Patents by Inventor Akinobu Shimada

Akinobu Shimada has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20130275690
    Abstract: The present invention is able to improve the processing performance of a storage system by respectively virtualizing the external volumes and enabling the shared use of such external volumes by a plurality of available virtualization storage devices. By virtualizing and incorporating the external volume of an external storage device, a first virtualization storage device is able to provide the volume to a host as though it is an internal volume. When the load of the first virtualization storage device increases, a second virtualization storage device 2 is newly introduced, and connected to the storage system. When a transfer direction is issued from a management terminal, the external volume relating to the selected logical volume is transferred from the first virtualization storage device to the second virtualization storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 7, 2013
    Publication date: October 17, 2013
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Masataka Innan, Akira Murotani, Akinobu Shimada
  • Patent number: 8484425
    Abstract: The present invention is able to improve the processing performance of a storage system by respectively virtualizing the external volumes and enabling the shared use of such external volumes by a plurality of available virtualization storage devices. By virtualizing and incorporating the external volume of an external storage device, a first virtualization storage device is able to provide the volume to a host as though it is an internal volume. When the load of the first virtualization storage device increases, a second virtualization storage device 2 is newly introduced, and connected to the storage system. When a transfer direction is issued from a management terminal, the external volume relating to the selected logical volume is transferred from the first virtualization storage device to the second virtualization storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 31, 2011
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masataka Innan, Akira Murotani, Akinobu Shimada
  • Patent number: 8375235
    Abstract: A storage system including: a storage apparatus including a plurality of storage devices on which a plurality of logical units is configured and a first controller that controls accesses to the plurality of logical units; and a file server coupled to said storage apparatus and including a second controller and a memory storing management information which indicates relationships between each of the plurality of logical units and each of a plurality of indicators; wherein the first controller, in response to a request to create a first folder with a first indicator, creates the folder on one or more first logical units included in the plurality of logical units, the one or more first logical units related to the first indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2012
    Date of Patent: February 12, 2013
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masataka Innan, Shigeo Homma, Akinobu Shimada, Hideo Tabuchi
  • Patent number: 8281098
    Abstract: The storage system includes a first storage system and a second storage system. The first storage system, which is coupled to a computer and the second storage system, includes a first storage control device and a plurality of first storage units. The second storage system includes a plurality of second storage units. The first storage control device provides the computer with a logical unit assigned to at least one of the second storage units, receives a first access request from the computer and sends a second access request to one of plurality of the second storage units, obtains performance information relating to the second access request, and moves data stored in at least one of the plurality of second storage units to at least one of the first storage units according to the performance information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 2, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Eguchi, Yasutomo Yamamoto, Ai Satoyama, Akinobu Shimada
  • Publication number: 20120179925
    Abstract: A storage system including: a storage apparatus including a plurality of storage devices on which a plurality of logical units is configured and a first controller that controls accesses to the plurality of logical units; and a file server coupled to said storage apparatus and including a second controller and a memory storing management information which indicates relationships between each of the plurality of logical units and each of a plurality of indicators; wherein the first controller, in response to a request to create a first folder with a first indicator, creates the folder on one or more first logical units included in the plurality of logical units, the one or more first logical units related to the first indicator.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 5, 2012
    Publication date: July 12, 2012
    Inventors: Masataka Innan, Shigeo Homma, Akinobu Shimada, Hideo Tabuchi
  • Patent number: 8180979
    Abstract: The present invention is able to improve the processing performance of a storage system by respectively virtualizing the external volumes and enabling the shared use of such external volumes by a plurality of available virtualization storage devices. By virtualizing and incorporating the external volume of an external storage device, a first virtualization storage device is able to provide the volume to a host as though it is an internal volume. When the load of the first virtualization storage device increases, a second virtualization storage device 2 is newly introduced, and connected to the storage system. When a transfer direction is issued from a management terminal, the external volume relating to the selected logical volume is transferred from the first virtualization storage device to the second virtualization storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: May 15, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masataka Innan, Akira Murotani, Akinobu Shimada
  • Patent number: 8132033
    Abstract: There is provided a storage system including a file server connecting to a computer over a network and a storage apparatus connecting to the file server connecting over the network, wherein the file server includes a first controller, the storage apparatus includes multiple storage devices having multiple storage areas and a second controller that controls accesses to the multiple storage areas, each of the multiple storage areas has at least one power saving mode among multiple power saving modes with different shift times from the power saving modes to a ready mode, the first controller, in response to the reception of data from the computer, sets an indicator relating to the performance of response to an access from the computer to the data and refers to the indicator of the data and selects a first storage area having the power saving mode satisfying the indicator, and the second controller stores the data to the first storage area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 24, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 6, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masataka Innan, Shigeo Homma, Akinobu Shimada, Hideo Tabuchi
  • Publication number: 20120042138
    Abstract: The storage system includes a first storage system and a second storage system. The first storage system, which is coupled to a computer and the second storage system, includes a first storage control device and a plurality of first storage units. The second storage system includes a plurality of second storage units. The first storage control device provides the computer with a logical unit assigned to at least one of the second storage units, receives a first access request from the computer and sends a second access request to one of plurality of the second storage units, obtains performance information relating to the second access request, and moves data stored in at least one of the plurality of second storage units to at least one of the first storage units according to the performance information.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 20, 2011
    Publication date: February 16, 2012
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Eguchi, Yasutomo Yamamoto, Ai Satoyama, Akinobu Shimada
  • Patent number: 8108337
    Abstract: Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for controlling a first storage system receiving commands from a first and second managers to create a consistency group with a second storage system. Host writes are received at the first storage system, wherein the first storage system includes a first storage system primary site and a first storage system secondary site. The first storage system sends the host writes from the first storage system primary site to the first storage system secondary site. Host write operations are quiesced at the first storage system in response to a first command from a first manager. Host write operations are resumed at the first storage system in response to receiving a second command from the first manager. The first storage system receives a run command with a marker, wherein the marker indicates a cycle number to control the cycles of the first and second storage systems.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth Wayne Boyd, Kenneth Fairclough Day, III, Gerardo De Jesus Frias Garcia, John Earle Lindley, Gregory Edward McBride, Ryusuke Ito, Yasumitsu Mizoguchi, Kenta Ninose, Akinobu Shimada, Tsutomu Sukigara
  • Patent number: 8099387
    Abstract: Provided are a method, system, and article of manufacture for managing consistency groups using heterogeneous replication engines replicating data. A common linkage manager issues a prepare to create consistency group command to a first replication manager and a second replication manager, wherein the first and second replication managers issue create consistency group commands to first and second replication engines, respectively, to form a consistency group of data at a first source storage and a second source storage to copy to a first target storage and second target storage, respectively.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2008
    Date of Patent: January 17, 2012
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Kenneth Wayne Boyd, Kenneth Fairclough Day, III, Gerardo De Jesus Frias Garcia, John Earle Lindley, Gregory Edward McBride, Ryusuke Ito, Yasumitsu Mizoguchi, Kenta Ninose, Akinobu Shimada, Tsutomu Sukigara
  • Publication number: 20110314250
    Abstract: The present invention is able to improve the processing performance of a storage system by respectively virtualizing the external volumes and enabling the shared use of such external volumes by a plurality of available virtualization storage devices. By virtualizing and incorporating the external volume of an external storage device, a first virtualization storage device is able to provide the volume to a host as though it is an internal volume. When the load of the first virtualization storage device increases, a second virtualization storage device 2 is newly introduced, and connected to the storage system. When a transfer direction is issued from a management terminal, the external volume relating to the selected logical volume is transferred from the first virtualization storage device to the second virtualization storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 31, 2011
    Publication date: December 22, 2011
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Masataka Innan, Akira Murotani, Akinobu Shimada
  • Patent number: 8078810
    Abstract: The present invention is able to improve the processing performance of a storage system by respectively virtualizing the external volumes and enabling the shared use of such external volumes by a plurality of available virtualization storage devices. By virtualizing and incorporating the external volume of an external storage device, a first virtualization storage device is able to provide the volume to a host as though it is an internal volume. When the load of the first virtualization storage device increases, a second virtualization storage device 2 is newly introduced, and connected to the storage system. When a transfer direction is issued from a management terminal, the external volume relating to the selected logical volume is transferred from the first virtualization storage device to the second virtualization storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masataka Innan, Akira Murotani, Akinobu Shimada
  • Patent number: 8046554
    Abstract: The storage system includes a storage subsystem including a plurality of storage units and a storage control device coupled to a computer and the storage subsystem, the storage control device providing the host computer with a logical unit assigned to a storage unit of the storage subsystem. The storage control device receives a first access request from the computer to the logical unit and sends a second access request to the storage unit of the storage subsystem according to a relation between the storage unit of the storage subsystem and the logical unit assigned to the storage unit. Performance information relating to the second access request by the storage control device is obtained so that the storage control device determines performance relating to the logical unit assigned to the storage unit of the storage subsystem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2010
    Date of Patent: October 25, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Eguchi, Yasutomo Yamamoto, Ai Satoyama, Akinobu Shimada
  • Patent number: 7953942
    Abstract: The present invention is able to improve the processing performance of a storage system by respectively virtualizing the external volumes and enabling the shared use of such external volumes by a plurality of available virtualization storage devices. By virtualizing and incorporating the external volume of an external storage device, a first virtualization storage device is able to provide the volume to a host as though it is an internal volume. When the load of the first virtualization storage device increases, a second virtualization storage device 2 is newly introduced, and connected to the storage system. When a transfer direction is issued from a management terminal, the external volume relating to the selected logical volume is transferred from the first virtualization storage device to the second virtualization storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: May 31, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Masataka Innan, Akira Murotani, Akinobu Shimada
  • Patent number: 7937513
    Abstract: A method for controlling a storage system including a host computer, and a first and a second storage control apparatuses each receiving a data input/output request from the host computer and executing a data input/output process for a storage device in response to the request, comprises connecting a first communication path between the host computer and the first apparatus; connecting a second communication path between the first apparatus and the second apparatus; receiving by the first apparatus a first data input/output request from the host computer through the first path; when the first apparatus has judged that the first request is not for the first apparatus, transmitting by the first apparatus a second data input/output request corresponding to the first request, to the second apparatus through the second path; and by the second apparatus, receiving the second request and executing a data input/output process corresponding to the second request received.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 27, 2008
    Date of Patent: May 3, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hiroshi Ohno, Kouji Arai, Toshio Nakano, Hideo Tabuchi, Akinobu Shimada, Ai Satoyama, Yasutomo Yamamoto, Yoshiaki Eguchi
  • Patent number: 7930502
    Abstract: A disk array apparatus capable of effecting saving and operation of data through a simple construction. When a host computer sets “write inhibit” or “read/write inhibit” for an LDEV which is set on a first storage device, this setting is registered in an access attribute management table and is also reflected onto a migration management table. A migration control program moves the LDEV for which access limitation has been set to a lower-speed (lower-performance) second storage device or to an external storage device. When the access limitation is released, the moved LDEV is restored to the first storage device from the storage device to which the LDEV has been moved. By performing migration control in interlocking relation to control of access attributes, it is possible to obtain a simple data saving function and data management function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2010
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2011
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Akinobu Shimada, Yasuaki Nakamura
  • Publication number: 20100325379
    Abstract: In a storage subsystem, performance tuning is performed with respect to all of the logical devices including external storage subsystems that are not directly connected to host computers. The physical storage units presented by the external storage subsystems are defined as logical devices of the storage subsystem, and I/O processing requests from the host computers are relayed to the logical devices. At the time of relaying, I/O processing conditions are monitored. When the load of an external storage subsystem is high, then operating conditions of ports and processors are examined. When the load can be reduced by changing the configuration of those ports and processors, the configuration is changed to reduce the load. When the load can not be reduced, data is migrated from a logical device having a high load to a logical device having a sufficient performance.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2010
    Publication date: December 23, 2010
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Eguchi, Yasutomo Yamamoto, Ai Satoyama, Akinobu Shimada
  • Publication number: 20100274963
    Abstract: The present invention is able to improve the processing performance of a storage system by respectively virtualizing the external volumes and enabling the shared use of such external volumes by a plurality of available virtualization storage devices. By virtualizing and incorporating the external volume of an external storage device, a first virtualization storage device is able to provide the volume to a host as though it is an internal volume. When the load of the first virtualization storage device increases, a second virtualization storage device 2 is newly introduced, and connected to the storage system. When a transfer direction is issued from a management terminal, the external volume relating to the selected logical volume is transferred from the first virtualization storage device to the second virtualization storage device.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 6, 2010
    Publication date: October 28, 2010
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Masataka Innan, Akira Murotani, Akinobu Shimada
  • Patent number: 7809906
    Abstract: In a storage subsystem, performance tuning is performed with respect to whole logical devices including external storage subsystems that are not directly connected to host computers. Physical storage units presented by the external storage subsystems are defined as logical devices of the storage subsystem itself, and I/O processing requests from the host computers are relayed to those logical devices. At the time of relaying, I/O processing conditions are monitored. When there exists an external storage subsystem whose load is high, then, operating conditions of ports and processors are examined. In the case where the load can be reduced by changing the configuration of those ports and processors, the configuration is changed to reduce the load. In the case where the load can not be reduced, data is migrated from a logical device having a high load to a logical device having a sufficient performance.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 28, 2004
    Date of Patent: October 5, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Yoshiaki Eguchi, Yasutomo Yamamoto, Ai Satoyama, Akinobu Shimada
  • Patent number: 7739463
    Abstract: A computer system including: disk array system to cause a snapshot corresponding to the selected backup time accessible with the specific address to which the computer can access; wherein if the snapshot corresponding to the selected backup time is associated with the specific address to which the computer cannot access, then the disk array system making the snapshot accessible with an address to which the computer can access; and wherein the snapshot relates to differential data between initial backup data and actual backup data at the selected backup time, thereby an acquisition time of the snapshot is different than the selected backup time corresponding to the specific address that can be accessed initially by the computer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 15, 2010
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hideo Tabuchi, Akinobu Shimada, Masataka Innan