Patents by Inventor Gerald A. Houlder

Gerald A. Houlder 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).

  • Patent number: 6493804
    Abstract: A system includes shared Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) storage devices for processing clients coupled by a fiber channel interface. The storage devices include storage blocks, and locks controlling their use by clients. Clients issue actions to the storage devices for performing operations on the locks. A client may exclude other clients from using storage blocks using a state element to acquire the lock for shared or exclusive use. If the client modified the data, a version counter in the lock is updated when the lock is released. If an activity bit is set, the version counter is updated upon both reading and writing. Other clients can forcibly release a lock owned by a failed client by monitoring its version counter. Expiration timers associated with the locks allow acquired locks to be released by timing out. A serverless global file system (GFS) manages use of the shared storage resources, and allows remapping of the locks to the storage blocks, for example, based on activity of the locks.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 10, 2002
    Assignees: Regents of the University of Minnesota, Seagate Technology, Inc.
    Inventors: Steven R. Soltis, Matthew T. O'Keefe, Thomas M. Ruwart, Gerald A. Houlder, James A. Coomes, Michael H. Miller, Edward A. Soltis, Raymond W. Gilson, Kenneth W. Preslan
  • Patent number: 6286056
    Abstract: A disc drive includes a disc which is coupled to a spindle motor for rotation. A head in the disc drive is configured to read and write data upon the disc. The disc drive also includes a controller which is couplable to an SCSI interface, and adapted to store persistent reservation information on the disc. Methods are also provided by which SCSI compliant devices can respond to persistent reservations commands in accordance with the present invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 1998
    Date of Patent: September 4, 2001
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventors: Brian T. Edgar, Gerald A. Houlder