Virtual Systems Management

Patent No. US12079667 (titled "Virtual Systems Management") was filed by Toutvirtual Inc on Apr 14, 2023.

’667 is related to the field of computer network systems, specifically the management of computer network virtualization environments. The background involves the increasing complexity of IT management, particularly in virtualized environments where resources are often underutilized. Traditional methods of resource planning at the individual physical resource level are becoming outdated, and managing virtual assets with conventional virtualization software tools is labor-intensive and often vendor-specific.

The underlying idea behind ’667 is to provide an automated system for managing virtual assets across a network, independent of the underlying hardware, operating systems, or virtualization platforms. This involves a Control Center application that actively manages the virtualization environment by automatically responding to operational situations, dynamically allocating virtual assets to physical resources based on demand, and optimizing resource utilization.

The claims of ’667 focus on a method and system for data storage across virtualized resources. Specifically, the independent claims cover a virtualization system with a control center application managing physical resources and virtual assets, including virtual storage assets. The control center selects virtual assets for data storage based on allocation and then causes the data to be stored on those selected assets.

In practice, the invention uses a Control Center application to manage virtual storage assets. When a request to store data arrives, the Control Center selects the appropriate virtual storage assets based on pre-defined rules and the current allocation of data. The Control Center then instructs the virtualization layer to store the data on the selected assets. This allows for dynamic allocation of storage resources based on demand and business policies.

This approach differs from prior solutions by providing a platform-independent management system. Instead of relying on vendor-specific tools, the Control Center can manage virtual assets regardless of the underlying CPU, operating system, or virtualization platform. This is achieved through a modular design and the use of a Control Agent that acts as a universal adapter between the Control Center and the virtualization layer of each host machine, enabling a more efficient and flexible management of virtualized resources.

How does this patent fit in bigger picture?

Technical landscape at the time

In the mid-2000s when ’667 was filed, IT management tasks were typically split into five key areas: Fault, Configuration, Accounting, Performance, and Security (FCAPS). At a time when IT capacity planning for day-to-day operations was typically carried out with a bottom-up data aggregation and with the use of forecasting methods such as trending, simulation, and custom analytics. When the number of managed elements grew, the correlation and aggregation of element level data also became compute-intensive.

Novelty and Inventive Step

The examiner approved the application because the prior art lacks any teaching or suggestion of the claimed virtualization system. Specifically, the claims recite a virtualization system with a control center application, physical resources, and virtual assets on each of the physical resources. The virtual assets are managed by virtualization layer instances running on each of the physical resources. At least two of the virtual assets on one or more of the physical resources include virtual storage. The system selects one or more of the virtual assets for storage of a set of data based on an allocation of data on the virtual storage to store the set of data at the selected virtual storage on any of the physical resources as detailed in the dependent claims. The examiner stated that the closest prior art does not teach or suggest a virtual system management in the way it is claimed in the present application.

Claims

This patent contains 20 claims, with independent claims numbered 1, 9, and 18. The independent claims are generally directed to methods and systems for data storage across virtualized resources. The dependent claims generally elaborate on and refine the elements and features of the independent claims.

Key Claim Terms New

Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.

Term (Source)	Support for Specification	Interpretation
Control center application (Claim 1, Claim 9, Claim 18)	“In one embodiment of the present invention the virtualization environment is managed through a Control Center application that provides an interface to virtualization environments in communication with the Control Center computer. The system, through the Control Center, provides active management of the virtualization environment by initiating automatic responses to operational situations that influence dynamic demands on the physical resources and virtual assets.”	An application that provides an interface to virtualization environments and manages virtual assets and physical resources.
Physical resources (Claim 1, Claim 9, Claim 18)	“In one embodiment, the Control Center can comprise a collection of functional elements characterized as an Asset Manager, a Provisioning Manager, a Dynamic Application Router, an Optimizer, a Performance Manager, and a Capacity Planning Manager. With these functional elements, the process of managing the virtual environment comprises a sequence of building an inventory of available physical resources and virtual assets, provisioning the assets for a desired network virtual configuration, optimizing the mix of physical resources and virtual assets, reporting on the system performance, and planning for future trends and forecasting for needed capacity.”	The physical hardware components of the virtualization system.
Virtual assets (Claim 1, Claim 9, Claim 18)	“In network systems, with virtualization, it is possible to deploy physical resources in the form of virtual assets. The assets can thereby provide the functional equivalent of desktops (user interfaces), operating systems, applications, servers, data bases, and the like.”	Software-based resources that provide the functional equivalent of hardware components.
Virtualization layer instances (Claim 1, Claim 9, Claim 18)	“In one embodiment of the present invention the virtualization environment is managed through a Control Center application that provides an interface to virtualization environments in communication with the Control Center computer. The system, through the Control Center, provides active management of the virtualization environment by initiating automatic responses to operational situations that influence dynamic demands on the physical resources and virtual assets.”	Instances running on each of the physical resources that manage the virtual assets.
Virtual storage assets (Claim 1, Claim 9)	“The assets can thereby provide the functional equivalent of desktops (user interfaces), operating systems, applications, servers, data bases, and the like.”	Virtual assets that are used for data storage.

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US12079667

TOUTVIRTUAL INC

Application Number: US18135007
Filing Date: Apr 14, 2023
Status: Granted
Expiry Date: Aug 10, 2026
External Links: Slate, USPTO, Google Patents

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