Patents Examined by Jasmine Song
  • Patent number: 9946460
    Abstract: A method for generating a virtual volume (VV) in a storage system architecture. The architecture comprises a host and one or more disk array subsystems. Each subsystem comprises a storage controller. One or more of the subsystems comprises a physical storage device (PSD) array. The method comprises the following steps: mapping the PSD array into a plurality of media extents (MEs), each of the MEs comprises a plurality of sections; providing a virtual pool (VP) to implement a section cross-referencing function, wherein a section index (SI) of each of the sections contained in the VP is defined by the VP to cross-reference VP sections to physical ME locations; providing a conversion method or procedure or function for mapping VP capacity into to a VV; and presenting the VV to the host. A storage subsystem and a storage system architecture performing the method are also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: INFORTREND TECHNOLOGY, INC.
    Inventors: Michael Gordon Schnapp, Ching-Hua Fang
  • Patent number: 9946478
    Abstract: A memory managing method, a memory control circuit unit and a memory storage apparatus are provided. The method includes: setting a read-disturb threshold for each of a plurality of physical erasing units; adjusting the read-disturb threshold of a first physical erasing unit according to state information of a rewritable non-volatile memory module; and performing a read-disturb prevention operation according to the read-disturb threshold of the first physical erasing unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: April 17, 2018
    Assignee: PHISON ELECTRONICS CORP.
    Inventor: Kok-Yong Tan
  • Patent number: 9934157
    Abstract: A system and methods for migrating a virtual machine (VM). In one embodiment, a hypervisor receives a request to migrate the contents of a memory of a source VM in a first physical memory area to a destination VM in a second physical memory area, where the first and second physical memory areas are disjoint. The hypervisor executes the destination VM in response to the request, and detects an access of a page of memory of the destination VM. The hypervisor determines, in view of a data structure maintained by a guest operating system executing in the destination VM, that a first page of a memory of the source VM in the first physical memory area is currently in use by the destination VM.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 25, 2015
    Date of Patent: April 3, 2018
    Assignee: Red Hat Israel, Ltd.
    Inventors: Michael Tsirkin, David A. Gilbert
  • Patent number: 9916095
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for fork-safe memory allocation from memory-mapped files. A child process may be provided a memory mapping at a same virtual address as a parent process, but the memory mapping may map the virtual address to a different location within a file than for the parent process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Kove IP, LLC
    Inventors: Timothy A. Stabrawa, Andrew S. Poling, Zachary A. Cornelius, Jesse I. Taylor, John Overton
  • Patent number: 9898438
    Abstract: A memory system includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is configured to transmit a data signal corresponding to a first symbol lock pattern and a data burst via an interface. The data burst includes a first data and a subsequent data. The receiver is configured to receive the data signal, to detect the first symbol lock pattern based on the received data signal, and to find the first data of the data burst according to the detected first symbol lock pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 9, 2015
    Date of Patent: February 20, 2018
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Hye-Ran Kim, Tae-Young Oh
  • Patent number: 9886210
    Abstract: Embodiments of the invention provide systems and methods for managing processing, memory, storage, network, and cloud computing to significantly improve the efficiency and performance of processing nodes. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention are directed to a hardware-based processing node of an object memory fabric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2016
    Date of Patent: February 6, 2018
    Assignee: ULTRATA, LLC
    Inventors: Steven J. Frank, Larry Reback
  • Patent number: 9880738
    Abstract: A storage controller configures a plurality of storage tiers. A sub-unit of a storage unit is maintained in a selected storage tier of the plurality of storage tiers, for at least a predetermined duration of time subsequent to an input/output (I/O) request for the sub-unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Bradley S. Powers, Gail A. Spear, Teena N. Werley
  • Patent number: 9881169
    Abstract: A data processing system may have a strict separation of processor tasks and data categories, wherein processor tasks are separated into software loading and initialization (loading processor) and data processing (main processor) and data categories are separated into address data, instructions, internal function data, target data of the main processor and target data of the loading processor. In this way, protection is provided against malware, irrespective of the transmission medium and of the type of malware, and also against future malware and without performance losses in the computer system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Inventor: Friedhelm Becker
  • Patent number: 9880934
    Abstract: Methods and systems are presented for allocating CPU cycles among processes in a storage system. One method includes operations for maintaining segments in a first memory, each segment including blocks, and for maintaining a block temperature for each block in a second memory. The first memory is a read-cache where one segment is written at a time, and each block is readable from the first memory without reading the corresponding complete segment. The block temperature is based on the frequency of access to the respective block, and a segment temperature is based on the block temperature of its blocks. Additionally, the segment with the lowest segment temperature is selected for eviction from the second memory, and blocks in the selected segment with a block temperature greater than a threshold temperature are identified. The selected segment is evicted, and a segment with the identified blocks is written to the first memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 2, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 30, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
    Inventors: Pradeep Shetty, Sandeep Karmarkar, Senthil Kumar Ramamoorthy, Umesh Maheshwari, Vanco Buca
  • Patent number: 9875046
    Abstract: Data is relocated, based on an intelligent data placement algorithm, from a first storage location to a second storage location in a disk storage system. A data placement record is generated including a virtual disk location associated with the data, the second storage location, and a first sequence value. The first sequence value indicates relative sequence when compared to other sequence values. The data placement record is written to a first record location on a first tape cartridge loaded in a tape drive. The data placement records are used with data records to restore data to disk storage from tape backup.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Joshua J. Crawford, Paul A. Jennas, II, Jason L. Peipelman, Matthew J. Ward
  • Patent number: 9875163
    Abstract: An operating state of each of a plurality of storage units of a storage system is periodically monitored, including a storage capacity, a throughput, and overlap of clients associated with the storage units. In response to a request to redistribute data from a first of the storage units to another storage unit, a cost factor for each of remaining storage units to relocate the data of the first storage unit to each of the remaining storage units is determined. A cost factor of each of the remaining storage units is determined based on at least one of the storage capacity, the throughput, or the overlap of clients of the storage unit. A second of the storage units having a lowest cost factor amongst the remaining storage units is selected. At least a portion of the data of the first storage unit is migrated to the second storage unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 23, 2018
    Assignee: EMC IP Holding Company LLC
    Inventors: Frederick Douglis, R. Hugo Patterson, Philip Shilane
  • Patent number: 9870814
    Abstract: A detection circuit is provided for a particular group of memory cells in a memory device, where the detection circuit is to be updated in response to at least one access of data and at least one neighboring group of memory cells. The particular group of memory cells is refreshed in response to an indication from the detection circuit, where the indication indicates presence of potential disturbance of the particular group of memory cells.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 22, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 16, 2018
    Assignee: Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP
    Inventor: Darel N. Emmot
  • Patent number: 9864681
    Abstract: Apparatus and method embodiments for dynamically allocating cache space in a multi-threaded execution environment are disclosed. In some embodiments, a processor includes a cache shared by each of a plurality of processor cores and/or each of a plurality of threads executing on the processor. The processor further includes a cache allocation circuit configured to dynamically allocate space in the cache provided to each of the plurality of processor cores based on their respective usage patterns. The cache allocation unit may track cache usage by each of the processor cores/threads using subsets of usage bits and counters configured to update states of the usage bits. The cache allocation circuit may track the usage of cache space by the processor cores/threads and may allocate more space to those that exhibit more usage of the cache.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 1, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 9, 2018
    Assignee: ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES, INC.
    Inventor: William L. Walker
  • Patent number: 9858205
    Abstract: A system includes a cache and a cache-management component. The cache includes a plurality of cache lines that correspond to a plurality of device endpoints. The cache-management component is configured to receive a transfer request block (TRB) for data transfer involving a device endpoint. In response to a determination that the cache both (i) does not include a cache line assigned to the device endpoint and (ii) does not include an empty cache line, the cache-management component assigns, to the device endpoint, a last cache line that includes a most recently received TRB in the cache, and stores the received TRB to the last cache line.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: MARVELL WORLD TRADE LTD.
    Inventors: Xingzhi Wen, Yu Hong, Hefei Zhu, Qunzhao Tian, Jeanne Q. Cai, Shaori Guo
  • Patent number: 9857985
    Abstract: A mechanism is provided for providing information about fragmentation of a file on a sequential access medium by a computer system is disclosed. An actual time for reading the file recorded on the sequential access medium is estimated based on a physical position of the file. A total length of the file on the sequential access medium is calculated based on a physical length of each data piece constituting the file. An expected time for reading the file by assuming that the file is rewritten continuously is estimated based on the total length of the file. Information about the fragmentation of the file is then provided based on the actual time and the expected time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: January 2, 2018
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Tohru Hasegawa, Hiroshi Itagaki, Sosuke Matsui, Shinsuke Mitsuma, Tsuyoshi Miyamura, Noriko Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 9836229
    Abstract: A N-way merge technique efficiently updates metadata in accordance with a N-way merge operation managed by a volume layer of a storage input/output (I/O) stack executing on one or more nodes of a cluster. The metadata is embodied as mappings from logical block addresses (LBAs) of a logical unit (LUN) accessible by a host to durable extent keys, and is organized as a multi-level dense tree. The mappings are organized such that a higher level of the dense tree contains more recent mappings than a next lower level, i.e., the level immediately below. The N-way merge operation is an efficient (i.e., optimized) way of updating the volume metadata mappings of the dense tree by merging the mapping content of all three levels in a single iteration, as opposed to merging the content of the first level with the content of the second level in a first iteration of a two-way merge operation and then merging the results of the first iteration with the content of the third level in a second iteration of the operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Janice D'Sa, Ling Zheng, Blake H. Lewis
  • Patent number: 9836277
    Abstract: A Processing-In-Memory (PIM) model in which computations related to the POPCOUNT and logical bitwise operations are implemented within a memory module and not within a host Central Processing Unit (CPU). The in-memory executions thus eliminate the need to shift data from large bit vectors throughout the entire system. By off-loading the processing of these operations to the memory, the redundant data transfers over the memory-CPU interface are greatly reduced, thereby improving system performance and energy efficiency. A controller and a dedicated register in the logic die of the memory module operate to interface with the host and provide in-memory executions of popcounting and logical bitwise operations requested by the host. The PIM model of the present disclosure thus frees up the CPU for other tasks because many real-time analytics tasks can now be executed within a PIM-enabled memory itself. The memory module may be a Three Dimensional Stack (3DS) memory or any other semiconductor memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 5, 2017
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Zvika Guz, Liang Yin
  • Patent number: 9830083
    Abstract: A memory chip, a memory system, and a method of accessing the memory chip. The memory chip includes a substrate, a first storage unit, and a second storage unit. The first storage unit includes a plurality of first memory cells may have a first storage capacity of 2n. The plurality of first memory cells may be configured to activate in response to a first selection signal. The second storage unit includes a plurality of second memory cells and may have a second storage capacity of 2n+1. The plurality of second memory cells may be configured to activate in response to a second selection signal.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 28, 2017
    Assignee: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Chul-sung Park, Joo-sun Choi
  • Patent number: 9823841
    Abstract: A definition is received of at least one data object and a compute object from a host at a storage compute device. A first key is associated with the at least one data object and a second key is associated with the compute object. A command is received from the host to perform a computation that links the first and second keys. The computation is defined by the compute object and acts on the data object. The computation is performed via the storage compute device using the compute object and the data object in response to the command.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 15, 2014
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY LLC
    Inventors: David Scott Ebsen, Ryan James Goss, Jeffrey L. Whaley, Dana Simonson
  • Patent number: 9824011
    Abstract: A method and an apparatus for processing data and a computer system are provided. The method includes copying a shared virtual memory page to which a first process requests access into off-chip memory of a computing node, and using the shared virtual memory page copied into the off-chip memory as a working page of the first process; and before the first process performs a write operation on the working page, creating, in on-chip memory of the computing node, a backup page of the working page, so as to back up original data of the working page. Before a write operation is performed on a working page, page data is backed up in the on-chip memory, so as to ensure data consistency when multiple processes perform an operation on a shared virtual memory page while accessing off-chip memory as less as possible and improving a speed of a program.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: November 21, 2017
    Assignee: HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Kingtin Lam, Jinghao Shi, Cho-li Wang, Wangbin Zhu