Patents Issued in December 20, 2016
  • Patent number: 9524074
    Abstract: A computer system displays a first window corresponding to an aspect of a first executing program in a first display area on one or more display devices. The computer system identifies an activity of a second program. The computer system determines whether the activity of the second program meets a threshold of priority. In response to determining that the activity meets the threshold, the computer system manipulates the first window such that the display area can be distributed, at least partially, between the first window and a second window corresponding to the activity of the second program. The computer system displays the second window with the first window within the display area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Gene L. Brown, Brendan F. Coffey, Christopher J. Dawson, Clifford V. Harris
  • Patent number: 9524075
    Abstract: A system and method of managing applications and event notifications using a cursor-based GUI, wherein the cursor-based GUI is located adjacent to the cursor and provides a user with the ability manage and monitor a plurality of dynamically updated applications, commands and event notifications via a persistent and centralized interface. Since the cursor-based GUI is persistent in nature, the plurality of applications, commands and event notifications can be accessed regardless of the user's computer environment. The user can manage user authentication requirements and other configuration information for the cursor-based GUI.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Inventor: James J. Nicholas, III
  • Patent number: 9524076
    Abstract: A web page management method and apparatus are provided in which a selection signal is received for a plurality of web pages, and identification information is received. The plurality of web pages are grouped and managed based on the identification information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 25, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd
    Inventor: Chang-seok Oh
  • Patent number: 9524077
    Abstract: Methods and systems are provided for allowing a user to categorize, organize, and/or visualize content recommendations made by the user. Various interactive controls are made available to a user who recommends an item of content, where the controls are designed to allow the user to assign one or more attributes (e.g., characteristics, categories, labels, properties, etc.) to the recommendation. A user can also organize content recommendations into one or more categories that can be customized by the user according to subject-matter, content format, recommendation strength, and the like. The user is also provided with the ability to view his or her content recommendations arranged in various graphical representations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 15, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Neha Pattan, Jennifer W. Lin
  • Patent number: 9524078
    Abstract: A system and method for managing objects in a multimedia container. The method includes displaying, on a mobile device, a piece of content; receiving an indication the piece of content is to be added to a subsequently identified multimedia container; displaying a list of a plurality of multimedia containers, wherein each of the multimedia containers is operable to comprise a plurality of media types; receiving an indication identifying a selected multimedia container; and displaying an indication that the piece of content has been added to the selected one of the plurality of multimedia containers. The method can further comprise: determining an image corresponding to the piece of content; and modifying a datastore corresponding to the selected multimedia container. Determining of the image corresponding to the piece of content can comprise accessing a book cover image, determining a rendering of a website, etc. The mobile device can be a tablet computing device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 23, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: RAKUTEN KOBO, INC.
    Inventors: James Wu, Robin Bennett, Daniel Hill, Anya Galkina
  • Patent number: 9524079
    Abstract: Disclosed are methods and devices for a gesture-enabled tool that enables a user to assemble a data bundle using a single continuous gesture to select items for the data bundle from a plurality of menus or lists and to deliver the data bundle to a recipient as part of the single continuous gesture.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 16, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
    Inventors: Martin R. Pais, Rachid M. Alameh, Paul B. Crosbie, Gaurav Gupta
  • Patent number: 9524080
    Abstract: Systems and methods for customizing behavior of a computing system based on details of interactions with the computing system by a user, such as a direction, intensity, or magnitude of a particular input from a user input device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 27, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: D.R. Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Evan K. Fram
  • Patent number: 9524081
    Abstract: A system for generating and displaying holographic visual aids associated with a story to an end user of a head-mounted display device while the end user is reading the story or perceiving the story being read aloud is described. The story may be embodied within a reading object (e.g., a book) in which words of the story may be displayed to the end user. The holographic visual aids may include a predefined character animation that is synchronized to a portion of the story corresponding with the character being animated. A reading pace of a portion of the story may be used to control the playback speed of the predefined character animation in real-time such that the character is perceived to be lip-syncing the story being read aloud. In some cases, an existing book without predetermined AR tags may be augmented with holographic visual aids.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 15, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
    Inventors: Brian E. Keane, Ben J. Sugden, Robert L. Crocco, Jr., Christopher E. Miles, Kathryn Stone Perez, Laura K. Massey, Mathew J. Lamb, Alex Aben-Athar Kipman
  • Patent number: 9524082
    Abstract: An electronic apparatus connectable to another electronic apparatus includes an information acquisition unit that acquires operation screen information to display a shared operation screen shared between the electronic apparatus and the other electronic apparatus from the other electronic apparatus, a shared screen display unit that displays the shared operation screen based on the operation screen information that the information acquisition unit acquired, a job execution unit that executes a job based on input to the shared operation screen, an event detector that detects a predetermined event that occurs during the job execution, a display determination unit that determines whether or not a specific screen including information specific to the electronic apparatus model is displayed in response to the detected predetermined event, and a specific screen display unit that changes the displayed shared operation screen into the specific screen if the display determination unit determines that the specific scre
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 12, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Ricoh Company, Ltd.
    Inventor: Genki Umeizumi
  • Patent number: 9524083
    Abstract: A mobile device determines playback of a media item is complete on the mobile device and determines that an orientation of the mobile device is in landscape mode in response to the playback being complete. The mobile device provides a user interface that corresponds to the landscape mode and presents additional content pertaining to the media item in the landscape mode.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: GOOGLE INC.
    Inventors: Justin Lewis, Ruxandra Georgiana Paun
  • Patent number: 9524084
    Abstract: Methods and systems for presenting multiple images of entities associated with media items in a media list are provided. A method may include identifying a first entity associated with a first media item in a media list. The first media item may be associated with a first time period. A second entity associated with a second media item may be identified in the media list. The second media item may be associated with a second time period. Next, from a database of entity images, a first image of the first entity may be selected based on the first time period and a second image of the second entity may be selected based on the second time period. As a result, the first image and the second image may be presented in an interface during activation of the media list.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 26, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Owen Daniel Otto, Taddeo Zacchini, Brandon Bilinski
  • Patent number: 9524085
    Abstract: A hand-held electronic device, method of operation and computer readable medium are disclosed. The device may include a case having one or more major surfaces. A visual display and a touch interface are disposed on at least one of the major surfaces. A processor is operably coupled to the visual display and touch screen. Instructions executable by the processor may be configured to: a) present an image on the visual display containing one or more active elements; b) correlate one or more active portions of the touch interface to one or more corresponding active elements in the image on the visual display; and c) present a transformed active element corresponding to a particular one of the one or more active elements on the visual display in response to a user interaction with a corresponding one of the one or more active portions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 2009
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT INC.
    Inventors: Charles Nicholson, Gary M. Zalewski
  • Patent number: 9524086
    Abstract: A display system for a collage of digital multimedia elements. A display is used to display the collage and a pointing device selects one of the collage elements for activating a multimedia presentation of the selected element.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: KODAK ALARIS INC.
    Inventors: Kathleen A. Mahoney, Ronald S. Cok
  • Patent number: 9524087
    Abstract: A method for displaying a collage of digital images on a display, receiving a selection for one of the digital images to be presented on a separate area of the display together with any associated multimedia, wherein one of the digital images has a portion overlapped by another digital image.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: KODAK ALARIS INC.
    Inventors: Kathleen A. Mahoney, Ronald S. Cok
  • Patent number: 9524088
    Abstract: A method of controlling communication quality between one node and at least one other node in a packet switched communication system, the method comprising the steps of detecting at one of said nodes a condition that indicates that communication quality is below an acceptable threshold, automatically generating instructions based on the detected condition for a user of the at least one node, said instructions intended to provide a remedy to improve the communication quality, and receiving input from a user of the at least one node responsive to the instructions to implement the remedy and thereby improve the communication quality.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 1, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Skype
    Inventors: Mart Kelder, Ahti Heinla, Karlheinz Wurm
  • Patent number: 9524089
    Abstract: Various embodiments are directed to systems and methods for executing web applications. A computing device may execute a common view process that comprises a web view. The computing device may receive a request to launch a web application. The computing device may execute a web application interface process programmed to determine a location indicator indicating a location of code for executing the web application and send the location indicator to the web view. The web view may receive the code for executing the web application. The code may be executed by the web view.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Sanjoy Ghosh, Mayur Misra
  • Patent number: 9524090
    Abstract: A computer-implemented method of interacting with a plurality of arbitrary data items includes configuring each of the data items into a distinct information object by extracting, from each data item, extracted data including a heading, a source, multimedia data, and a URL. The method additionally uses the extracted data to cause display of a representation of each of the information objects in a uniform format, wherein the format includes a card, and, within the card, a multimedia window, the heading, the source, a set of indicators, and a set of icons giving graphical access to functions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Inventors: Paul Erich Keel, Jeffrey Huang
  • Patent number: 9524091
    Abstract: According to an aspect, a device includes a touch screen display and a controller. The touch screen display displays a first screen. The first screen is a lock screen including an object arranged thereon. The controller changes a direction of the object according to an operation to the object. The controller is configured to turn the first screen to a second screen depending on a content of the operation made to the object. The second screen being a screen other than the lock screen.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: KYOCERA CORPORATION
    Inventors: Katsuaki Oonishi, Sanae Nishio
  • Patent number: 9524092
    Abstract: Some implementations provide automatic display mode selection for a device, such as a mobile display device, according to a hierarchy of criteria. Each display mode may correspond with a set of display parameter settings, which may include a color depth setting, a brightness setting, etc. In some examples, one of the criteria may correspond with a software application being executed on the device. Some implementations involve creating a display device user profile and controlling a display of a mobile display device according to the user profile. The user profile may be built gradually over some number of days/weeks/months after the first use of the device. In some implementations, display parameter setting information or other device setting information corresponding to data in a user profile, including but not limited to demographic data, may be received by a mobile display device from another device, such as a server.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: SnapTrack, Inc.
    Inventors: Xia Ren, Sriram Akella, Matthew Brian Sampsell, Wilhelmus Adrianus De Groot, Jennifer Lee Gille, Thomas Gerald Fiske, Gianni Taraschi, Theodore Richard Santos, II, Gregory Paul Heinzinger, Shiae Shin Park, Mark Jerger, Mark Douglas Halfman, Brian Finkel, Jonathan Karl Kies
  • Patent number: 9524093
    Abstract: Systems and methods for handling scrolling actions for scrolling through content displayed on an electronic device are provided. In some aspects, a system includes a detection module configured to detect scrolling events, each of which includes a signal to scroll in an indicated direction and by an indicated amount relative to the content displayed on the electronic device. The detection module is configured to determine whether a current one of the scrolling events is associated with a first scrolling action or a second scrolling action. The first scrolling action precedes the second scrolling action. The system also includes a scrolling module configured to suppress the current scrolling event if the current scrolling event is associated with the first scrolling action. The scrolling module is configured to scroll from a current page to a next page of the content if the current scrolling event is associated with the second scrolling action.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Patrick G. Donelan, Michael Jens Schueppert
  • Patent number: 9524094
    Abstract: An apparatus, comprising a processor, memory including computer program code, the memory and the computer program code configured to, working with the processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following, receive indication of a continuous stroke input associated with a contact region of a touch display, the continuous stroke input comprising at least a first input, and a second input, cause display of a cursor offset from the contact region in response to determining that the first input is a cursor mode initiation input, cause display of cursor to move so that the cursor remains offset from the contact region in response to determining that the second input relates to a movement input, and determine an operation based, at least in part, on position of at least part of a cursor.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 5, 2010
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY
    Inventors: Matti Mikael Väisänen, Timo-Pekka Olavi Viljamaa, Panu Petri Korhonen
  • Patent number: 9524095
    Abstract: The present technique relates to a display control device, a display control method, and a program that are capable of making inputtable gesture motions easy to notice. A display control unit causes a display unit to display a gesture motion guide in a first state. When a detecting unit for detecting gesture motions detects a predetermined gesture motion, the display control unit changes the guide corresponding to the detected gesture motion to a second state and then causes the display unit to display the guide. The technique according to this disclosure can be applied to an information processing terminal that includes a display unit, for example.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 12, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: SONY CORPORATION
    Inventors: Koichi Akasaka, Daisuke Kawamura, Hiromitsu Oka
  • Patent number: 9524096
    Abstract: An electronic apparatus has a touch sensor provided with a first touching zone including at least a second touching zone and a third touching zone, the second and third touching zones being allocated with different functions. The electronic apparatus is controlled to perform a specific function assigned to a specific touching zone that is the second or the third touching zone when there is a first touch input at first through the specific touching zone and continuously perform the specific function even if there is a second touch input that follows the first touch input, through either the second or the third touching zone that is not the specific touching zone, as long as there is a continuous touch input through the first touching zone from the first to the second touch input with no intermission.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: RAKUTEN, INC.
    Inventor: Takashi Ohuchi
  • Patent number: 9524097
    Abstract: A two-finger selection method is implemented on a touchscreen of an electronic device. One embodiment involves sensing the touch positions of two fingers on the touchscreen. In response to sensing the two simultaneous touch positions, a selection graphic is displayed and dynamically positioned on the touchscreen as a function of the two touch positions. A specific graphical object, such as a command button having an associated function, is selected in response to a separate selection input received while the selection graphic is positioned on the specific graphical object.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 22, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Dean F. Herring, Brad M. Johnson, Adrian X. Rodriguez, Jeffrey J. Smith
  • Patent number: 9524098
    Abstract: Methods and apparatus are disclosed for subwoofer calibration. An example method includes determining a crossover frequency of a playback system, and the playback system includes the subwoofer and a playback device. The example method includes the subwoofer and the playback device configured to output a multimedia content in synchronization. The example method also includes outputting from the subwoofer and the playback device a series of tones near the crossover frequency. The example method also includes prompting a user to select a tone set from the series of tones, and includes automatically adjusting a phase of the subwoofer in relation to the playback device based on the user selection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Sonos, Inc.
    Inventors: Neil Griffiths, Mike Chamness
  • Patent number: 9524099
    Abstract: An apparatus includes an obtaining unit that obtains time-series coordinate data on pointing input; a calculating unit that calculates a distance value from a coordinate position of any one of top, bottom, left, and right ends of an input handwriting to any point of handwriting portions, based on the obtained coordinate data; a display processing unit that performs a displaying process on the input handwriting based on a change in the distance value; and an erasing unit that calculates a stroke distance value between a coordinate position of a stroke of the input handwriting that is input on a time-series basis and a coordinate position of any one of the ends of the input handwriting, and when the stroke distance value is equal to or more than a predetermined value, erases a display of a handwriting that is input before the stroke of the input handwriting on a time-series basis.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: FUJITSU LIMITED
    Inventor: Katsuhiko Akiyama
  • Patent number: 9524100
    Abstract: Embodiments relate to a page table including a data fetch width indicator. An aspect includes allocating a memory page in a main memory to an application. Another aspect includes creating a page table entry corresponding to the memory page in the page table. Another aspect includes determining, by a data fetch width indicator determination logic, the data fetch width indicator for the memory page. Another aspect includes sending a notification of the data fetch width indicator from the data fetch width indicator determination logic to supervisory software. Another aspect includes setting the data fetch width indicator in the page table entry by the supervisory software based on the notification. Another aspect includes, based on a cache miss in the cache memory corresponding to an address that is located in the memory page, fetching an amount of data from the memory page based on the data fetch width indicator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Michael K. Gschwind, Jose E. Moreira, Balaram Sinharoy
  • Patent number: 9524101
    Abstract: Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for modeling workload information for a primary storage and a secondary storage. A determination is made of: a first type and second type of Input/Output (I/O) operations with respect to extents configured in the primary storage; a cumulative I/O workload for the primary storage based on a first type and a second type of I/O operations at different cumulative storage amounts of the primary storage indicating a concentration of the I/O workload on the primary storage; and cumulative I/O workload for the secondary storage based on the first type and the second type of I/O operations at different storage amounts indicating a concentration of the I/O workload of the first type of I/O operations on the secondary storage. A performance gap is determined based on the cumulative I/O workloads for the primary and secondary storages at one of the storage amounts.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Yong Guo, Jun Tao Li, Yan Xu
  • Patent number: 9524102
    Abstract: A mechanism is provided for optimizing migration/copying of de-duplicated data from an internal storage system to a removable storage system. A preliminary number of clusters to be generated are determined for sets of data objects stored on the internal storage system based on a number of the sets of data objects. The preliminary number of clusters is generated based on shortest distances between the sets of data objects, each cluster comprising one or more sets of data objects and each set of data objects comprising one or more chunks of data. A chosen cluster is identified from a set of clusters by identifying a cluster having a greatest number of common chunks within as few sets of data objects. Responsive to an export-size of the chosen cluster failing to exceed the available storage capacity of the removable storage system, the chosen cluster is exported to the removable storage system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2012
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Nils Haustein, Thorsten Krause, Daniel J. Winarski
  • Patent number: 9524103
    Abstract: A technique quantifies logical storage space trapped in an extent store due to overlapping write requests associated with volume metadata managed by the volume layer. The volume metadata is illustratively organized as a multi-level dense tree metadata structure, wherein each level of the dense tree metadata structure (dense tree) includes volume metadata entries for storing the volume metadata. When a level of the dense tree is full, the volume metadata entries of the level are merged with a next lower level of the dense tree in accordance with a merge operation. Illustratively, the technique may be invoked during the merge operation to examine the volume metadata entries at each level of the dense tree involved in the merge and determine the LBA range overlap of the entries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 10, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: NetApp, Inc.
    Inventors: Sriranjani Babu, Janice D'Sa
  • Patent number: 9524104
    Abstract: Technologies for eliminating duplicate data within a storage system. De-duplication may be performed done at physical chunk level, where the data is not copied or moved to different location. A logical mapping is modified using a thin de-duplication kernel module that resides between a distributed volume manager (DVM) and a logical disk (LD). De-duplication is achieved by changing pointers in the mapping to land at a physical location. De-duplication is performed as post-process feature where duplicates are identified and the duplicates are marked in the mapping table, thereby claiming free space through de-duplication. Block-level de-duplication in accordance with the above can co-exist with existing storage architectures for thin provisioning and snapshot management.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 5, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: American Megatrends, Inc.
    Inventors: Paresh Chatterjee, Narayanan Balakrishnan, Senthilkumar Ramasamy, Anandh Mahalingam
  • Patent number: 9524105
    Abstract: Systems, methods and/or devices are used to reduce declared capacity of non-volatile memory of a storage device in a storage system. In one aspect, the method includes, detecting an amelioration trigger for reducing declared capacity of non-volatile memory of a storage device of the storage system, and in accordance with the detected amelioration trigger, performing an amelioration process to reduce declared capacity of the non-volatile memory of the storage device, the performing including: altering an encoding format of at least a portion of the non-volatile memory of the storage device, and reducing declared capacity of the non-volatile memory of the storage device. In some embodiments, the storage device includes one or more flash memory devices. In some embodiments, the detecting, the performing, or both are performed by the storage device, or by one or more subsystems of the storage system distinct from the storage device, or by the host.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC
    Inventors: Allen Samuels, Warren Fritz Kruger, Linh Tien Truong
  • Patent number: 9524106
    Abstract: A memory circuit, such as an embedded DRAM array, stores information as groups of bits or data using information coding in storage and retrieval data, instead of each bit being stored separately. Write data words can be mapped to storage format words that are stored and defined by a Hadamard matrix. The storage format word is stored as charge levels in an addressable memory location. For retrieving stored data, charge levels are read from the storage cells and interpreted to a valid storage format word. Hadamard code maximal likelihood decoding can be used to derive a read data word corresponding to a previously written write data word. The write data word is then output as the result of a read of the selected addressable location, or a portion thereof. The mapping can be two or more Hadamard matrix mappings concatenated for each of a plurality of storage format words.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 7, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: KANDOU LABS, S.A.
    Inventors: Harm Cronie, Amin Shokrollahi
  • Patent number: 9524107
    Abstract: Methods and structure for host-side device drivers for Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) systems. One system includes a processor and memory of a host, which implement a device driver. The device driver receives an Input/Output (I/O) request from an Operating System (OS) of the host, translates Logical Block Addresses (LBAs) from the received request into physical addresses at multiple storage devices, generates child I/O requests directed to the physical addresses based on the received request, and accesses an address lock system at a RAID controller to determine whether the physical addresses are accessible. If the physical addresses are accessible, the device driver reserves the physical addresses by updating the address lock system, and directs the child I/O requests to a hardware path at the RAID controller for handling single-strip I/O requests. If the physical addresses are not accessible, the device driver delays processing of the child I/O requests.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 30, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.
    Inventors: Adam Weiner, James A Rizzo, Mark Ish, Robert L Sheffield, Horia Cristian Simionescu
  • Patent number: 9524108
    Abstract: A solid state drive (SSD) device includes a Peripheral Component Interconnect-Express (PCIe) interface, a non-volatile storage media, and a memory that stores code, the code including an Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) controller, and a Non-Volatile Memory-Express (NVMe) controller. The SSD device is operable to select one of the AHCI controller and the NVMe controller to process data storage commands between the PCIe interface and the non-volatile storage media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 29, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: DELL PRODUCTS, LP
    Inventors: Swee Chay Hia, Munif F. Farhan
  • Patent number: 9524109
    Abstract: A method includes receiving data objects for storage in at least one or more first storage devices characterized by a first write endurance, and one or more second storage devices characterized by a second write endurance that is lower than the first write endurance. Respective write-activity levels are estimated for the data objects. For each data object, a choice is made whether to store the data object in the first storage devices or in the second storage devices based on an estimated write-activity level of the data object. The data object is stored in the chosen storage devices.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 18, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: ELASTIFILE LTD.
    Inventors: Eyal Lotem, Eliyahu Weissbrem, Ezra N. Hoch, Shahar Frank
  • Patent number: 9524110
    Abstract: A page replacement algorithm is provided. An idle range of memory pages is determined based, at least in part, on indications of references to memory pages in the idle range of memory pages, wherein the idle range of memory pages is a set of one or more memory pages. A first memory page is identified in the idle range of memory page for paging out of memory. The first memory page is identified based, at least in part, on indications of modifications to the memory pages. The first memory page is paged out of memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Mengze Liao, Jiang Yu
  • Patent number: 9524111
    Abstract: A device or system includes a plurality of storage resources each associated with a respective performance class, each being associated with selected performance characteristics such as IOPS, bandwidth, etc. The device or system includes a compute instance having access to allocated storage resources, the allocated storage devices including one or more storage resources. The device or system also includes an optimization component adapted to obtain information relating to utilization by the compute instance component of the allocated storage resources, determine that a change to the allocated storage resources is necessary, based on the information, cause data to be migrated from a first storage resource associated with a first performance class to a second storage resource associated with a second storage class, and cause a removal from the allocated storage resources of the first storage resource and an addition to the allocated storage resources of the second storage resource.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 13, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: FittedCloud, Inc.
    Inventors: Prakash Manden, Prashant Parikh, Jin Ren, Jienhua Huang
  • Patent number: 9524112
    Abstract: Systems, methods, and/or devices are used to reduce declared capacity of non-volatile memory of a storage device in a storage system. In one aspect, the method includes, detecting an amelioration trigger for reducing declared capacity of non-volatile memory of the storage device of the storage system, and in accordance with the detected amelioration trigger, performing an amelioration process to reduce declared capacity of the non-volatile memory of the storage device, the performing including: trimming, in accordance with a trim command received from a host, at least a portion of a set of logical addresses in a logical address space; and reducing declared capacity of the non-volatile memory of the storage device. In some embodiments, the storage device includes one or more flash memory devices. In some embodiments, the method is performed by the storage device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 12, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: SANDISK TECHNOLOGIES LLC
    Inventors: Allen Samuels, Warren Fritz Kruger, Linh Tien Truong
  • Patent number: 9524113
    Abstract: An apparatus comprising a memory and a controller. The memory may be configured to process a plurality of read/write operations. The memory comprises a plurality of memory modules each having a size less than a total size of the memory. The controller is configured to provide a first redundancy scheme when user data occupies less than a preconfigured limit and a second redundancy scheme that protects less than all of the user data when the user data occupies greater than the preconfigured limit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC
    Inventor: Leonid Baryudin
  • Patent number: 9524114
    Abstract: A method implemented in a data processing system comprising receiving an input/output (IO) write request from a processing thread to transfer data from a memory of the data processing system to an IO device, setting the memory as read-only memory to protect the data from overwrite before the data is transferred to the IO device, and sending, in response to the IO write request, a speculative IO write completion response to the processing thread to enable the processing thread to continue execution without waiting for the data to be transferred to the IO device.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Futurewei Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Reza Yazdani, Chen Tian
  • Patent number: 9524115
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include ascertaining, by a first storage system, a respective port identifier for each of one or more host ports defined to the first storage system for a logical volume stored on a second storage system. Examples of the port identifiers include WWPN and iSCSI iQN identifiers. A respective unique identifier is assigned to each of the ascertained one or more host ports, and for each of the one or more host ports, the respective port identifier and the assigned respective unique identifier are conveyed to the second storage system. Upon receiving, from one of the one or more host ports, an input/output (I/O) request for the logical volume, I/O request with the respective unique identifier of the one of the one or more host ports is conveyed to the second storage system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Oren Li-On, Orit Nissan-Messing, Eyal Perek, Ayelet Shani
  • Patent number: 9524116
    Abstract: Following a relocation write in which data is relocated without update from an old physical location to a new physical location within the non-volatile memory array, a controller defers an update of a logical-to-physical translation (LPT) entry to associate a logical address of the data with a new physical address of the new physical location, for example, for a time-out period. During deferment of the update to the LPT entry, the controller services a read request targeting the logical address from data at the old physical location. In response to no update to the data being made during deferment of the update to the LPT entry, the controller performs the deferred update to the LPT entry. In response to an update to the data being made during the deferment of the update to the LPT entry, the controller refrains from performing the deferred update to the LPT entry.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 21, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Charles J. Camp, Timothy J. Fisher, Nikolas Ioannou, Roman A. Pletka, Sasa Tomic
  • Patent number: 9524117
    Abstract: The present techniques provide systems and methods of controlling access to more than one open page in a memory component, such as a memory bank. Several components may request access to the memory banks. A controller can receive the requests and open or close the pages in the memory bank in response to the requests. In some embodiments, the controller assigns priority to some components requesting access, and assigns a specific page in a memory bank to the priority component. Further, additional available pages in the same memory bank may also be opened by other priority components, or by components with lower priorities. The controller may conserve power, or may increase the efficiency of processing transactions between components and the memory bank by closing pages after time outs, after transactions are complete, or in response to a number of requests received by masters.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 20, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Robert Walker
  • Patent number: 9524118
    Abstract: Systems, devices, memory controllers, and methods for controlling memory are described. One such method includes activating a memory unit of a memory device; after activating the memory unit, providing a command to the memory device; and returning the memory unit to a previous state if the command does not indicate a target memory volume, wherein the memory unit remains active if the command indicates a target memory volume associated with the memory unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Micron Technology, Inc.
    Inventor: Jeremy W. Butterfield
  • Patent number: 9524119
    Abstract: Provided are a method, system, and non-transitory computer-readable medium for optimizing a mobile device by analyzing an execution pattern or a storage pattern of an application. An optimization method configured as a computer including a processor may include identifying, by the processor, an arrangement target for optimization by analyzing an execution pattern or a storage pattern of each of applications installed in a mobile device; and optimizing, by the processor, a storage space embedded in the mobile device based on the arrangement target.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 30, 2015
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: NAVER CORPORATION
    Inventor: Chan Ho Yun
  • Patent number: 9524120
    Abstract: A method and technique for allocation and balancing of storage resources includes: determining, for each of a plurality of storage controllers, an input/output (I/O) latency value based on an I/O latency associated with each storage volume controlled by a respective storage controller; determining network bandwidth utilization and network latency values corresponding to each storage controller; responsive to receiving a request to allocate a new storage volume, selecting a storage controller having a desired I/O latency value; determining whether the network bandwidth utilization and network latency values for the selected storage controller are below respective network bandwidth utilization and network latency value thresholds; and responsive to determining that the network bandwidth utilization and network latency values for the selected storage controller are below the respective thresholds, allocating the new storage volume to the selected storage controller.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Rohith K. Ashok, Roy F. Brabson, Wei L. Chan
  • Patent number: 9524121
    Abstract: According to one embodiment, a memory device is connectable to a host device. The memory device includes a first interface unit, a controller unit, a second memory and a second interface. The first interface unit receives a write command from the host device. The controller unit acquires the write-data associated with the write command stored in a first memory area of a first memory in the host device, the write-data being copied from a second memory area of the first memory. The second interface causes the second memory to write the write-data in the second memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2013
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
    Inventors: Kenichi Maeda, Nobuhiro Kondo, Atsushi Kunimatsu
  • Patent number: 9524122
    Abstract: Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems and method for storing metadata to unused portions of a virtual disk file. In a particular embodiment, a method provides selecting a virtual disk file stored on a data storage volume and identifying unused portions of the virtual disk file. The method further provides writing metadata for the virtual disk file in the unused portions of the virtual disk file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: Quantum Corporation
    Inventors: Gregory L. Wade, J. Mitchell Haile, Bill Kan, Barry Herman
  • Patent number: 9524123
    Abstract: Methods, apparatus and computer program products implement embodiments of the present invention that include a storage device configured to store a logical volume mapped between a host computer and a computer having multiple initiator ports, and a processor configured to detect a unit attention condition for the logical volume. Examples of unit attention conditions for the logical volume include management operations on the logical volume and host requests for the logical volume. Upon determining, based on the unique serial number, that the processor has previously conveyed the unit attention code to any of the multiple initiator ports, to reconvey an input/output (I/O) request, receive a response for the I/O request, and convey the result to the host computer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 4, 2016
    Date of Patent: December 20, 2016
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Oren Li-on, Orit Nissan-Messing, Assaf Nitzan, Eyal Perek