Abstract: Use and maintenance of an idempotent journal in a system having multiple metadata servers. A data modification operation is performed by a metadata server. A journal entry corresponding to the data modification operation is generated. The journal entry includes a file identifier and a journal sequence number corresponding to a data modification operation that created the file.

Abstract: A highly available multi-node computer system is operated by monitoring the aging and usage of a plurality of hardware components that are part of the system's networked nodes. While monitoring the components, a determination is made that one of the components has aged, worn, or both, to a level that is selected as being close enough to the component's predicted end of life in the system so as to prevent failure of the component in the system. A notification is sent to replace the component, in response to the determination. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention are generally directed to a system and method for automatically routing a media track. In one embodiment, a system (e.g., a media server) automatically routes a media track to an output port of the system based on at least a partial match between a track identifier and a configurable output port label. The media track can be either an audio track or a video track.

Abstract: A method of generating timestamps for isochronous data includes locking a data stream time and an isochronous network time to a local clock signal such that a bi-directional mapping may be made between the two time domains. Timing information is extracted from both IEEE 1394 based data packets and a conventional house reference signal in order to obtain scale and offset factors that exist between the two signals. The scale and offset factors are applied to a generated video clock signal in order to predict a future video time in terms of IEEE 1394 time.

Abstract: A method of processing packets in a switch. A first queue is selected from at least three queues based on the cycle number (C) of a cycle and flushed at the start of cycle C. At least one isochronous packet is received over a bus during the cycle. The packet is placed in a second queue based on the cycle number.

Abstract: A method of generating timestamps for isochronous data includes locking a data stream time and an isochronous network time to a local clock signal such that a bi-directional mapping may be made between the two time domains. Timing information is extracted from both IEEE 1394 based data packets and a conventional house reference signal in order to obtain scale and offset factors that exist between the two signals. The scale and offset factors are applied to a generated video clock signal in order to predict a future video time in terms of IEEE 1394 time.

Abstract: A method and apparatus to switch between two audio streams without creating a clicking transient. A first serial audio stream is brought into a serial shift register. A series of samples of that audio stream are multiplied by reducing coefficients until a contribution of the first audio stream reaches zero. Then, a second serial audio stream is brought into the serial shift register. Increasing coefficients are applied to a series of samples until a contribution of the second audio stream is one.

Abstract: A system is disclosed having shared storage nodes and a number of processing nodes coupled to the shared storage nodes. The storage nodes are to store user data and file system meta-data (FSMD) and can be accessed by the processing nodes. Each respective processing node stores a copy of the FSMD, and can update its copy of the FSMD based upon content of a token received from one of the processing nodes. The processing node adds information to the token that describes a change that node makes to the copy of the FSMD, and then sends the token to another one of the processing nodes. Such a scheme may prove to be a more scalable solution for a shared file system as the number of processing nodes are increased, because the overhead associated with managing the meta-data does not significantly diminish the performance of the storage system as a whole.

Abstract: A method comprising initializing an eligibility bit map and determining whether at least one eligible route has required resources available is disclosed.

Abstract: A method for recovering clock signals includes generating a media sync signal to synchronize processing of digital media, and generating a transmission reference clock signal to define a duration of a transaction through a packet-based data network. The media sync and transmission clock signals may have different frequency and phase. The media is sent to a slave node of the network. The media sync and transmission clock signals are correlated to generate phase correlation information, and the phase correlation information is also sent to the slave node. Accordingly, a relatively low cost and reliable clock recovery technique suitable for synchronizing media streams across a packet-based data network is disclosed.

Abstract: A fault tolerant, secondary storage engine (such as a RAID engine) is closely coupled with a file system to achieve greater overall throughput in storage/database applications having a mix of large, sequential access transactions and small, random access transactions. In addition, disk rebuild time may be greatly reduced using such an embodiment. A logical storage space representing a storage area in a set of non-volatile storage devices is divided into nonoverlapping storage allocation units (SAUs) such as stripes, each SAU to overlay all of the devices in the set. Different fault tolerant storage methodologies (FTSMs) are assigned to access (i.e. read/write) data in the different SAUs, respectively. An access is made to an SAU in the set responsive to an input storage request of a first or second type, respectively.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for retiming video. Vertical synchronization information (VSI) is detected in an incoming video stream. A VSI is also detected in both as output video stream and a reference video stream. Based on the difference between the VSI of the reference and output video stream reads or writes to a FIFO are suppressed until the VSI's are coincident.

Abstract: A method of distributing video reference signals as isochronous data includes distributing a house reference signal among various audio and video devices using isochronous network packets that exclusively contain isochronous header information rather than header information accompanied by audio and/or video data. Because the data associated with a house reference signal typically represents an unused “video black” signal, such data may be discarded without detrimentally affecting to the reference signal.