Patent Application
20080301505
The present invention relates to a method and associated system for monitoring computer performance.
Monitoring various internal systems within an electrical device typically comprises a complicated and inefficient process with little flexibility. The electrical device may be prone to failure due to the various internal systems functioning outside of a normal operating range. Accordingly, there exists a need in the art to overcome at least some of the deficiencies and limitations described herein above.
The present invention provides a monitoring method comprising:
receiving, by a software application within a computing system, first data comprising a first data point associated with a first operating parameter for a first characteristic associated with said computing system;
converting, by said software application, said first data point into a first mathematical value;
associating, by said software application, said first mathematical value with a first scaled value;
associating, by said software application, said first scaled value with a first timbre and a first harmonic interval;
generating, by said software application, a first musical note value from said first scaled value, said first musical note value comprising said first timbre and said first harmonic interval;
transmitting, by said software application to an amplifier device within said computing system, said first musical note value;
generating, by said amplifier device, a first audible musical note from said first musical note value; and
presenting, by said computing system, said first audible musical note to a user of said computing system, said first musical note comprising said first timbre and said first harmonic interval.
The present invention provides a computing system comprising a processor coupled to a computer-readable memory unit, said memory unit comprising a software application and instructions that when executed by the processor implement a monitoring method, said method comprising:
receiving, by said software application, first data comprising a first data point associated with a first operating parameter for a first characteristic associated with said computing system;
converting, by said software application, said first data point into a first mathematical value;
associating, by said software application, said first mathematical value with a first scaled value;
associating, by said software application, said first scaled value with a first timbre and a first harmonic interval;
generating, by said software application, a first musical note value from said first scaled value, said first musical note value comprising said first timbre and said first harmonic interval;
transmitting, by said software application to an amplifier device within said computing system, said first musical note value;
generating, by said amplifier device, a first audible musical note from said first musical note value; and
presenting, by said computing system, said first audible musical note to a user of said computing system, said first musical note comprising said first timbre and said first harmonic interval.
The present invention provides a process for supporting computer infrastructure, said process comprising providing at least one support service for at least one of creating, integrating, hosting, maintaining, and deploying computer-readable code in a computing system, wherein the code in combination with the computing system is capable of performing a monitoring method, said method comprising:
receiving, by a software application within said computing system, first data comprising a first data point associated with a first operating parameter for a first characteristic associated with said computing system;
converting, by said software application, said first data point into a first mathematical value;
associating, by said software application, said first mathematical value with a first scaled value;
associating, by said software application, said first scaled value with a first timbre and a first harmonic interval;
generating, by said software application, a first musical note value from said first scaled value, said first musical note value comprising said first timbre and said first harmonic interval;
transmitting, by said software application to an amplifier device within said computing system, said first musical note value;
generating, by said amplifier device, a first audible musical note from said first musical note value; and
presenting, by said computing system, said first audible musical note to a user of said computing system, said first musical note comprising said first timbre and said first harmonic interval.
The present invention provides a computer program product, comprising a computer usable medium comprising data and a computer readable program code embodied therein, said computer readable program code adapted to implement a monitoring method within a computing system, said method comprising:
receiving, by a software application within said computing system, first data comprising a first data point associated with a first operating parameter for a first characteristic associated with said computing system;
converting, by said software application, said first data point into a first mathematical value;
associating, by said software application, said first mathematical value with a first scaled value;
associating, by said software application, said first scaled value with a first timbre and a first harmonic interval;
generating, by said software application, a first musical note value from said first scaled value, said first musical note value comprising said first timbre and said first harmonic interval;
transmitting, by said software application to an amplifier device within said computing system, said first musical note value;
generating, by said amplifier device, a first audible musical note from said first musical note value; and
presenting, by said computing system, said first audible musical note to a user of said computing system, said first musical note comprising said first timbre and said first harmonic interval.
The present invention advantageously provides a method and associated system capable of monitoring various internal systems within an electrical device.
System 2 comprises a computing system 4 (e.g., a personal computer) connected to a network 10. Network 10 may comprise any type of network known to a person of ordinary skill in the art including, inter alia, a local area network, (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), the Internet, etc. Computing system 4 comprises an input/output (I/O) interface 8, a CPU 9, a memory device 14, RAM 19, and an audio buffer/amplifier 17. The I/O interface 8 may comprise, inter alia, a keyboard, a video monitor, a speaker, etc. Memory device 14 may comprise a hard disc drive, a CD ROM drive, etc. Memory device 14 comprises a software application 16 and input data 11. Input data 11 may comprise any data required to associate operating parameters for the performance characteristics for computing system 5 with audible sounds.
Software application 16 may include a software synthesizer (e.g., a midi synthesizer) for generating the audible sounds. Software application 16 is configured to generate the audible sounds associated with the performance characteristics for computing system 5. Software application 16 uses tone, timbre and harmony to present easily discernable information about the operation of a complex mix of data points associated with the operating parameters for characteristics associated with computing system 5. Note that software application 16 may be used to monitor any system with multiple data points collected to relay information to a user about the overall status of the system. Software application 16 first acquires information (i.e., data points) about the various operating parameters for characteristics of computing system 5. For example, network 10 utilization percentage, CPU 9 percent usage, RAM 19 utilization percentage, and disk utilization percentage, etc. is gathered. This information is mathematically transformed into a value between a minimum of 0 and maximum of 100. This 0-100 value is then modified into a single level on a 12-note interval and played through a software synthesizer. For example, a value between 0 and 8 on the 0-100 scale will be transformed to a note velocity of 12 and played by the synthesizer. The note velocity of 12 is a standard midi synthesizer description of a note corresponding roughly to a low C on a piano keyboard. For each data value (i.e., associated with the operating parameters for characteristics associated with computing system 5) acquired:
1. The 0-100 scaling process is performed.
2. The 12 note interval scaling process is performed
3. A timbre selection (i.e., musical instrument voice) process is performed.
4. A harmonic interval selection process is performed.
5. The associated musical note is synthesized and played for a user through a speaker system (i.e., I/O interface 8).
The harmonic interval is a simple 1 octave progression in the above described invention, but may comprise any combination designed to relay information. For example, software application 16 may switch to a minor key when an error is detected or one of the usage data points is at 100 (full utilization).
Software application 16 uses tone, timbre, and harmony to relay information to a user about the overall status of computing system 5. For example, if software application 16 monitors CPU 9 percent usage, every value on the CPU 9 percent usage scale is processed and a synthesized note is generated (i.e., for every value) with the appropriate characteristics to represent the monitored component's (e.g., the CPU 9) status. If CPU 9 percent usage is at 75%, a piano note that is 8 levels above middle C (i.e., 261.2 hz) will be generated. Software application 16 will assign one timbre (e.g., a piano) to a data acquisition point (i.e., one data point representing usage) and modulate a pitch through note synthesis based on the value of the collected data point. For example, as the CPU 9 percent usage increases, a frequency of the note will increase thereby providing an easily recognizable interface to the status change of the computing device. As an example, software application 16 may use the following conditions listed in table 1 to monitor various operating parameters:
As illustrated in table 1, a user is only required to know the representative meanings of four different classes of sounds. The various notes played according the data acquisition channels will increase or decrease in frequency and the user will be able monitor the associated expenditure of each resource based on the synthesized note's frequency. An additional channel of information may be introduced by altering an interval between the synthesized notes based on secondary data characteristics. If the RAM usage component is 50%, but there have been memory errors detected, software application 16 may synthesize a note of “middle C”+3 levels up, to produce a harmonic dissonance with its neighboring notes synthesized for CPU, network, and disk utilization percentage. The above description illustrates how modifying the pitch of synthesized note produces an easily recognizable change in informational content.
As a first example, if the CPU percent usage data is viewed individually in graph 32, the usage values range from approximately 55 to 67 to 50. These data points are acquired from a performance monitoring system of computing system 5. For example, CPU percent usage information may be printed out once per second. The CPU information may be printed out directly as a value between 0 and 100, where 100 describes a maximum utilization for the CPU. Software application then takes the 0-100 value and divides the value by 12 to produce a value that will fall into one of eight zones. These eight zones correspond to notes on a scale and are sent to audio buffer/amplifier 17.
For example, the first value of 55 is divided by 12 to produce a whole integer value of 5 (i.e., 4.583 rounded up). This value is then multiplied by 12 to ensure it falls into one of the 8 zones for note generation. This process effectively changes a value on a 0-100 scale into one of 8 values, 0 12 24 36 48 60 72 84 96. These values are then passed to a software synthesizer within software application 16 to generate musically recognizable notes based on the values passed in. For the first data point, the value is 55/12=5, which is then multiplied by 12 resulting in a value of 60; The value of 60 is then passed to the software synthesizer in order to generate the appropriate musical note. For the next data point value (i.e., 67), the 67 value is transformed into 67/12=6 which is then multiplied by 12 to comprise a 72 zone value. This 72 is then passed to the software synthesizer which plays a note one octave higher than the 60 zone note played 1 second earlier.
As a second example, if the disk usage data is viewed individually in graph 32, the first usage value of 25 will be transformed into 25/12=2 (rounded down). This value is then multiplied by 12 in order to fit into one of the eight zones, making the note to be generated a 24. Software synthesizers (e.g., midi synthesizer) will use this 24 value as a specified note velocity (roughly equivalent to a position on a scale) when playing the specified note. A second usage value of 40 will be transformed into 40/12=3 (rounded down), and then multiplied by 12 in order to fit into the 36 zone.
For a combined CPU/disk usage example, the notes will be gradually higher for both the CPU percent usage and disk utilization percentage over the first two seconds of monitored data. This increase in note value will indicate to the user that percent usage of the CPU percent usage and utilization percentage of the disk subsystems have increased and the precise note values will indicate to the user how much of the resource has been utilized.
For example, if computing system 5 is in a base state (e.g., viewing desktop icons with no software applications running), the system 2 will emit 4 distinct low tones that indicate the various component resource utilizations of computing system 5. When the user starts a program (e.g., a word processor program), the disk and CPU usage data points will increase, and a subsequent pitch of notes played will increase to indicate to the user that those components are being utilized. After the program loads and is no longer consuming system resources, the pitch of the notes will decrease to indicate less of a load on computing system 5 to the user.
Still yet, any of the components of the present invention could be deployed, managed, serviced, etc. by a service provider who offers to allow a user monitor operating parameters for characteristics for a computing apparatus/system using audible sounds. Thus the present invention discloses a process for deploying or integrating computing infrastructure, comprising integrating computer-readable code into the computer system 90, wherein the code in combination with the computer system 90 is capable of performing a method for monitoring operating parameters for characteristics for a computing apparatus/system using audible sounds. In another embodiment, the invention provides a business method that performs the process steps of the invention on a subscription, advertising, and/or fee basis. That is, a service provider, such as a Solution Integrator, could offer to allow a user to monitor operating parameters for characteristics for a computing apparatus/system using audible sounds. In this case, the service provider can create, maintain, support, etc. a computer infrastructure that performs the process steps of the invention for one or more customers. In return, the service provider can receive payment from the customer(s) under a subscription and/or fee agreement and/or the service provider can receive payment from the sale of advertising content to one or more third parties.
While
While embodiments of the present invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, many modifications and changes will become apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the appended claims are intended to encompass all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.
