Transparent checkpointing and live process migration for
This technology provides a way for large computing clusters to save their work-in-progress automatically and move running tasks between machines without interrupting the software or requiring any changes to the operating system. It works by quietly intercepting and logging the messages that different parts of a distributed program send to each other, using a windowed protocol to capture memory snapshots efficiently in the background while computation continues. If a machine fails or needs maintenance, the saved checkpoint allows the workload to resume from a recent state on another node, and hardware addresses are remapped so the migrated process doesn't know it moved. The entire system operates at the user level, meaning it requires no kernel modifications and can be layered onto existing infrastructure.
What you could build
A middleware library or software agent for HPC and cloud infrastructure operators that adds fault-tolerant checkpointing and live process migration to existing clusters without requiring OS modifications; buyers would be cloud providers, HPC data center operators, and enterprises running long-duration scientific or AI training workloads.
Who in Virginia should care
Northern Virginia cloud and data center operators (AWS, Microsoft, Google, and their colo tenants) and defense contractors running HPC workloads at facilities like DARPA, NRO, or DoD computing centers would have direct interest.
Readiness: Lab validated
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- Srinidhi Varadarajan, Joseph Ruscio
- Granted
- July 7, 2020
- Status
- Granted patent
- Patent number
- 10705741
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.