Data center management of multimode servers

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9694281-B2
Application number	US-201414318867-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 30, 2014
Priority date	Jun 30, 2014
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

Aspects of the present invention relate to a multimode gaming server that can run in game mode and video encode mode. Aspects of the invention can monitor demand for different computing projects in a data center and change the gaming servers into different modes to meet the demand. The arrangement of gaming servers in the different modes can be established to balance heat generation evenly throughout a data center.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. One or more computer-storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing device having a processor, cause the computing device to manage multimode gaming servers within a data center, the instruction causing the computing device to:
set more than 50% of a plurality of multimode gaming servers in a game mode, each multimode gaming server having a central processing unit (“CPU”), a graphics processing unit (“GPU”), and a video encoder;
monitor demand for gaming in a data center unit comprising the plurality of multimode gaming servers;
determine, at the computing device, when demand for gaming falls below a threshold by analyzing a rate of requests for new game sessions;
upon said determining, transition a subset of the plurality of multimode gaming servers from the game mode to a video render mode; and
assign a video render job to a multimode game server in the subset of the plurality of multimode gaming servers.

2. The media of claim 1 , wherein the video render job is a game snippet.

3. The media of claim 2 , wherein the game snippet is rendered by executing game code on the multimode gaming server to regenerate a video image of recorded game action and then encoding the video image.

4. The media of claim 2 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to receive the video render job from a video game console located apart from the data center where the subset of the plurality of multimode gaming servers is located.

5. The media of claim 2 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to receive the video render job from a multimode gaming server running in the game mode.

6. The media of claim 1 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to select individual servers within the subset of the plurality of multimode gaming servers to generate an even distribution of multimode gaming servers in the game mode and the video encode mode within the data center unit.

7. The media of claim 1 , wherein a group of multimode gaming servers within the data center unit are cooled by a row of fans on a fan wall.

8. A method for managing workloads within a data center, the method comprising:
during a first time period, setting substantially all of a plurality of multimode gaming servers in the data center to a game mode, each multimode gaming server having a central processing unit (“CPU”), a graphics processing unit (“GPU”), and a video encoder;
determining when demand for gaming falls below a threshold by analyzing a rate of requests for new game sessions; and
upon said determining, during a second time period, setting at least 50% of the plurality of multimode gaming servers to a video encode mode,
the second time period not substantially overlapping with the first time period.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving a video encode project during the first time period and storing the video encode project for encoding during the first time period.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the video encode project is a game snippet to be encoded in a higher resolution than a resolution rendered during gameplay.

11. The method of claim 8 ,
wherein the determining comprises analyzing an amount of requests for new game sessions received to determine when a rate of requests per period of time falls below a threshold determined using historical gameplay data.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the method further comprises selecting the at least 50% of the plurality of multimode gaming servers to generate an even distribution of multimode gaming server in the game mode and the video encode mode within a data center unit.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the data center unit is a data center rack.

14. The method of claim 8 , further comprising communicating a rendered video game image over a wide area network to a remotely located device, the rendered video game image generated by a multimode gaming server operating in the game mode.

15. A data center comprising:
a plurality of multimode gaming servers comprising a central processing unit (“CPU”), a graphics processing unit (“GPU”), and a video encoder; and
a control fabric that manages a demand for remote gaming by:
determining when demand for remote gaming falls below a threshold by analyzing a rate of requests for new game sessions; and
upon said determining, transitioning a subset of the plurality of multimode gaming servers from a game mode to a video encode mode, an individual gaming server generating less heat when in the video encode mode than when in the game mode, and when in the game mode the individual gaming server executing code for a game to generate a rendered video game image that is communicated from the data center to a remote computing device.

16. The data center of claim 15 , wherein the demand for the gaming severs peaks between 3:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. at a data center's location.

17. The data center of claim 15 , wherein the data center further comprises a video encode job manager that receives a video encode job and assigns the video encode job to a multimode gaming server after the multimode gaming server has been placed into video render mode.

18. The data center of claim 15 , wherein the GPU uses between 40% and 60% of a total electricity consumed by the individual gaming server when in the game mode.

19. The data center of claim 15 , wherein the GPU uses between 70% and 90% of a total electricity consumed by the individual gaming server when in the video encode mode.

20. The data center of claim 15 , wherein the multimode gaming server comprises a CPU that is also used in a commercially available game console and a GPU that is also used in the commercially available game console, thereby enabling the gaming sever to execute video game code written for the commercially available game console.

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Garden Euan Peter

Classifications

• A63F2300/534

  for network load management, e.g. bandwidth optimization, latency reduction · CPC title

• A63F13/355 Primary

  Performing operations on behalf of clients with restricted processing capabilities, e.g. servers transform changing game scene into an encoded video stream for transmitting to a mobile phone or a thin client · CPC title

• H04N21/4781

  Games · CPC title

• H04N21/2405

  Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the server, e.g. server load (allocation of resources in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/50; performance measurement of computer activity G06F11/34) · CPC title

• H04N21/2408

  Monitoring of the upstream path of the transmission network, e.g. client requests (monitoring data switching networks utilization H04L43/0876; scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60) · CPC title