Patents by Inventor Sonny Earl Williams

Sonny Earl Williams 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).

  • Patent number: 8250323
    Abstract: Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for determining whether to use a repository to store data updated during a resynchronization. Writes to a primary storage are transferred to a secondary storage. A logical copy of the secondary storage as of a point-in-time is established. Writes to the secondary storage in the logical copy received from the primary storage during a logical copy duration after the point-in-time are stored in a repository that comprises less storage space than the secondary storage in the logical copy. The transferring of writes to the secondary storage is suspended. During the suspension writes to the primary storage are indicated in an out-of-synch data structure.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 6, 2007
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Thomas Benhase, Shachar Fienblit, Matthew Joseph Kalos, Gail Andrea Spear, Sonny Earl Williams
  • Patent number: 7769960
    Abstract: Provided are techniques for transmitting blocks of data. It is determined whether any high priority out of sync (HPOOS) indicator is set to indicate that a number of modified segments associated with a block of data are less than or equal to a modified segments threshold. In response to determining that at least one high priority out of sync indicator is set, one or more sub-blocks of data in the modified segments associated with the block of data and with one set high priority out of sync indicator are transferred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 3, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Lee Charles LaFrese, Sonny Earl Williams
  • Patent number: 7660955
    Abstract: Provided are a method, system, deployment and program for managing data transfer in consistency group formation. In one embodiment, nodes are periodically polled to determine traffic conditions. An estimated drain time for a node such as the most congested node, for example, is compared to a drain time limit and if within a vicinity of the drain time limit, operations switch to a consistency group formation mode. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: February 9, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Pierre-Fortin Jean-Denis, Gail Andrea Spear, Robert Francis Bartfai, Sonny Earl Williams, Nicolas Marc Clayton
  • Patent number: 7647357
    Abstract: Provided are a method, system, deployment and program for managing data transfer in consistency group formation. In one embodiment, a transfer time for a data structure is selected as a function of at least one determined backlog. Upon expiration of the selected transfer time, the mode of operation may be switched. By dynamically selecting a transfer time, backlogs may be reduced to increase the likelihood of successful creation of a consistency group. Other embodiments are described and claimed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2004
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Robert Francis Bartfai, Pierre-Fortin Jean-Denis, Gail Andrea Spear, Sonny Earl Williams, Sherry Suzanne Worcester
  • Publication number: 20090150627
    Abstract: Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for determining whether to use a repository to store data updated during a resynchronization. Writes to a primary storage are transferred to a secondary storage. A logical copy of the secondary storage as of a point-in-time is established. Writes to the secondary storage in the logical copy received from the primary storage during a logical copy duration after the point-in-time are stored in a repository that comprises less storage space than the secondary storage in the logical copy. The transferring of writes to the secondary storage is suspended. During the suspension writes to the primary storage are indicated in an out-of-synch data structure.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 6, 2007
    Publication date: June 11, 2009
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael Thomas Benhase, Shachar Fienblit, Matthew Joseph Kalos, Gail Andrea Spear, Sonny Earl Williams
  • Publication number: 20090006789
    Abstract: Provided are techniques for transmitting blocks of data. It is determined whether any high priority out of sync (HPOOS) indicator is set to indicate that a number of modified segments associated with a block of data are less than or equal to a modified segments threshold. In response to determining that at least one high priority out of sync indicator is set, one or more sub-blocks of data in the modified segments associated with the block of data and with one set high priority out of sync indicator are transferred.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 17, 2008
    Publication date: January 1, 2009
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Lee Charles LaFrese, Sonny Earl Williams
  • Patent number: 7444478
    Abstract: Provided are techniques for transmitting blocks of data. It is determined whether any high priority out of sync (HPOOS) indicator is set to indicate that a number of modified segments associated with a block of data are less than or equal to a modified segments threshold. In response to determining that at least one high priority out of sync indicator is set, one or more sub-blocks of data in the modified segments associated with the block of data and with one set high priority out of sync indicator are transferred.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2005
    Date of Patent: October 28, 2008
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Lee Charles LaFrese, Sonny Earl Williams