Patents by Inventor Michael R. Fortin

Michael R. Fortin has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20120227061
    Abstract: Application compatibility is facilitated by use of library operating systems. Library operating systems can encapsulate portions of an application likely to break application compatibility. An application can be bound to a compatible library operating system that operates over a host operating system. Furthermore, library operating system version can be greater than, equal, or less than the version of the host operating system. Consequently, both backward and forward compatibility is enabled.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2011
    Publication date: September 6, 2012
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Galen C. Hunt, Reuben R. Olinsky, Michael R. Fortin
  • Patent number: 8255645
    Abstract: In order to provide a more efficient persistent storage device, one or more long-term storage media are included along with a non-volatile memory. In one embodiment, one portion of the non-volatile memory is used as a write buffer and a read cache for writes and reads to the long-term storage media. Interfaces are provided for controlling the use of the non-volatile memory as a write buffer and a read cache. Additionally, a portion of the non-volatile memory is used to provide a direct mapping for specified sectors of the long-term storage media. Descriptive data regarding the persistent storage device is stored in another portion of the non-volatile memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Cenk Ergan, Clark D. Nicholson, Dan Teodosiu, Dean L. DeWhitt, Emily Nicole Hill, Hanumantha R. Kodavalla, Michael J. Zwilling, John M. Parchem, Michael R. Fortin, Nathan Steven Obr, Rajeev Y. Nagar, Surenda Verma, Therron Powell, William J. Westerinen, Mark Joseph Zbikowski, Patrick L. Stemen
  • Publication number: 20120198149
    Abstract: In a method of synchronizing with a separated disk cache, the separated cache is configured to transfer cache data to a staging area of a storage device. An atomic commit operation is utilized to instruct the storage device to atomically commit the cache data to a mapping scheme of the storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2012
    Publication date: August 2, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ruston Panabaker, Cenk Ergan, Michael R. Fortin
  • Publication number: 20120166719
    Abstract: Multiple copy sets of data are maintained on one or more storage devices. Each copy set includes at least some of the same data units as other sets. Different sets optionally have data units stored in different orders on the storage device(s). A particular one of the sets of data is selected as the set to be accessed in response to detecting a particular scenario.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 6, 2012
    Publication date: June 28, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Michael R. Fortin, Cenk Ergan, Mehmet Iyigun, Yevgeniy Bak, Benjamin A. Mickle, Alexander Kirshenbaum
  • Patent number: 8180959
    Abstract: In a method of synchronizing with a separated disk cache, the separated cache is configured to transfer cache data to a staging area of a storage device. An atomic commit operation is utilized to instruct the storage device to atomically commit the cache data to a mapping scheme of the storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 13, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ruston Panabaker, Cenk Ergan, Michael R. Fortin
  • Patent number: 8151068
    Abstract: Multiple copy sets of data are maintained on one or more storage devices. Each copy set includes at least some of the same data units as other sets. Different sets optionally have data units stored in different orders on the storage device(s). A particular one of the sets of data is selected as the set to be accessed in response to detecting a particular scenario.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Michael R Fortin, Cenk Ergan, Mehmet Iyigun, Yevgeniy Bak, Benjamin A Mickle, Alexander Kirshenbaum
  • Publication number: 20120036326
    Abstract: In a method of synchronizing with a separated disk cache, the separated cache is configured to transfer cache data to a staging area of a storage device. An atomic commit operation is utilized to instruct the storage device to atomically commit the cache data to a mapping scheme of the storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 13, 2011
    Publication date: February 9, 2012
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ruston Panabaker, Cenk Ergan, Michael R. Fortin
  • Publication number: 20120005422
    Abstract: In order to provide a more efficient persistent storage device, one or more long-term storage media are included along with a non-volatile memory. In one embodiment, one portion of the non-volatile memory is used as a write buffer and a read cache for writes and reads to the long-term storage media. Interfaces are provided for controlling the use of the non-volatile memory as a write buffer and a read cache. Additionally, a portion of the non-volatile memory is used to provide a direct mapping for specified sectors of the long-term storage media. Descriptive data regarding the persistent storage device is stored in another portion of the non-volatile memory.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 13, 2011
    Publication date: January 5, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Cenk Ergan, Clark D. Nicholson, Dan Teodosiu, Dean L. DeWhitt, Emily Nicole Hill, Hanumantha R. Kodavalla, Michael J. Zwilling, John M. Parchem, Michael R. Fortin, Nathan Steven Obr, Rajeev Y. Nagar, Surenda Verma, Therron Powell, William J. Westerinen, Mark Joseph Zbikowski, Patrick L. Stemen
  • Patent number: 8065480
    Abstract: In a method of synchronizing with a separated disk cache, the separated cache is configured to transfer cache data to a staging area of a storage device. An atomic commit operation is utilized to instruct the storage device to atomically commit the cache data to a mapping scheme of the storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2010
    Date of Patent: November 22, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ruston Panabaker, Cenk Ergan, Michael R. Fortin
  • Publication number: 20110276743
    Abstract: The invention is directed towards a system and method that utilizes external memory devices to cache sectors from a rotating storage device (e.g., a hard drive) to improve system performance. When an external memory device (EMD) is plugged into the computing device or onto a network in which the computing device is connected, the system recognizes the EMD and populates the EMD with disk sectors. The system routes I/O read requests directed to the disk sector to the EMD cache instead of the actual disk sector. The use of EMDs increases performance and productivity on the computing device systems for a fraction of the cost of adding memory to the computing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 21, 2011
    Publication date: November 10, 2011
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Alexander Kirshenbaum, Cenk Ergan, Michael R. Fortin, Robert L. Reinauer
  • Patent number: 8041904
    Abstract: In order to provide a more efficient persistent storage device, one or more long-term storage media are included along with a non-volatile memory. In one embodiment, one portion of the non-volatile memory is used as a write buffer and a read cache for writes and reads to the long-term storage media. Interfaces are provided for controlling the use of the non-volatile memory as a write buffer and a read cache. Additionally, a portion of the non-volatile memory is used to provide a direct mapping for specified sectors of the long-term storage media. Descriptive data regarding the persistent storage device is stored in another portion of the non-volatile memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Cenk Ergan, Clark D. Nicholson, Dan Teodosiu, Dean L. DeWhitt, Emily Nicole Hill, Hanumantha R. Kodavalla, Michael J. Zwilling, John M. Parchem, Michael R. Fortin, Nathan Steven Obr, Rajeev Y. Nagar, Surenda Verma, Therron Powell, William J. Westerinen, Mark Joseph Zbikowski, Patrick L. Stemen
  • Patent number: 8032723
    Abstract: A proactive, resilient and self-tuning memory management system and method that result in actual and perceived performance improvements in memory management, by loading and maintaining data that is likely to be needed into memory, before the data is actually needed. The system includes mechanisms directed towards historical memory usage monitoring, memory usage analysis, refreshing memory with highly-valued (e.g., highly utilized) pages, I/O pre-fetching efficiency, and aggressive disk management. Based on the memory usage information, pages are prioritized with relative values, and mechanisms work to pre-fetch and/or maintain the more valuable pages in memory. Pages are pre-fetched and maintained in a prioritized standby page set that includes a number of subsets, by which more valuable pages remain in memory over less valuable pages. Valuable data that is paged out may be automatically brought back, in a resilient manner.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 13, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Stuart Sechrest, Michael R. Fortin, Mehmet Iyigun, Cenk Ergan
  • Patent number: 8006037
    Abstract: The invention is directed towards a system and method that utilizes external memory devices to cache sectors from a rotating storage device (e.g., a hard drive) to improve system performance. When an external memory device (EMD) is plugged into the computing device or onto a network in which the computing device is connected, the system recognizes the EMD and populates the EMD with disk sectors. The system routes I/O read requests directed to the disk sector to the EMD cache instead of the actual disk sector. The use of EMDs increases performance and productivity on the computing device systems for a fraction of the cost of adding memory to the computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 23, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Alexander Kirshenbaum, Cenk Ergan, Michael R. Fortin, Robert L. Reinauer
  • Patent number: 8001403
    Abstract: An exemplary method for managing power consumption of a data center includes monitoring power consumption of a data center, assessing power consumption with respect to a billing equation for power, based on the assessment, deciding whether to implement a power policy where the power policy reduces instantaneous power consumption by the data center and increases a load factor wherein the load factor is an average power consumed by the data center divided by a peak power consumed by the data center over a period of time. Various other methods, devices, systems, etc., are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 14, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 16, 2011
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: James R Hamilton, James J Freely, Mike Neil, Michael J Manos, Michael R Fortin
  • Publication number: 20110029737
    Abstract: In a method of synchronizing with a separated disk cache, the separated cache is configured to transfer cache data to a staging area of a storage device. An atomic commit operation is utilized to instruct the storage device to atomically commit the cache data to a mapping scheme of the storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 14, 2010
    Publication date: February 3, 2011
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Ruston Panabaker, Cenk Ergan, Michael R. Fortin
  • Patent number: 7861296
    Abstract: The present invention is directed toward a system, method, and a computer-readable medium for efficiently loading data into memory in order to scan the data for malware. The logic provided in the present invention improves the experience of a user when operating a computer protected with antivirus software. One aspect of the present invention is a method that identifies a pattern in which data in a file is loaded into memory from a computer-readable medium. Then the method identifies a pattern in which data in the file may be loaded into memory in a way that minimizes the time required to read data in the file. When a subsequent scan of the file is scheduled to occur, the method causes data in the file to be loaded in memory using the pattern that minimizes the time required to read data in the file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 16, 2005
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Mihai Costea, Adrian Bivol, Adrian M. Marinescu, Anil Francis Thomas, Cenk Ergan, David Goebel, George C. Chicioreanu, Marius Gheorghe Gheorghescu, Michael R. Fortin
  • Patent number: 7840754
    Abstract: In a method of synchronizing with a separated disk cache, the separated cache is configured to transfer cache data to a staging area of a storage device. An atomic commit operation is utilized to instruct the storage device to atomically commit the cache data to a mapping scheme of the storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2009
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Ruston Panabaker, Cenk Ergan, Michael R. Fortin
  • Patent number: 7805571
    Abstract: The invention is directed towards a system and method that utilizes external memory devices to cache sectors from a rotating storage device (e.g., a hard drive) to improve system performance. When an external memory device (EMD) is plugged into the computing device or onto a network in which the computing device is connected, the system recognizes the EMD and populates the EMD with disk sectors. The system routes I/O read requests directed to the disk sector to the EMD cache instead of the actual disk sector. The use of EMDs increases performance and productivity on the computing device systems for a fraction of the cost of adding memory to the computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2010
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Alexander Kirshenbaum, Cenk Ergan, Michael R. Fortin, Robert L. Reinauer
  • Publication number: 20100217929
    Abstract: The invention is directed towards a system and method that utilizes external memory devices to cache sectors from a rotating storage device (e.g., a hard drive) to improve system performance. When an external memory device (EMD) is plugged into the computing device or onto a network in which the computing device is connected, the system recognizes the EMD and populates the EMD with disk sectors. The system routes I/O read requests directed to the disk sector to the EMD cache instead of the actual disk sector. The use of EMDs increases performance and productivity on the computing device systems for a fraction of the cost of adding memory to the computing device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 6, 2010
    Publication date: August 26, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Alexander Kirshenbaum, Cenk Ergan, Michael R. Fortin, Robert L. Reinauer
  • Publication number: 20100199043
    Abstract: A proactive, resilient and self-tuning memory management system and method that result in actual and perceived performance improvements in memory management, by loading and maintaining data that is likely to be needed into memory, before the data is actually needed. The system includes mechanisms directed towards historical memory usage monitoring, memory usage analysis, refreshing memory with highly-valued (e.g., highly utilized) pages, I/O pre-fetching efficiency, and aggressive disk management. Based on the memory usage information, pages are prioritized with relative values, and mechanisms work to pre-fetch and/or maintain the more valuable pages in memory. Pages are pre-fetched and maintained in a prioritized standby page set that includes a number of subsets, by which more valuable pages remain in memory over less valuable pages. Valuable data that is paged out may be automatically brought back, in a resilient manner.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 13, 2010
    Publication date: August 5, 2010
    Applicant: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
    Inventors: Stuart Sechrest, Michael R. Fortin, Mehmet Iyigun, Cenk Ergan