Patents Assigned to Liqid Inc.
  • Patent number: 10255215
    Abstract: Enhanced data storage devices in various form factors are discussed herein. In one example, a storage drive includes a plurality of storage devices configured to store and retrieve data responsive to operations received over Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interfaces, a PCIe switch circuit communicatively coupled to the PCIe interfaces of the storage devices and configured to receive over a host connector the operations issued by a host system and transfer the storage operations for ones of the storage devices over associated ones of the PCIe interfaces. The storage drive includes holdup circuitry configured to provide holdup power the storage devices. The storage drive includes a first circuit board assembly comprising three storage device connectors that couple to corresponding storage devices, and a second circuit board assembly comprising a further storage device connector that couples to a further storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2019
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Jason Breakstone, Brenden Michael Rust, Christopher R. Long, Andrew Rudolph Heyd, Sumit Puri, Bryan Schramm, Seth Walsh
  • Publication number: 20190073331
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage assembly is provided that includes a plurality of storage drives each comprising a PCIe host interface and solid state storage media. The data storage assembly includes a PCIe switch circuit coupled to the PCIe host interfaces of the storage drives and configured to receive storage operations issued by one or more host systems over a shared PCIe interface and transfer the storage operations for delivery to the storage drives over selected ones of the PCIe host interfaces. The data storage assembly includes a control processor configured to monitor usage statistics of the storage drives, and power control circuitry configured to selectively remove the power from ones of the storage drives based at least on the usage statistics of the storage drives.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2018
    Publication date: March 7, 2019
    Applicant: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Long, Jason Breakstone
  • Patent number: 10223315
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage system is provided that includes storage drives each comprising a PCIe interface, and configured to store data and retrieve the data stored on associated storage media responsive to data transactions received over a switched PCIe fabric. The data storage system includes processors configured to each manage only an associated subset of the storage drives over the switched PCIe fabric. A first processor is configured to identify first data packets received over a network interface associated with the first processor within a network buffer of the first processor as comprising a storage operation associated with at least one of the plurality of storage drives managed by a second processor, and responsively transfer the first data packets into a network buffer of the second processor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Jason Breakstone, Christopher R. Long, James Scott Cannata
  • Publication number: 20190056932
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data systems are provided herein. In one example, a data system is presented. The system includes a processing system configured to execute an operating system that comprises a network module for handling data frames directed to a plurality of kernel threads and received over one or more network interfaces of the data system. The network module is configured to establish a plurality of data buffers individually associated with the kernel threads, store associated ones of the data frames for the kernel threads in the data buffers as the data frames are processed through a network stack of the data system, and maintain data exclusivity locks for the plurality of data buffers and individually associate the data exclusivity locks with the kernel threads.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 22, 2018
    Publication date: February 21, 2019
    Applicant: Liqid Inc.
    Inventor: James Scott Cannata
  • Patent number: 10206297
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data systems are provided herein. In one example, a meshed computing architecture is presented that includes a midplane comprising PCIe interconnect, storage modules configured to couple to a first portion of the PCIe interconnect, controller modules configured to couple to a second portion of the PCIe interconnect, and fabric modules configured to couple to a third portion of the PCIe interconnect. The first portion of the PCIe interconnect communicatively couples each of the storage modules to each of the controller modules and each of the fabric modules, the second portion of the PCIe interconnect communicatively couples each of the controller modules to each of the fabric modules, and third portion of the PCIe interconnect communicatively couples the controller modules to each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2019
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Jason Breakstone, Andrew R. Heyd, Seth Walsh, Christopher R. Long, Michael D. Harrington
  • Patent number: 10198183
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage system is provided that includes at least one storage drive and at least one processing module coupled over a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) fabric. The data storage system includes a first processing module in a first storage assembly configured to receive a storage operation for a storage drive managed by a second processing module in a second storage assembly. The first processing module is configured to identify the second processing module as managing the storage drive associated with the storage operation and responsively transfer the storage operation over a tunneled network connection for handling by the second processing module of the second storage assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2019
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: James Scott Cannata, Jason Breakstone
  • Patent number: 10191667
    Abstract: A data storage device is presented that includes an interface system configured to communicate over an aggregated host link comprising Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interfaces to receive one or more write operations for storage of data by the data storage device. The data storage device includes plurality solid state drives (SSDs) each comprising drive PCIe interfaces coupled to the interface system. The interface system is configured to process the one or more write operations against storage allocation information to parallelize the data among the SSDs and transfer portions of the parallelized data to associated SSDs over corresponding drive PCIe interfaces.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Jason Breakstone, Alok Gupta, Himanshu Desai, Angelo Campos
  • Patent number: 10191691
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage platform includes one or more data storage modules each comprising storage drives coupled over a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) fabric with at least one processing module that receives storage operations directed to the one or more data storage modules over one or more network interfaces. The processing module is configured to assign service levels in a queue to the storage operations that are received over the one or more network interfaces. Based at least on the service levels, the processing module is configured to service the storage operations from the queue with the one or more data storage modules over the PCIe fabric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2019
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Phillip Clark, James Scott Cannata, Jason Breakstone
  • Patent number: 10180924
    Abstract: Disaggregated computing architectures, platforms, and systems are provided herein. In one example, a method of operating a data processing system is provided. The method includes communicatively coupling graphics processing units (GPUs) over a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) fabric. The method also includes establishing a peer-to-peer arrangement between the GPUs over the PCIe fabric by at least providing an isolation function in the PCIe fabric configured to isolate a device PCIe address domain associated with the GPUs from at least a local PCIe address domain associated with a host processor that initiates the peer-to-peer arrangement between the GPUs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2019
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Jason Breakstone, German Kazakov, Christopher R. Long, James Scott Cannata
  • Patent number: 10180889
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage system is provided that includes a first processor configured to establish a network connection with an external system, and receive first storage operations transferred by the external system over the network connection, the first storage operations related to storage and retrieval of data on at least one storage drive. The first processor is configured to transfer information describing the network connection for delivery to at least a second processor. The second processor is configured to identify when the first processor has failed, responsively establish the network connection with the external system based at least on the information describing the network connection, and receive second storage operations transferred by the external system over the network connection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2019
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: James Scott Cannata, Jason Breakstone, Christopher R. Long
  • Publication number: 20180336152
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage apparatus is provided. The data storage apparatus includes a plurality of storage drives each comprising a drive Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interface. A PCIe switch circuit is coupled to the drive PCIe interfaces of the plurality of storage drives, and the PCIe switch comprises at least two host PCIe interfaces shared among the plurality of storage drives. The PCIe switch circuit is configured to receive storage operations transferred by more than one host system over the at least two host PCIe interfaces, and transfer the storage operations for delivery to selected ones of the plurality of storage drives.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 30, 2018
    Publication date: November 22, 2018
    Applicant: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher Long, Jason Breakstone
  • Publication number: 20180314654
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage platform includes data storage assemblies each comprising one or more storage drives that service data storage operations over associated storage interfaces. A control processor is coupled to ones of the data storage assemblies over at least two types of sideband communication interfaces different than the storage interfaces of the storage drives. During an initialization process for the one or more storage drives, the control processor configured to transfer initialization data to each of the data storage assemblies over a first type of sideband communication interface and transfer further initialization data to at least one of the data storage assemblies over a second type of sideband communication interface when the at least one of the data storage assemblies does not respond to the initialization data over the first type of sideband communication interface.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 9, 2018
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Applicant: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher R. Long, Jason Breakstone
  • Publication number: 20180314667
    Abstract: A connectivity card insertable into a connector of a host system is provided. The connectivity card includes a plurality of Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) connectors configured to provide external PCIe ports on the connectivity card, each of the plurality of PCIe connectors capable of carrying PCIe traffic. The connectivity card also includes a PCIe switch circuit configured to communicatively couple the plurality of connectors to a shared connectivity interface carried over a host connector of the connectivity card. The connectivity card further includes control circuitry configured to monitor for connectivity issues that arise with regard to the plurality of PCIe connectors, and responsively mitigate the connectivity issues by at least reconfiguring a communication pathway in the PCIe switch circuit for at least a portion of the PCIe traffic affected by the connectivity issues.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2018
    Publication date: November 1, 2018
    Applicant: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher R. Long, Andrew Rudolph Heyd, James Scott Cannata, Sumit Puri, Bryan Schramm
  • Patent number: 10114784
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage assembly is provided that includes a plurality of storage drives each comprising a PCIe host interface and solid state storage media. The data storage assembly includes a PCIe switch circuit coupled to the PCIe host interfaces of the storage drives and configured to receive storage operations issued by one or more host systems over a shared PCIe interface and transfer the storage operations for delivery to the storage drives over selected ones of the PCIe host interfaces. The data storage assembly includes a control processor configured to monitor usage statistics of the storage drives, and power control circuitry configured to selectively remove the power from ones of the storage drives based at least on the usage statistics of the storage drives.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 23, 2015
    Date of Patent: October 30, 2018
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Jason Breakstone, Christopher Long
  • Patent number: 10108422
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for networked data systems are provided herein. In one example, a networked data processing system is presented. The system includes a processing system configured to execute an operating system that comprises a network module for handling data frames received over one or more network interfaces of the networked data processing system, the data frames directed to one or more applications. The network module is configured to establish a plurality of data buffers individually associated with application threads of the one or more applications, store associated ones of the data frames for the application threads in the data buffers as the data frames are processed through a network stack of the networked data processing system, and maintain data exclusivity locks for the plurality of data buffers and individually associate the data exclusivity locks with the application threads.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 23, 2018
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: James Scott Cannata, Jason Breakstone
  • Publication number: 20180260352
    Abstract: Rackmount Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) switch assemblies are provided herein. One example PCIe switch assembly includes an enclosure that encases elements of the PCIe switch assembly, a first plurality of PCIe interconnect ports positioned on a front side of the PCIe switch assembly, and a second plurality of PCIe interconnect ports positioned on a rear side of the PCIe switch assembly. One or more redundancy cross-link ports are provided to handle failover traffic with at least another PCIe switch assembly. PCIe switch circuitry is communicatively coupled to the first plurality of PCIe interconnect ports and the second plurality of PCIe interconnect ports that form a cluster interconnect PCIe fabric. A control processor is configured to control operation of at least the PCIe switch circuitry and the one or more redundancy cross-link ports.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 7, 2018
    Publication date: September 13, 2018
    Applicant: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher R. Long, Jason Breakstone, Andrew Rudolph Heyd, Brenden Michael Rust, Seth Walsh, Bryan Schramm
  • Patent number: 10037296
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage assembly is provided. The data storage assembly includes a plurality of storage drives each comprising a PCIe host interface and solid state storage media, with each of the storage drives configured to store and retrieve data responsive to storage operations received over an associated PCIe host interface. The data storage assembly includes a PCIe switch circuit coupled to the PCIe host interfaces of the storage drives and configured to receive the storage operations issued by a plurality of host systems over a shared PCIe interface and transfer the storage operations for delivery to the storage drives over selected ones of the PCIe host interfaces. The data storage assembly includes holdup circuitry configured to provide power to at least the storage drives after input power is lost to the data storage assembly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Jason Breakstone, Christopher Long
  • Publication number: 20180210519
    Abstract: A data storage sled is provided. The data storage sled includes a circuit card assembly comprising connectors for coupling to drive modules and a host connector for coupling the data storage sled to an external connector, an enclosure comprising apertures in the enclosure through which individual ones of the drive modules can be inserted into an associated connector on the circuit card assembly. The data storage sled also includes drive module mounting assembles configured to hold the individual ones of the drive modules into the associated connector by at least including movable mounting features to accommodate varying lengths among the individual ones of the drive modules.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 23, 2018
    Publication date: July 26, 2018
    Applicant: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Rudolph Heyd, Brenden Michael Rust, Seth Walsh, Jason Breakstone, Christopher R. Long
  • Patent number: 10019388
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and software for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data storage platform includes data storage assemblies each comprising one or more storage drives that service data storage operations over associated storage interfaces. A control processor is coupled to ones of the data storage assemblies over at least two types of sideband communication interfaces different than the storage interfaces of the storage drives. During an initialization process for the one or more storage drives, the control processor configured to transfer initialization data to each of the data storage assemblies over a first type of sideband communication interface and transfer further initialization data to at least one of the data storage assemblies over a second type of sideband communication interface when the at least one of the data storage assemblies does not respond to the initialization data over the first type of sideband communication interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2018
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Christopher R. Long, Jason Breakstone
  • Patent number: 10001819
    Abstract: Systems, methods, apparatuses, and assemblies for data storage systems are provided herein. In one example, a data processing assembly is presented. The data processing assembly includes a midplane assembly configured to electrically couple on a first side to storage modules, compute modules, or graphics modules, electrically couple on a second side to communication modules and one or more power supply modules. The data processing assembly includes a chassis configured to mechanically house and structurally support each of the storage modules, the compute modules, the communication modules, and the one or more power supply modules when coupled to the midplane assembly to form the data processing assembly and allow installation of the data processing assembly into a rackmount environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2018
    Assignee: Liqid Inc.
    Inventors: Andrew Rudolph Heyd, Seth Walsh, Brenden Michael Rust, Christopher R. Long, Jason Breakstone