Patents Examined by Edward Waddy, Jr.
  • Patent number: 9361216
    Abstract: A mechanism is provided for thin provisioning. An original time-domain sequence of a load parameter of storage resources already allocated to an application program is collected. A future load peak time period of the storage resources already allocated to the application program is determined based on the collected original time-domain sequence of the load parameter. A new storage resource unit from a high-speed storage is allocated in response to receipt of a request to allocate the new storage resource unit to the application program in the future load peak time period. On an occasion of thin provisioning, whether the physical storage resources newly allocated to the application program are located in a low-speed storage or a high-speed storage is determined according to the accesses of the application program to the already-allocated physical storage resources.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kuan Feng, Hui X. Gu, Yao Ma, Shu Yang, Jun W. Zhang
  • Patent number: 9357649
    Abstract: An embodiment is a memory card including a rectangular printed circuit card having a first side and a second side, a first length of between 151.35 and 161.5 millimeters, and first and second ends having a second length smaller than the first length. The memory card also includes a first plurality of pins on the first side extending along a first edge of the rectangular printed circuit card that extends along a length of the rectangular printed circuit card, a second plurality of pins on the second side extending on the first edge of the rectangular printed circuit card, and a positioning key having its center positioned on the first edge of the rectangular printed circuit card and located between 94.0 and 95.5 millimeters from the first end of the rectangular printed circuit card.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Assignee: INERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Sungjun Chun, Brian J. Connolly
  • Patent number: 9354988
    Abstract: A physical storage volume can be partitioned into a plurality of master blocks of an equal master block size. Each master block of the plurality of master blocks can be allocated for storage of a single storage page size of a plurality of predefined storage page sizes provided for storage of data by a data storage application. A received page size can be determined for a storage page designated by the data storage application for storage on the physical storage volume, and the storage page can be stored in a free block of a master block of the plurality of master blocks having the single page size equivalent to the received page size. Related methods, systems, and articles of manufacture are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 28, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2016
    Assignee: SAP SE
    Inventors: Axel Schroeder, Ivan Schreter, Dirk Thomsen
  • Patent number: 9348515
    Abstract: A storage apparatus comprises a storage device storing data which is read/written by a host computer and a control device for controlling data writing to the storage device. The control device provides a predetermined storage area of the storage device to the host computer as one or more volumes and, in response to the request from the management computer, provides statistical information relating to the storage areas to the management computer. the management computer comprises a storage device storing a storage area management table for managing the storage area of a plurality of storage apparatuses and a control device for managing the configuration of the storage areas of the storage apparatuses. The control device manages the data configuration of the plurality of storage apparatuses on the basis of the statistical information relating to the storage areas of the storage apparatuses which is provided by the plurality of storage apparatuses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 24, 2016
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Satoshi Kaneko, Akira Yamamoto, Tsukasa Shibayama
  • Patent number: 9336131
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method for enabling virtual environments to mount non-native storage disks may include (1) identifying a storage disk formatted in a format that is non-native to a virtual environment, (2) locating disk information of the storage disk that includes (i) a plurality of non-native partition table entries and (ii) a partition table pointer that points to the non-native partition table entries, and then (3) modifying the disk information to enable the virtual environment to mount the storage disk as though the storage disk were formatted in a format that is native to the virtual environment by (i) adding a plurality of native partition table entries that identify the plurality of volumes within the storage disk and then (ii) modifying the partition table pointer to point to the native partition table entries instead of the non-native partition table entries. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 10, 2016
    Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC
    Inventors: Check Sabjan, Lokesha Krishnamurthy
  • Patent number: 9329989
    Abstract: A method and system for operating a memory device in programming mode is disclosed. The memory device includes a programming mode and a normal mode. The memory device in programming mode increases the number of physical planes that can be programmed in parallel than can be programmed in normal mode. In this way, the memory device may be programmed more quickly at various times of operation of the memory device (such as during manufacturing). The host system may send rearranged data to the memory device in programming mode with the rearranged data accounting for the increased number of physical planes programmed in parallel.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven Sprouse, Yichao Huang
  • Patent number: 9329996
    Abstract: The quantity of data stored in a branch circuit monitor and accessible by a data processing network is increased by logically dividing the monitor's memory into a plurality of registers each comprising a plurality of pages and addressing a page containing the desired data with an address corresponding to the identity of a page number stored in a page register and the identity of the register.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2016
    Assignee: Veris Industries, LLC
    Inventors: Martin Cook, Michael Bitsch
  • Patent number: 9311011
    Abstract: Mobile computing devices may be configured to compile and execute portions of a general purpose software application in an auxiliary processor (e.g., a DSP) of a multiprocessor system by reading and writing information to a shared memory. A first process (P1) on the applications processor may request address negotiation with a second process (P2) on the auxiliary processor, obtain a first address map from a first operating system, and send the first address map to the auxiliary processor. The second process (P2) may receive the first address map, obtain a second address map from a second operating system, identify matching addresses in the first and second address maps, store the matching addresses as common virtual addresses, and send the common virtual addresses back to the applications processor. The first and second processes (i.e., P1 and P2) may each use the common virtual addresses to map physical pages to the memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 7, 2013
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2016
    Assignee: QUALCOMM Incorporated
    Inventors: Sudha Anil Kumar Gathala, Andrey Ermolinskiy, Christopher A. Vick
  • Patent number: 9275692
    Abstract: Examples are described herein of dynamic switching of data masking and data bus inversion functionality of a memory input. Both dynamic switching and a static setting for the memory input may be supported in some examples described herein. Use of a command indicating a functionality of the memory input is described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2012
    Date of Patent: March 1, 2016
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert M. Walker
  • Patent number: 9246709
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a storage device includes a plurality of memory nodes. Each of memory nodes includes a plurality of input ports, a plurality of output ports, a selector, a packet controller and a memory. The selector outputs a packet input to the input port to one of the output ports. The packet controller controls the selector. The memory stores data. The memory nodes are mutually connected at the input ports and the output ports. The memory node has an address that is determined by its physical position. The packet controller switches the output port that outputs the packet based on information including at least a destination address of the packet and an address of the memory node having the packet controller when receiving a packet that is not addressed to the memory node having the packet controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kosuke Tatsumura, Atsuhiro Kinoshita, Hirotaka Nishino, Masamichi Suzuki, Yoshifumi Nishi, Takao Marukame, Takahiro Kurita
  • Patent number: 9244867
    Abstract: A programmable integrated circuit may have a memory controller that interfaces between master modules and system memory. The memory controller may receive memory access requests from the masters via ports that have predetermined bit widths. To provide the memory controller with adjustable port widths, a mapping interface may be provided that interfaces between master processing modules and the memory controller. The mapping interface may allocate port resources such as read data ports and write data ports of the memory controller to each master processing module. The mapping interface may assign a desirable number of read data ports and write data ports to each master to accommodate the requirements of that master. The mapping interface may assign a command port to each master that receives memory access requests from that master. The mapping interface may convey write acknowledgements in response to fulfilling write access requests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2016
    Assignee: Altera Corporation
    Inventors: Jeffrey Schulz, Ching-Chi Chang, Caroline Ssu-Min Chen
  • Patent number: 9213645
    Abstract: A method and system for partial page programming in a storage device is disclosed. An amount of data for partial page programming is determined. The amount may include host data (such as host data in a host command sent from a host device) and/or binary cache index data. The write step, used for partial page programming, is dynamically set based on the determined amount of data for partial page programming. In this way, the write step for partial page programming is dynamic rather than fixed. Further, dynamically setting the write step may reduce the number of programming steps for storing the host data in the host command and may reduce padding when partial page programming, thereby leaving less invalid data inside a block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 15, 2015
    Assignee: Sandisk Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Ameen Aslam, Krishna Dhulipala
  • Patent number: 9208109
    Abstract: A programmable integrated circuit may have a memory controller that interfaces between master modules and system memory. The memory controller may receive memory access requests from the masters via ports that have associated priority values and fulfill the memory access requests by configuring system memory to respond to the memory access requests. To dynamically modify the associated priority values while the memory controller receives and fulfills the memory access requests, a priority value update module may be provided that dynamically updates priority values for the memory controller ports. The priority value update module may provide the updated priority values with update registers that are updated based on an update signal and a system clock. The priority values may be provided by shift registers, memory mapped registers, or provided by masters along with each memory access request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 1, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2015
    Assignee: Altera Corporation
    Inventors: Michael H. M. Chu, Jeffrey Schulz, Chiakang Sung, Ravish Kapasi
  • Patent number: 9189424
    Abstract: A processor transmits clean castout messages indicating that a cache line is not dirty and is no longer being stored by a lowest level cache of the processor. An external cache receives the clean castout messages and manages cache lines based in part on the clean castout messages.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 17, 2015
    Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
    Inventors: Blaine D Gaither, David A Plettner
  • Patent number: 9176862
    Abstract: A method and system for SLC-MLC Wear Balancing in a flash memory device is disclosed. The flash memory device includes a single level cell (SLC) portion and a multi-level cell (MLC) portion. The age of the SLC portion and the MLC portion may differ, leading potentially to one portion wearing out before the other. In order to avoid this, a controller is configured to receive an age indicator from one or both of the SLC portion and the MLC portion, determine, based on the age indicator, whether to modify operation of the SLC portion and/or the MLC portion, and in response to determining to modifying operation, modify the operation of the at least one of the SLC portion or the MLC portion. The modification of the operation may thus balance wear between the SLC and MLC portions, thereby potentially extending the life of the flash memory device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2015
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies Inc.
    Inventors: Jian Chen, Sergey Anatolievich Gorobets, Steven Sprouse
  • Patent number: 9153324
    Abstract: A die assignment scheme assigns data, in the order it is received, to multiple memory dies with some randomness. Randomization events, such as skipping dies or reversing direction, occur at intervals, with a deterministic assignment scheme used between randomization events. Intervals between randomization events may be of random length, or of fixed length.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2015
    Assignee: SanDisk Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Liam Michael Parker, Sergey Gorobets, Alan Bennett, Leena Patel
  • Patent number: 9152570
    Abstract: In a computer system having virtual machines, one or more unused bits of a guest virtual address range are allocated for aliasing so that multiple virtually addressed sub-pages can be mapped to a common memory page. When one bit is allocated for aliasing, sub-pages can be virtually addressed at a granularity that is one-half of a memory page. When M bits are allocated for aliasing, sub-pages can be virtually addressed at a granularity that is 1/(2M)-th of a memory page. The granularity of page sizes can be selected according to particular use cases. In the case of COW optimization, page sizes can be set statically between 4 KB and 2 MB or configured dynamically among multiple page sizes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2015
    Assignee: VMware, Inc.
    Inventors: Bhavesh Mehta, Benjamin C. Serebrin
  • Patent number: 9141527
    Abstract: Apparatuses, systems, and methods are disclosed for managing cache pools. A storage request module monitors storage requests received by a cache. The storage requests include read requests and write requests. A read pool module adjusts a size of a read pool of the cache to increase a read hit rate of the storage requests. A dirty write pool module adjusts a size of a dirty write pool of the cache to increase a dirty write hit rate of the storage requests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 2012
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2015
    Assignee: Intelligent Intellectual Property Holdings 2 LLC
    Inventors: David Atkisson, David Flynn
  • Patent number: 9136010
    Abstract: A method and system for generating a physical identifier in a storage device that includes a plurality of storage regions is provided. The method includes determining a number of reference storage regions for uniquely identifying the storage device; comparing the number of reference storage regions to a threshold; generating auxiliary storage regions for uniquely identifying the storage device, such that a number of the auxiliary storage regions corresponds to a result of the comparison; generating location distribution information of the reference storage regions and auxiliary storage regions; and storing the location distribution information in the storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2011
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2015
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
    Inventors: Bo-Gyeong Kang, Jung-Wan Ko, Soo-Hwan Choi, Sung-Hee Hwang, Byung-Rae Lee
  • Patent number: 9104332
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus and computer program products for a distributed system include dividing logical volume data into data subsets, and defining at least one distributedly storage configuration for the logical volume. Metadata for the logical volume is written to a first set of first metadata tables, and the first set of first metadata tables is divided into metadata subsets having a one-to-one correspondence with the data subsets. The metadata subsets are distributed among the multiple digital information devices, and the metadata is copied from the first set of first metadata tables to a second set of corresponding second metadata tables in a one-to-one correspondence with the first metadata tables. The second metadata tables are distributed among the multiple digital information devices, and upon modifying the metadata in a one of the first metadata tables while processing a storage request, the corresponding second metadata table is revised with the updated metadata.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2015
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: David D. Chambliss, Ehood Garmiza, Leah Shalev, Eliyahu Weissbrem