Longitude Enterprise Flash Assigned Patent

Longitude Enterprise Flash S.A.R.L., Luxembourg, Luxembourg, has been assigned a patent (9,632,727) developed by Flynn, David, Sandy, UT, Thatcher, Jonathan, Liberty Lake, WA, and Zappe, Michael, Arvada, CO, for a “systems and methods for identifying storage resources that are not in use.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for managing a non-volatile storage medium. A storage controller receives a message that identifies data that no longer needs to be retained on the non-volatile storage medium. The data may be identified using a logical identifier. The message may comprise a hint, directive, or other indication that the data has been erased and/or deleted. In response to the message, the storage controller records an indication that the contents of a physical storage location and/or physical address associated with the logical identifier do not need to be preserved on the non-volatile storage medium.“

The patent application was filed on June 19, 2014 (14/309,751).