Patents Examined by Mehdi Namazi
  • Patent number: 8250290
    Abstract: A system and method for managing files in a flash memory. The flash memory has a first storage area and a second storage area for storing files. Each of the files has a file header and a data block. The method includes writing the file header of each of the files into the first storage area and setting the first storage area as a first mode, writing the data block of each of the files into the second storage area and setting the second area as a second mode. Responding to the data block of one of the files being completely written into the second storage area, a memory address of the data block stored in the second storage area is written to a corresponding file header.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 21, 2012
    Assignee: Chi Mei Communication Systens, Inc.
    Inventor: Shan-Ruei You
  • Patent number: 8244959
    Abstract: A subset of software objects stored in a first segment of non-volatile memory are identified as requiring frequent write operations or otherwise associated with a high endurance requirement. The subset of software objects are move to a second segment of non-volatile memory with a high endurance capacity, due to the application of wear leveling techniques to the second segment of non-volatile memory. The first and second segments of memory can be located in the same memory device or different memory devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: Atmel Rousset S.A.S.
    Inventors: Yves Fusella, Stephane Godzinski, Laurent Paris, Jean-Pascal Maraninchi, Samuel Charbouillot
  • Patent number: 8245187
    Abstract: To update a firmware without stopping an operation of a disk array apparatus. The disk array apparatus includes a plurality of disk devices providing redundancy, a disk array control device, and a disk controller for controlling the disk devices individually in response to a command issued from the disk array control device. The disk array control device designates a disk device to be updated based on contents of the firmware update command for the disk device, controls firmware update for the designated disk device, disconnects the designated disk device from the host computer temporarily, sets the disk device as being in a temporary degenerate state, and, when a data write or read command is issued from a host computer for the disk device being in the temporary degenerate state, designating a different disk device to execute the command issued from the host computer by using redundancy of the disk devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: NEC Corporation
    Inventor: Masaya Kakinoki
  • Patent number: 8244973
    Abstract: When a data word is designated through a network search engine, a FIFO unit, and the like, a relay apparatus according to the invention searches for an associative memory address corresponding to the data word. Even when the associative memory address is internally converted to a contents memory address, the relay apparatus stores the contents memory address by causing it to correspond to a search result corresponding to the contents memory address as well as outputs the associative memory address together with the search result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
    Inventors: Michio Kuramoto, Kanta Yamamoto
  • Patent number: 8244992
    Abstract: A method that includes, by one or more computer systems, determining a data retrieval rate policy based on at least one data retrieval rate parameter. The method also includes determining at least one storage subsystem performance parameter. The method further includes determining a fragmentation value based on the data retrieval rate policy and the at least one storage subsystem performance parameter. The method additionally includes determining a storage subsystem fragmentation of a first data object. The storage subsystem fragmentation includes fragmenting the first data object into a plurality of first data object fragments. The method also includes deduplicating the first data object based on the fragmentation value and the storage subsystem fragmentation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 14, 2012
    Inventor: Stephen P. Spackman
  • Patent number: 8234442
    Abstract: A method and apparatus for performing a hold operation while keeping the data in place as the data is in a hold state. Such a method and apparatus substantially eliminates the need for a copy operation and thus provides advantages cost and management savings. The method and apparatus define a hold delete operation along with hold life points in a CAS system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2012
    Assignee: Dell Products L.P.
    Inventors: Farzad Khosrowpour, William B. Canaday
  • Patent number: 8230170
    Abstract: The invention discloses a data storage system and a control method thereof. The data storage system according to the invention includes N groups of storage devices, where N is an integer larger than 1. The invention is to judge if the use information of one of the batches of data satisfies the set of condition thresholds relative to the group of storage devices where said one batch of data is stored, and if NO, to re-allocate said one batch of data to one of the group of storage devices whose condition thresholds are satisfied by the use information of said one batch of data and to update the virtual drive locations of said one batch of data mapping the logical locations of the storage devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2010
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2012
    Assignee: Promise Technology, Inc
    Inventors: Hung-Ming Chien, Cheng-Yi Huang, Che-Jen Wang, Kun-Tien Hsu, Yung-Wen Huang
  • Patent number: 8225054
    Abstract: A request is received from a client machine via a web interface for content presented on a web page. A globally unique identifier (GUID) that is associated with the user is accessed and a number is generated based on the GUID. The generated number is utilized as an index to locate the storage device from the number of storage devices. Here, the storage device stores a user profile associated with the user. The user profile is read from the located storage device and the web page is personalized based on this user profile. The personalized web page is then communicated to the client machine. Other techniques for locating a storage device are also described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2012
    Assignee: eBay Inc.
    Inventors: Jean-Michel Leon, Louis Marcel Gino Monier
  • Patent number: 8225059
    Abstract: Proposed are a remote copy system and a remote copy control method capable of performing the operation of remote copy according to the user's usage status. Resource information representing a resource usage status is collected from a first storage apparatus installed at a primary site and a second storage apparatus installed respectively at one or more secondary sites, a transfer mode of differential data between snapshots to be transferred from the first storage apparatus to the second storage apparatus based on the collected resource information, and the first and second storage apparatuses are controlled so as to transfer the differential data from the first storage apparatus to the second storage apparatus based on the decided transfer mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 17, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Sadahiro Nakamura, Nobuyuki Saika
  • Patent number: 8219746
    Abstract: A memory system and methods for memory manage are presented. The memory system includes a volatile memory electrically connected to a high-density memory; a memory controller that expects data to be written or read to or from the memory system at a bandwidth and a latency associated with the volatile memory; a directory within the volatile memory that associates a volatile memory address with data stored in the high-density memory; and redundant storage in the high-density memory that stores a copy of the association between the volatile memory address and the data stored in the high-density memory. The methods for memory management allow writing to and reading from the memory system using a first memory read/write interface (e.g. DRAM interface, etc.), though data is stored in a device of a different memory type (e.g. FLASH, etc.).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 8, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 10, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventor: Robert B. Tremaine
  • Patent number: 8214587
    Abstract: A storage apparatus has a channel board 11; a drive board 13; a cache memory 14; a plurality of processor boards 12 that transfer data; and a shared memory 15. The channel board 11 stores a frame transfer table 521 containing information indicative of correspondence between a LDEV 172 and each of the processor boards 12, set in accordance with a right of ownership that is a right of access to the LDEV 172. The processor boards 12 store LDEV control information 524 in a local memory 123, which is referred to by the processor board at the time of access. The channel board 11 transfers a data frame that forms the received data I/O request, to one of the processor boards 12 corresponding to the LDEV 172 specified from the information contained in the frame by using the frame transfer table 521.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 26, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Takashi Noda, Takashi Ochi, Yoshihito Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 8209471
    Abstract: A memory system according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises: a data managing unit 120 is divided into a DRAM-layer managing unit 120a, a logical-NAND-layer managing unit 120b, and a physical-NAND-layer managing unit 120c to independently perform management of a DRAM layer, a logical NAND layer, and a physical NAND layer using the respective managing units to thereby perform efficient block management.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 10, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2012
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Junji Yano, Kosuke Hatsuda, Hidenori Matsuzaki
  • Patent number: 8209474
    Abstract: A method, computer program product, and computing system for obtaining N data segments for storage within N data planes included within a flash-memory storage device. Each of the N data planes includes a plurality of data blocks. A superblock is defined, wherein the superblock includes a data block from each of the N data planes included within the flash-memory storage device. Data is; and simultaneously writing data to each data block included within the superblock.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2012
    Assignee: EMC Corporation
    Inventors: Patrick J. Weiler, Robert W. Beauchamp
  • Patent number: 8209465
    Abstract: Data are write commanded from a host into a NAND flash memory. The data are saved once in a cache memory before being written into the NAND flash memory. The cache memory includes a physical segment whose size is the product of one page sector size of the NAND flash memory and the m-th power of 2 (m is 0 or a positive integer). A CPU records and manages the data writing status for each physical segment in a sector unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 26, 2012
    Assignee: Hagiwara Sys-Com Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiromichi Oribe, Masaki Takikawa, Yoshihiro Kitou
  • Patent number: 8205038
    Abstract: A flash memory accessing apparatus is disclosed. The flash memory accessing apparatus includes a memory controller, a first open NAND flash interface (ONFI) and an expanding flash memory module. The first ONFI is used for connecting a main flash memory module. The memory controller obtains a detecting result by, detecting whether the main flash memory module and the expanding flash memory module are single side or double side. The memory controller further configures an accessing method of the main flash memory module and the expanding flash memory module according to the detecting result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: Giga-Byte Technology Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hou-Yuan Lin, Chen-Shun Chen
  • Patent number: 8205060
    Abstract: The present application includes methods and system for managing a storage device. In one implementation, a storage allocator that is present in a host or a storage device receives a request to store a file in a storage area of the storage device. The storage allocator marks the file as discardable in a file system structure associated with the storage device and updates a primary file allocation table (“FAT”) to associate a cluster chain that is allocated to the file with the file. The storage allocator additionally updates a discardable FAT or a database to reflect a physical location of the file, or may generate one or more location files that store the physical location of the file. The storage allocator then manages the storage area device based on the FAT and a discardable FAT, database, or one more location files indicating the physical location of the file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 19, 2012
    Assignee: SanDisk IL Ltd.
    Inventors: Judah Gamliel Hahn, Baddireddi Kalyan Venkannadora Jagannadha, Natarajanja Raja Subramanian
  • Patent number: 8200915
    Abstract: A method to produce a reverse skip list data structure in a computer readable medium, comprising: inputting streamed data to packets created in a temporary memory so as to create a sequence of packets; upon completion of creation of a packet in the stream, transferring the completed packet from the temporary memory to persistent memory; providing each of a plurality of respective packets with a respective pointer that skips over at least one other packet in the packet sequence and that indicates a location in persistent memory of a different respective packet in the packet sequence that was transferred to persistent memory prior to such providing of the respective pointer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Ramani Pichumani, Jonathan L. Sanders, Donald J. O'Riordan
  • Patent number: 8200925
    Abstract: A method of data mirroring in a serial-connected memory system between a first and a second memory device. A bypass command is issued to the first memory device, then a write data packet is provided to the first and second memory devices, and then a write data packet command is provided to the first and second memory devices by wherein the write data packet is passed to the second memory device through the first memory device. Mirroring of the write data packet into the first and second memory devices is thereby achieved. ECC (error correction codes) within spare fields provide means for recovering data after failure. The serial-connected memory system is especially useful for implementing SSD (solid-state disk) memory systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 6, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: Mosaid Technologies Incorporated
    Inventors: HakJune Oh, William Petrie
  • Patent number: 8200889
    Abstract: Disclosed is a method and apparatus embodying a flash translation layer (FTL) in a storage device including a flash memory. The FTL may classify a block into a sequential group and a fusion group based on a locality of a write request. The FTL may store data in blocks of the fusion group by using a page mapping scheme, and sequentially store data by using a block mapping scheme. The FTL may improve efficiency of garbage collection operation that is performed by using limited redundant blocks and also may increase efficiency of a non-sequential reference operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 12, 2012
    Assignee: University of Seoul Industry Cooperation Foundation
    Inventors: Hunki Kwon, Eunsam Kim, Jongmoo Choi, Donghee Lee, Sam H. Noh
  • Patent number: 8195909
    Abstract: The present disclosure provides a method in a data storage system. The method includes defining a plurality of jobs for a command received from a host. Each of the plurality of jobs is associated with one or more of a plurality of data storage resources of the data storage system. The plurality of jobs have a defined order that is a function of addresses of data in the plurality of data storage resources. The method also includes issuing the plurality of jobs to the associated data storage resources and receiving information from the data storage resources for the plurality of jobs. The information is received by a controller of the data storage system for the jobs in an order that is different than the defined order. The method includes transmitting the received information to the host for the plurality of jobs in the defined order.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: June 5, 2012
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Jonathan Williams Haines, Brett Alan Cook, Timothy Richard Feldman, Paul Michael Wiggins