# How Cloud Systems Automatically Assign Virtual Machines to Servers > A method for cloud services to automatically choose the best server for a task by filtering out impossible options and then ranking the remaining ones. - **Patent:** US 9075661 - **Original title:** Placing objects on hosts using hard and soft constraints - **Owner:** Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC - **Granted:** 2015 - **Status:** Active - **Times cited:** 3 - **Field:** software, telecommunications, ai_ml ## What it does This patent describes an automated system for managing cloud infrastructure, such as assigning virtual machines or databases to physical servers. It uses a two-step filtering process: first, it applies 'hard constraints' to disqualify any server that cannot physically or logically handle the task (like a server that is already full or lacks the required hardware). Second, it applies 'soft constraints' to rank the remaining servers based on performance preferences, such as spreading out workloads to avoid bottlenecks. This ensures that redundant services are placed on different physical machines, preventing a single hardware failure from taking down an entire application. ## What it does NOT cover - Does not cover manual placement of objects by a human administrator. - Does not cover systems that rely solely on a single-step selection process without distinguishing between hard and soft constraints. - Does not cover the internal logic of how a virtual machine operates once it is placed on a host. - Does not cover hardware-level circuit switching or physical network cabling. ## The clever bit The innovation lies in the strict separation of 'hard' (binary pass/fail) and 'soft' (optimization-based) constraints, which allows the system to quickly prune the search space before performing more complex calculations on the remaining candidates. ## Real-world examples 1. Microsoft Azure resource scheduling 2. Automated virtual machine load balancing 3. Data center capacity management software ## Why it matters As cloud computing grew, manually deciding where to put thousands of virtual machines became impossible. This patent provides a structured, scalable way to manage large-scale data centers, which is essential for the reliability of modern cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. It helps ensure that services remain online even when individual physical servers fail. ## Frequently asked questions ### What does How Cloud Systems Automatically Assign Virtual Machines to Servers cover? A method for cloud services to automatically choose the best server for a task by filtering out impossible options and then ranking the remaining ones. ### Who owns patent US 9075661? Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC owns this patent, granted in 2015. ### When does this patent expire? This patent is expected to expire on July 7, 2035, when the invention enters the public domain. ### What is patent US 9075661 cited by? This patent has been cited by 3 later patents that build on its ideas. ### What problem does this patent solve? As cloud computing grew, manually deciding where to put thousands of virtual machines became impossible. This patent provides a structured, scalable way to manage large-scale data centers, which is essential for the reliability of modern cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure. It helps ensure that services remain online even when individual physical servers fail. ### What does this patent NOT cover? Does not cover manual placement of objects by a human administrator. **Full plain-English explainer:** https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9075661/hyper-v-virtualization **Original patent:** https://patents.google.com/patent/US9075661 --- _Source: PatentBrief — https://patentbrief.org. Patent facts are from public records; the plain-English explanation is PatentBrief's._ ## Related patents Semantically similar inventions in the PatentBrief corpus: - [How Cloud Services Automatically Switch Providers When One Fails](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10140638/airbnb-review-system) — A system that uses conversational AI to understand your reliability needs and automatically switches your cloud service to a backup provider if your current one goes down. - [How to Split Computer Tasks Between Different Types of Processors](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9477524/aws-cloudformation) — A system that uses a physical backplane to connect two different types of computer processors—one for general tasks and one for real-time tasks—to improve efficiency. - [How Computers Automatically Adjust Tasks to Run Faster in Data Centers](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/9405582/aws-elastic-beanstalk) — A method for cloud computers to monitor their own performance while processing massive data tasks and automatically changing their settings or resource levels to stay efficient. - [How Software Automatically Checks for Configuration Errors in Complex Systems](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10853731/core-ml-on-device-machine-learning) — A method for keeping large-scale computer systems consistent by automatically checking if new or removed parts break established configuration rules. - [How to Safely Shut Down Microservices Without Breaking Apps](https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/12217035/vision-pro-spatial-photos-videos) — A method for shutting down parts of a software system one by one by mapping active requests to specific services, ensuring no tasks are interrupted during updates.