System and method for high speed and efficient virtual desktop insfrastructure using photonics

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9479265-B2
Application number	US-201514623303-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 16, 2015
Priority date	Feb 16, 2015
Publication date	Oct 25, 2016
Grant date	Oct 25, 2016

Abstract

A system includes a virtual desktop server having a first processor and a photonics module. The photonics module includes a photonics interface connected to the first processor and connected to a photonics device via an optical channel, and a photonics controller having a second processor and a memory storing computer executable code. The code, when executed at the second processor, is configured to: control the photonics interface to receive first electronic signals from the first processor; convert the received first electronic signals to first optical signals; control the photonics interface to transmit the first optical signals to the photonics device via the optical channel; control the photonics interface to receive second optical signals from the photonics device via the optical channel; convert the received second optical signals to second electronic signals; and control the photonics interface to transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a virtual desktop server, comprising:
a first processor; and
a photonics module, comprising:
a photonics interface, configured to be electronically connected to the first processor, and to be connected to at least one photonics device via an optical channel; and
a photonics controller comprising a second processor and a non-volatile memory storing first computer executable code,

wherein the first computer executable code, when executed at the second processor, is configured to:
control the photonics interface to receive first electronic signals from the first processor;
convert the received first electronic signals to first optical signals;
control the photonics interface to transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel;
control the photonics interface to receive second optical signals from the at least one photonics device via the optical channel;
convert the received second optical signals to second electronic signals; and
control the photonics interface to transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first computer executable code comprises:
a processing module configured to convert the received first electronic signals to the first optical signals and convert the received second optical signals to the second electronic signals; and
a transceiver module configured to control the photonics interface to receive the first electronic signals from the first processor, to receive the second optical signals from the at least one photonics device via the optical channel, to transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel, and to transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the photonics module is a chip having the photonics interface and the photonics controller integrated therein.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the photonics interface is electronically connected to the first processor through a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) bus.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the optical channel comprises at least one photonics channel, and the photonics interface is electronically connected to the at least one photonics channel through a photonics bus.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the photonics interface comprises:
a first input/output (I/O) port electronically connected with the first processor;
a second I/O port connected with the at least one photonics device;
a first transceiver connected with the first I/O port, configured to receive the first electronic signals from and transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor via the first I/O port;
a second transceiver connected with the second I/O port, configured to receive the second optical signals from and transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel; and
a signal converter connected between the first transceiver and the second transceiver, configured to convert the first electronic signals received from the first transceiver to the first optical signals and convert the second optical signals received from the second transceiver to the second electronic signals.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the virtual desktop server further comprises a chassis, the first processor and the photonics module are physically disposed in the chassis, and the at least one photonics device is physically disposed outside the chassis.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one photonics device comprises a server of the system.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the virtual desktop server further comprises a memory and a storage storing second computer executable code, and the second computer executable code, when executed at the first processor, is configured to:
allocate a portion of the storage to create a data store for preserving data from a plurality of virtual machines (VMs); and
allocate a portion of the memory to create a random access memory (RAM) disk for hosting the plurality of VMs and writing through the data from the plurality of VMs to the data store.

10. The system of claim 7 , wherein the at least one photonics device comprises at least one of a non-volatile memory, a volatile memory, a storage device, and a graphic processor unit of the virtual desktop server.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the storage of the virtual desktop server further stores a hypervisor and a persistent copy of the plurality of VMs, wherein the virtual desktop server is configured to:
execute the hypervisor;
copy the VMs from the persistent copy to the RAM disk; and
execute the VMs at the RAM disk on the executed hypervisor,
wherein each of the executed VMs is configured to provide one or more virtual desktops accessible for a plurality of computing devices functioning as a plurality of thin clients.

12. A method for providing a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) system using photonics, comprising:
controlling, by a photonics controller of a virtual desktop server, a photonics interface of the virtual desktop server to receive first electronic signals from a first processor of the virtual desktop server, wherein the photonics interface is configured to be electronically connected to the first processor and at least one photonics device via an optical channel;
converting, by the photonics controller, the received first electronic signals to first optical signals;
controlling, by the photonics controller, the photonics interface to transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel;
controlling, by the photonics controller, the photonics interface to receive second optical signals from the at least one photonics device via the optical channel;
converting, by the photonics controller, the received second optical signals to second electronic signals; and
controlling, by the photonics controller, the photonics interface to transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the virtual desktop server comprises a photonics module, and wherein the photonics module is a chip having the photonics interface and the photonics controller integrated therein.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the photonics interface is electronically connected to the first processor through a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) bus.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the optical channel is at least one photonics channel, and the photonics interface is electronically connected to the at least one photonics channel through a photonics bus.

16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the photonics interface comprises:
a first input/output (I/O) port electronically connected with the first processor;
a second I/O port connected with the at least one photonics device;
a first transceiver connected with the first I/O port, configured to receive the first electronic signals from and transmit the second electronic signals to the first processor via the first I/O port;
a second transceiver connected with the second I/O port, configured to receive the second optical signals from and transmit the first optical signals to the at least one photonics device via the optical channel; and
a signal converter connected between the first transceiver and the second transceiver, configured to convert the first electronic signals received from the first transceiver to the first optical signals and convert the second optical signals rece

Assignees

• American Megatrends Inc

Inventors

• Maity Sanjoy
• Ayanam Varadachari Sudan
• Inbaraj Joseprabu
• Christopher Samvinesh

Classifications

• G06F3/0665

  at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes · CPC title

• H04B10/80

  Optical aspects relating to the use of optical transmission for specific applications, not provided for in groups H04B10/03 - H04B10/70, e.g. optical power feeding or optical transmission through water · CPC title

• G06F3/0619

  in relation to data integrity, e.g. data losses, bit errors · CPC title

• H04B10/801 Primary

  using optical interconnects, e.g. light coupled isolators, circuit board interconnections · CPC title

• G06F3/0655

  Vertical data movement, i.e. input-output transfer; data movement between one or more hosts and one or more storage devices · CPC title