Fujitsu Assigned Twelve Patents

Storage device and updating firmware
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,606,789) developed by Muroyama, Tomohiko, Yokohama, Japan, Matsumura, Tadashi, Yasu, Noriyuki, Kawasaki, Japan, and Sotani, Motoki, Fuchu, Japan, for a “storage device and method of updating firmware.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage device includes first and second data transceivers connected to an upper level device through first and second paths, respectively, and a third processor. The first data transceiver includes a first processor configured to perform an access control of a first logical memory group by executing first firmware. The second data transceiver performs an access control of a second logical memory group. The third processor is configured to change, when all of logical memories included in the first logical memory group are included in the second logical memory group, recommendation levels of the first path and the second path such that a first recommendation level of the first path is lower than a second recommendation level of the second path if the first recommendation level is higher than or equal to the second recommendation level, and update the first firmware when no data is flowing through the first path.“

The patent application was filed on July 28, 2015 (14/810,843).

Storage management
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,606,735) developed by Hamano, Shinya, Makida, Toshiharu, Numazu, Japan, Sugioka, Kiyoshi, Mishima, Japan, and Sakai, Motohiro, Nerima, Japan, for a “storage management apparatus, and performance adjusting method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An operational management server manages a storage device that includes a plurality of types of disks having different performances. A setting unit sets a target value of a performance to a volume produced by using the different types of the disks. An allocation rate management unit determines allocation rates of the respective types of the disks included in the volume on the basis of the target value set by the setting unit, and instructs the storage device to reproduce the volume in accordance with the determined allocation rates.“

The patent application was filed on February 26, 2015 (14/632,425).

Drive control apparatus that drives actuator
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,606,628) developed by Taninaka, Kiyoshi, Ebina, Japan, Kamata, Yuichi, Isehara, Japan, Endo, Yasuhiro, Ebina, Japan, and Yabuki, Akihiko, Isehara, Japan, for a “drive control apparatus that drives actuator, electronic apparatus that drives actuator, and control method for driving actuator.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A drive control apparatus includes a storage configured to store waveform data representing a drive signal constituted of a sine wave satisfying a frequency f1=(m/n).times.f0, m and n are mutually different positive odd numbers, the drive signal applying vibration, (m/2).times.Q times, Q is a natural number other than 0) to an actuator, the f0 representing a resonant frequency of the actuator, and a drive controller configured to read the waveform data stored in the storage, and output the drive signal corresponding to the read waveform data to the actuator.“

The patent application was filed on December 21, 2015 (14/976,178).

Storage controller
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,600,383) developed by Mishuku, Yoshimasa, Yokohama, Japan, Daikokuya, Hidejirou, Kawasaki, Japan, and Fujita, Kenichi, Nagoya, Japan, for a “storage controller, method, and storage medium.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage controller out of a plurality of storage controllers used in a storage system, each of the plurality of storage controllers being configured to control mirror processing of data, the storage controller comprising: circuitry configured to: determine a storage controller of a destination of an input and output request for a volume, out of the plurality of storage controllers, based on mirror device information where identifiers and priorities of the respective storage controllers are stored while being associated with each other for each of mirror processing units, and state information being for each of storage controllers and indicating whether the storage controller is normal or not, and issue the input and output request to the determined storage controller.“

The patent application was filed on December 28, 2015 (14/980,090).

Device for causing another device to execute write instruction
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,600,186) developed by Satou, Akira, Kawasaki, Japan, Yamauchi, Toshiaki, Numazu, Japan, and Otawa, Akihide, Kawasaki, Japan, for a “device and method for causing another device to execute write instruction.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A first storage virtualization device operates in a system in which instructions requested by host computers are assigned to a plurality of storage virtualization devices. The first storage virtualization device includes an interface and a processor. The interface receives a write instruction assigned to the first storage virtualization device, data to be written by the write instruction, and operation statuses of other storage virtualization devices in the system. The processor calculates index values which represent loads when the first storage virtualization device processes the write instruction. The processor selects a second storage virtualization device for the purpose of requesting that it execute the write instruction by use of the operation statuses when the index values are greater than thresholds. The processor transmits the write instruction and the data to the second storage virtualization device.“

The patent application was filed on March 12, 2015 (14/656,316).

Storage management device and computer-readable recording medium
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,594,526) developed by Yamaguchi, Akio, Hekinan, Japan, Yashiro, Makoto, Ichinomiya, Japan, Tamura, Yuki, Nagoya, Japan, and Kondo, Hajime, Kawasaki, Japan, for a “storage management device and computer-readable recording medium.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “When a failure occurs in a storage device, a backup unit specifies LUNs of a copy source and a copy destination to an operation volume for which a process is not taken over to another storage device and instructs to perform a copy. When a copy processing unit in the storage device receives a copy process to be performed in the operation volume, the copy processing unit performs the copy process by using the specified LUNs of the copy source and the copy destination. If an error occurs without the copy process being taken over to another storage device due to the occurrence of a failover, the backup unit acquires the LUNs of two volumes of a copy pair and the volumes each constituting each of cluster pairs. Then, the backup unit again performs the copy process by using the acquired LUNs.“

The patent application was filed on October 27, 2015 (14/923,498).

Backup
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,594,522) developed by Wakamiya, Kenji, Kawasaki, Japan, for a “backup method and information processing apparatus.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A backup method may include discontinuing a process of a working system virtual machine, (VM) operating within a physical machine, (PM) of a processing apparatus, first duplicating data of a state of the working system VM in a memory of the PM, as a duplicating system VM, second duplicating data of contents of a working system virtual recording medium used to realize the working system VM, in a duplicating system virtual recording medium forming the duplicating system VM, within a storage apparatus of the processing apparatus, and resuming the process of the working system VM. The discontinuing and the first resuming may maintain consistency between the data in the memory and the storage apparatus.“

The patent application was filed on February 8, 2013 (13/762,683).

Prefetching monitored areas in storage apparatus
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,594,519) developed by Iwata, Satoshi, Oe, Kazuichi, Yokohama, Japan, and Kawaba, Motoyuki, Kawasaki, Japan, for a “prefetching monitored areas in a storage apparatus .“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “From unit storage areas each having a certain size in a first storage device, an extraction unit extracts, at certain time intervals, a monitored area formed by consecutive unit storage areas having been accessed at least a predetermined number of times that is greater than zero and being similar to each other in the number of times of access. When detecting movement between the positions of same-sized monitored areas among the extracted monitored areas over time, a prediction unit determines a predicted storage area predicted to be accessed in the storage area of the first storage device on the basis of the direction of the movement between the positions of the same-sized monitored areas, and performs a control operation so that the content of the predicted storage area is copied to a second storage device that provides faster access than the first storage device.“

The patent application was filed on April 9, 2015 (14/682,145).

Storage apparatus, method of controlling storage
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,582,200) developed by Bita, Joichi, Kahoku, Japan, for a “storage apparatus, method of controlling storage apparatus, and computer-readable recording medium having stored therein storage apparatus control.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage apparatus includes a processor. The processor calculates an upper limit of an input/output processing amount, which is determined based on priority levels set to a plurality of storage devices, for each storage device. The processor schedules an execution sequence of processes relating to input/output requests received from information processing apparatuses based on processing amounts relating to the input/output requests and the upper limits. The processor executes the processes relating to the input/output requests in the scheduled execution sequence. The processor is configured to determine, for each storage device, whether or not a processing amount of the storage device exceeds a processing bandwidth of the each storage device for a first predetermined time. The processor changes the upper limit for each storage device in a predetermined bandwidth accommodation unit in a case where the processing amount for each storage device is determined to exceed the processing bandwidth.“

The patent application was filed on September 23, 2014 (14/493,441).

Memory management
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,575,827) developed by Jibu, Masayuki, Nishihara, Kentaro, Hasegawa, Yuki, Watanabe, Kazuya, Imaeda, Kazuhide, Yamamoto, Hiroyuki, Kawasaki, Japan, and Suzuki, Yasutoshi, Inagi, Japan, for a “memory management program, memory management method, and memory management device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium stores a memory management program that causes a computer to execute a process. The process includes detecting writing into a memory, and saving, in association with each other in a predetermined storage area, data before the writing which is stored in a data area of a write destination of the detected writing, and context information of a processor at a time of detecting the writing into the memory.“

The patent application was filed on November 3, 2014 (14/530,890).

Storage control
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,563,651) developed by Kumano, Tatsuo, Kawasaki, Japan, and Iizawa, Ken, Yokohama, Japan, for a “storage control device and storage control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A first processor is configured to acquire measurement values of plural types of processing index values each indicating a state of processing loads on a storage control device, and plural types of access index values each indicating a state of loads of an access process performed for each of plural pieces of data stored in a first storage device. The first processor is configured to select a first access index value corresponding to a first processing index value when the acquired measurement value of the first processing index value exceeds a threshold value. The first processor is configured to move a first piece of data from the first storage device to a second storage device. The acquired measurement value of the first access index value for the first piece of data is higher than the acquired measurement value of the first access index value for any other piece of data.“

The patent application was filed on April 18, 2014 (14/256,541).

Storage control
Fujitsu Ltd., Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,563,552) developed by Tamura, Yuma, Kawasaki, Japan, and Saito, Hironori, Yokohama, Japan, for a “storage control device and storage control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage control device that controls a solid state drive group including two or more solid state drives sharing data storage includes a detector that detects a wear state of each of the solid state drives, a separation controller that separates a solid state drive having a wear value, which represents a wear state, exceeding a first threshold among the solid state drives, and an enlargement controller that, when detecting a solid state drive having a wear value, which represents a wear state, exceeding a second threshold less than the first threshold among the solid state drives in the solid state drive group, enlarges a difference in a wear value, which represents a wear state, between the solid state drive having the wear value exceeding the second threshold and a remainder of the solid state drives.“

The patent application was filed on March 26, 2015 (14/669,391).