  525  also allow the user to program VDM utility  500  to perform reassignment of images via a scripted macro function. The Command Line interface permits this to be automated subordinate to a higher-level system control utility. The scripts may act as a function of time, upon the completion of an activity by the system, started as a result of the VDM monitoring service, or as a contingency for a catastrophic failure within the computer system.  
         [0049]    One contingency for which a script can be implemented is the corruption of a software environment being run by an SBC. A script may be implemented VDM utility  500  wherein a golden image of a corrupted environment&#39;s operating system and programs replace the corrupted image. This is illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 5. Host computer  100  is booted up. SBC  200  is either booted up simultaneously with host computer  100  or alternatively installed into host computer  100 , via PCI bus  120 , as shown in FIG. 3. As SBC  200  is booted/installed, it loads driver software into itself and host computer  100  loads its driver software effectively at the same time, to facilitate network communication with host computer  100 . Hard drive  110  is virtually partitioned into portions  111 ,  112  and  115 . Portion  112  is assigned to SBC  200  and contains an image comprised of a specific operating system, set of programs and data files. The image of portion  112  is altered over time as it is accessed and used by SBC  200 . Portion  115  contains the same image that portion  112  initially contains. However, portion  115  is not assigned to any SBC nor is it available to host computer  100 . This image, which remains unaltered in portion  115 , is the golden master image. Portion  111  is not assigned to any SBC but is available to host computer  100  for general functions. It should be noted that this feature to have both adapters in the same chip, which when made to respond to an automated installation process yields matched pairs of drivers that know how to intepret specialized protocols, can also be used to eliminate much of the protocol stack executed by software in both host and card, yielding a dramatic reduction in software latency and improvement in performance. Similar results can be achieved by locating the adapters on multiple chips on the same board.  
         [0050]    Over time, the image of portion  112  may become corrupted due to a variety of circumstances, including a read/write error on the portion of hard drive  110  that carries portion  112 , a computational/processing error or a virus. If the corruption is severe enough, SBC  200  can no longer perform its assigned function. Should SBC  200  fail due to a severe level of corruption of the image portion  112 , VDM utility  500  will automatically perform a swap-on-the-fly of the images of portion  112  and  115 . The image of portion  115  is an uncorrupted golden image of portion  112 . VDM utility  500  will discard the corrupted image of portion  112  and create a new golden image in portion  112  by copying the image of portion  115 . SBC  200  will then continue operation using the new golden image of portion  112  and the golden master image of portion  115  will remain available in its unaltered state for future corrective use. VDM utility  500  can also be manually instructed to make such a replacement if the user desires to return the initial, unaltered parameters of the image with which he/she was operating SBC  200 , regardless of whether the image of portion  112  has become corrupted.  
         [0051]    Another contingency for which a script can be implemented is the failure of an SBC performing a high priority function. A script may be implemented in VDM utility  500  wherein the operating system and programs of a failed higher priority function are swapped on-the-fly onto an SBC performing a lower priority function. This is illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 6. Host computer  100  is booted up. SBCs  200  and  300  are either booted up simultaneously with host computer  100  or alternatively installed into host computer  100 , via PCI bus  120 , as shown in FIG. 3. As SBCs  200  and  300  are booted/installed, each one loads driver software into itself and host computer  100 , to facilitate network communication with host computer  100 . Hard drive  110  is virtually partitioned into portions  111 ,  112  and  113 . Portion  112  is assigned to SBC  200 . SBC  200  accesses portion  112 , via network communication with host computer  100 , and loads the operating system and other programs contained in the virtual program file in portion  112 .  
         [0052]    For purposes of this embodiment of the invention, this virtual program file is designated as the highest priority in this computer system. Portion  113  is assigned to SBC  300 . Portion  111  is not assigned to any SBC but is available to host computer  100  for general functions. SBC  300  accesses portion  113 , also via network communication with host computer  100 , and loads the operating system and other programs contained the virtual file program in portion  113 . Both SBC  200  and  300  then run their respective operating systems and programs. Should SBC  200  fail for some reason, VDM utility  500  (not illustrated in FIG. 6) will automatically reassign the higher priority virtual file in portion  112  to SBC  300 . SBC  300  will then swap from its current operating system and programs in the virtual file of portion  113  to the operating system and programs in the virtual file of portion  112 . SBC  300  will then run this higher priority operating system and programs until such time as it is reassigned to perform another task, thus insuring that higher priority tasks are executed even though the SBC assigned to those tasks has failed.  
         [0053]    Because all of the images that might be needed for all of the SBCs are stored within the same system, and all can be communicated and rapidly loaded via the local computer bus, each SBC is flexible and may take on a personality that is configurable, depending upon which of plural images are loaded into it. The images may be distributed to the SBCs by one predetermined SBC, by the host, in accordance with macros or GUI interfaces, or based upon any other desired and/or programmable criteria. The image may cause the SBC to operate as a client, a server, a data server, a webserver, load balancer, firewall, or any other type of device. Additionally, by restricting the particular images that may be loaded onto particular SBCs, licensing policies may be enforced or implemented. The physical media that stores the plural virtual drives may be any storage media or combination thereof, rather than simply a fixed drive.