Patents by Inventor Norihiko Kawakami

Norihiko Kawakami 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: 10168945
    Abstract: A storage apparatus includes: first storage devices; second storage devices that are lower in performance than the first storage devices; and a controller coupled to an external storage apparatus including third storage devices that are lower in reliability than the first storage devices and the second storage devices and coupled to the first storage devices and the second storage devices. The controller controls data migration between the first storage devices and the second storage devices based on an I/O frequency. When the total size of data stored for a predetermined period or more among data stored in the second storage devices is equal to or larger than a predetermined size threshold, the controller transmits the data stored in the second storage devices for the predetermined period or more, to the external storage apparatus.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 1, 2019
    Assignee: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Naoko Kumagai, Norihiko Kawakami
  • Publication number: 20170308321
    Abstract: A storage apparatus includes: first storage devices; second storage devices that are lower in performance than the first storage devices; and a controller coupled to an external storage apparatus including third storage devices that are lower in reliability than the first storage devices and the second storage devices and coupled to the first storage devices and the second storage devices. The controller controls data migration between the first storage devices and the second storage devices based on an I/O frequency. When the total size of data stored for a predetermined period or more among data stored in the second storage devices is equal to or larger than a predetermined size threshold, the controller transmits the data stored in the second storage devices for the predetermined period or more, to the external storage apparatus.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 29, 2014
    Publication date: October 26, 2017
    Applicant: Hitachi ,Ltd.
    Inventors: Naoko KUMAGAI, Norihiko KAWAKAMI
  • Patent number: 9658779
    Abstract: A computer system comprises a computer sub-system. The computer sub-system includes a physical resource, on which both a virtual server as a virtual server apparatus and a virtual storage as a virtual storage apparatus are based. That is, a part of the physical resource is assigned to the virtual server, and another part of the physical resource is assigned to the virtual storage. Any part of the physical resource may be assigned to either of the virtual server and the virtual storage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 31, 2013
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2017
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Azuma Kano, Keisuke Hatasaki
  • Publication number: 20150378604
    Abstract: A computer system comprises a computer sub-system. The computer sub-system includes a physical resource, on which both a virtual server as a virtual server apparatus and a virtual storage as a virtual storage apparatus are based. That is, a part of the physical resource is assigned to the virtual server, and another part of the physical resource is assigned to the virtual storage. Any part of the physical resource may be assigned to either of the virtual server and the virtual storage.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 31, 2013
    Publication date: December 31, 2015
    Inventors: Norihiko KAWAKAMI, Azuma KANO, Keisuke HATASAKI
  • Patent number: 8806126
    Abstract: Provided are a storage apparatus, a storage system, and a data migration method, with which a plurality of pool areas are assigned to a plurality of virtual volumes, the virtual volumes comprise virtual disks, the virtual disks comprise a plurality of logical segments, the pool areas comprise real volumes, the real volumes comprise a plurality of physical segments, logical segments are managed in association with physical segments, for each of the plurality of pool areas, and, if one virtual disk which is associated with one pool area is migrated to another pool area which differs from the one pool area, duplicate determination of data in the one pool area is executed, a data duplicate determination between the one pool area and the other pool area is executed on the basis of the result of the duplicate determination, and the one virtual disk is migrated to the other pool area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Hiroshi Hirayama, Toru Tanaka
  • Patent number: 8732129
    Abstract: Provided is a storage system including: a first interface connected to a host computer; a second interface connected to a manager terminal; a control unit connected to the first interface and the second interface and equipping a processor and a memory; and one or more disk drives in which data that is requested to read by the host computer is stored, in which the control unit detects an access from the host computer to the first interface and an access from the manager terminal to the second interface, and generates log data of operations according to the accesses. Accordingly, log data concerning every action and every operation of the storage system is maintained and stored.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 31, 2012
    Date of Patent: May 20, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Tetsuya Shirogane
  • Patent number: 8677167
    Abstract: To enable power saving control by putting storage areas of the same attribute together in a specific RAID group in a storage apparatus that includes storage areas of different access patterns. The storage apparatus manages attributes of the RAID groups, which form a pool area, and attributes of the respective storage areas, based on an access log for each of the storage areas allocated to virtual volumes. The apparatus enables a power saving operation for each RAID group by putting the storage areas of each attribute together in a specific RAID group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Hajime Mori, Hiroshi Hirayama
  • Patent number: 8639899
    Abstract: A storage apparatus providing a logical storage area for storing data to an external apparatus, includes a plurality of storage devices each providing a physical storage area for storing the data, the storage devices being different from each other in device property including data input/output performance, a capacity virtualization part managing the physical storage areas of the storage devices as unit physical storage areas each having a predetermined storage capacity and managing the unit physical storage areas in association with a plurality of unit logical storage areas forming the logical storage area, a tier controller managing the plurality of unit physical storage areas by classifying into a plurality of tiers the unit physical storage areas provided by the storage devices having the different device properties, and a redundant data management part managing redundant unit storage areas which are a plurality of the unit physical storage areas storing the same data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 26, 2011
    Date of Patent: January 28, 2014
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Hiroshi Hirayama
  • Publication number: 20130311739
    Abstract: Provided are a storage apparatus, a storage system, and a data migration method with which, if data of a virtual disk which belongs to one pool area is migrated to another pool area, the migration time and processing load can be reduced by migrating the data while maintaining duplicate determination. Logical segments in virtual disks are managed in association with physical segments in the pool areas, for each of the plurality of pool areas, and, if one virtual disk which is associated with one pool area is migrated to another pool area which differs from the one pool area, duplicate determination of data in the one pool area is executed, a data duplicate determination between the one pool area and the other pool area is executed on the basis of the result of the duplicate determination, and the one virtual disk is migrated to the other pool area.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 16, 2012
    Publication date: November 21, 2013
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Hiroshi Hirayama, Toru Tanaka
  • Patent number: 8463981
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage apparatus that can suppress access performance degradation owing to processing of data deduplication. The storage apparatus according to the present invention acquires a sum of the access frequencies to each of redundantly allocated pieces of data, and performs the deduplication on the pieces of data having the sum of access frequencies less than a prescribed threshold.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 8, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Hajime Mori, Norihiko Kawakami, Hiroshi Hirayama, Katsumi Ouchi
  • Patent number: 8423795
    Abstract: Proposed are a storage controller equipped with an encryption function, a data encryption method, and a storage system enabling a user to apply one's desired encryption policy to data received from a computer or the like. This storage controller includes a storage apparatus for storing data from a computer, and a controller for controlling the input and output of data stored in the storage apparatus. The controller has a configuration information management unit for managing configuration information of attributes concerning an encryption function as information for encrypting data, and an encryption execution unit for performing encryption of data from the computer and data stored in the storage apparatus based on the configuration information of attributes concerning the encryption function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 4, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 16, 2013
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventor: Norihiko Kawakami
  • Publication number: 20120278569
    Abstract: A storage apparatus providing a logical storage area for storing data to an external apparatus, includes a plurality of storage devices each providing a physical storage area for storing the data, the storage devices being different from each other in device property including data input/output performance, a capacity virtualization part managing the physical storage areas of the storage devices as unit physical storage areas each having a predetermined storage capacity and managing the unit physical storage areas in association with a plurality of unit logical storage areas forming the logical storage area, a tier controller managing the plurality of unit physical storage areas by classifying into a plurality of tiers the unit physical storage areas provided by the storage devices having the different device properties, and a redundant data management part managing redundant unit storage areas which are a plurality of the unit physical storage areas storing the same data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 26, 2011
    Publication date: November 1, 2012
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Hiroshi Hirayama
  • Publication number: 20120239879
    Abstract: Provided is a storage system including: a first interface connected to a host computer; a second interface connected to a manager terminal; a control unit connected to the first interface and the second interface and equipping a processor and a memory; and one or more disk drives in which data that is requested to read by the host computer is stored, in which the control unit detects an access from the host computer to the first interface and an access from the manager terminal to the second interface, and generates log data of operations according to the accesses. Accordingly, log data concerning every action and every operation of the storage system is maintained and stored.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 31, 2012
    Publication date: September 20, 2012
    Inventors: Norihiko KAWAKAMI, Tetsuya SHIROGANE
  • Patent number: 8255715
    Abstract: In the process of controlling a plurality of storage devices 190 in any one of a normal mode and a plurality of power-saving modes (such as standby and LRPM), a controller 110 selects the storage devices whose mode should be shifted from the normal mode to any of the power-saving modes; and before shifting to control of the selected storage devices in any of the power-saving modes, the controller calculates time and electric power required to make the selected storage devices return from each power-saving mode to the normal mode; and based on each calculated value, the controller sets a combination of power-saving modes and the number of storage devices that satisfy the return conditions defined by the host timeout period and the supplied power; and then, the controller controls the selected number of storage devices in the set combination of power-saving modes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2009
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Kenta Shiga
  • Patent number: 8214333
    Abstract: Provided is a storage system including: a first interface connected to a host computer; a second interface connected to a manager terminal; a control unit connected to the first interface and the second interface and equipping a processor and a memory; and one or more disk drives in which data that is requested to read by the host computer is stored, in which the control unit detects an access from the host computer to the first interface and an access from the manager terminal to the second interface, and generates log data of operations according to the accesses. Accordingly, log data concerning every action and every operation of the storage system is maintained and stored.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2009
    Date of Patent: July 3, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Tetsuya Shirogane
  • Publication number: 20120151169
    Abstract: It is an object of the present invention to provide a storage apparatus that can suppress access performance degradation owing to processing of data deduplication. The storage apparatus according to the present invention acquires a sum of the access frequencies to each of redundantly allocated pieces of data, and performs the deduplication on the pieces of data having the sum of access frequencies less than a prescribed threshold (FIG. 10).
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 8, 2010
    Publication date: June 14, 2012
    Inventors: Hajime Mori, Norihiko Kawakami, Hiroshi Hirayama, Katsumi Ouchi
  • Publication number: 20120096289
    Abstract: To enable power saving control by putting storage areas of the same attribute together in a specific RAID group in a storage apparatus that includes storage areas of different access patterns. The storage apparatus manages attributes of the RAID groups, which form a pool area, and attributes of the respective storage areas, based on an access log for each of the storage areas allocated to virtual volumes. The apparatus enables a power saving operation for each RAID group by putting the storage areas of each attribute together in a specific RAID group.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2010
    Publication date: April 19, 2012
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Hajime Mori, Hiroshi Hirayama
  • Patent number: 8135969
    Abstract: In a storage apparatus, an MPU acquires a value of power capable of being used to transition a HDD from a power-saving state to an access-enabled state, receives an access command via a host I/F, determines whether or not it is possible to respond to the access command using one or more HDD in the access-enabled state from among the HDD configuring a LU, and when it is determined that it is possible to respond, selects, from HDD in the power-saving state in the access command-targeted LU, one or more HDD, which are capable of transitioning to the access-enabled state using power in a range of usable power values, and which can make a response possible, as a target to be preferentially transitioned to the access-enabled state.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 22, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventor: Norihiko Kawakami
  • Patent number: 8117416
    Abstract: The storage device of the present invention has: a first recording unit that records a time zone history of access to each storage area assigned to a virtual volume; a second recording unit that executes a predetermined calculation based on the time zone history of access to a plurality of storage areas belonging to a plurality of pool areas and records the calculation result for each of the plurality of pool areas; a comparison unit that acquires, from the first recording unit, the time zone history of access to an optional storage area among the plurality of storage areas and compares the acquired access time zone history with the calculation result recorded in the second recording unit; and a migration unit that selects, from among the plurality of pool areas, a pool area for which the calculation result is similar to the acquired access time zone history on the basis of the result of the comparison by the comparison unit, and migrates the data stored in the optional storage area to a storage area in the s
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2008
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2012
    Assignee: Hitachi, Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenta Shiga, Norihiko Kawakami
  • Publication number: 20110185201
    Abstract: In the process of controlling a plurality of storage devices 190 in any one of a normal mode and a plurality of power-saving modes (such as standby and LRPM), a controller 110 selects the storage devices whose mode should be shifted from the normal mode to any of the power-saving modes; and before shifting to control of the selected storage devices in any of the power-saving modes, the controller calculates time and electric power required to make the selected storage devices return from each power-saving mode to the normal mode; and based on each calculated value, the controller sets a combination of power-saving modes and the number of storage devices that satisfy the return conditions defined by the host timeout period and the supplied power; and then, the controller controls the selected number of storage devices in the set combination of power-saving modes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 25, 2009
    Publication date: July 28, 2011
    Applicant: HITACHI, LTD.
    Inventors: Norihiko Kawakami, Kenta Shiga