Amazon Assigned Eighteen Patents

Storage device selection for database partition replicas
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,460,185) developed by Swift, Bjorn Patrick, Seattle, WA, Xiao, Wei, Kirkland, WA, Marshall, Stuart Henry Seelye, Seattle, WA, Stefani, Stefano, Issaquah, WA, Rath, Timothy Andrew, Seattle, WA, and Lutz, David Alan, Renton, WA, for a “storage device selection for database partition replicas.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system that implements a data storage service may store data in multiple replicated partitions on respective storage nodes. The selection of the storage nodes, (or storage devices thereof) on which to store the partition replicas may be performed by administrative components that are responsible for partition management and resource allocation for respective groups of storage nodes, e.g., based on a global view of resource capacity or usage, or the selection of particular storage devices of a storage node may be determined by the storage node itself, (e.g., based on a local view of resource capacity or usage). Placement policies applied at the administrative layer or storage layer may be based on the percentage or amount of provisioned, reserved, or available storage or IOPS capacity on each storage device, and particular placements, (or subsequent operations to move partition replicas) may result in an overall resource utilization that is well balanced.“

The patent application was filed on June 8, 2015 (14/733,887).

Dynamic selection of storage tiers
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA, has been assigned a patent (9,460,099) developed by Thomas, Nathan Bartholomew, Seattle, WA, for a “dynamic selection of storage tiers.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An operating system is configured to receive a request to store an object that does not specify the location at which the object should be stored. The request might also include an optimization factor and one or more object location factors. The operating system might also generate object location factors or retrieve object location factors from one or more external locations. Object location factors might also be utilized that are based upon properties of the object to be stored. Utilizing the object location factors, and the optimization factor if provided, the operating system dynamically selects an appropriate storage tier for storing the object. The tiers might include a local storage tier, a local network storage tier, a remote network storage tier, and other types of storage tiers. The object is then stored on the selected storage tier. The object may be retrieved from the storage tier at a later time.“

The patent application was filed on November 13, 2012 (13/675,718).

Efficient garbage collection for log-structured data store
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,460,008) developed by Leshinsky, Yan Valerie, Kirkland, WA, Corey, James McClellan, Bothell, WA, McKelvie, Samuel James, Moll Thomae, Oscar Ricardo, Seattle, WA, and Madhavarapu, Pradeep Jnana, Mountain View, CA, for a “efficient garbage collection for a log-structured data store.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A log-structured data store may implement efficient garbage collection. Log records may be maintained in data blocks according to a log record sequence. Based, at least in part, on a log reclamation point, the log records may be evaluated to identify data blocks to reclaim that have log records in the log sequence prior to the log reclamation point. New versions of data pages updated by log records in the identified data blocks may be generated and stored in base page storage for the log structured data store. The identified data blocks may then be reclaimed for storing new data.“

The patent application was filed on September 20, 2013 (14/032,763).

Failure-decoupled volume-level redundancy coding techniques
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA, has been assigned a patent (9,459,959) developed by Franklin, Paul David, Donlan, Bryan James, and Suver, Claire Elizabeth, Seattle, WA, for a “failure-decoupled volume-level redundancy coding techniques.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques described and suggested herein include systems and methods for storing, indexing, and retrieving original data of data archives on data storage systems using redundancy coding techniques. For example, redundancy codes, (such as erasure codes, may be applied to archives, such as those received from a customer of a computing resource service provider) so as allow the storage of original data of the individual archives available on a minimum of volumes, such as those of a data storage system, while retaining availability, durability, and other guarantees imparted by the application of the redundancy code. Sparse indexing techniques may be implemented so as to reduce the footprint of indexes used to locate the original data, once stored. The volumes may be apportioned into failure-decorrelated subsets, and archives stored thereto may be apportioned to such subsets.“

The patent application was filed on March 30, 2015 (14/673,796).

Backup of volatile memory to persistent storage
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,459,805) developed by McKelvie, Samuel James, Seattle, WA, and Marr, Michael David, Monroe, WA, for a “backup of volatile memory to persistent storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Approaches for automatically backing up data from volatile memory to persistent storage in the event of a power outage, blackout or other such failure are described. The approaches can be implemented on a computing device that includes a motherboard, central processing unit, (CPU) a main power source, volatile memory, e.g., random access memory, (RAM), an alternate power source and circuitry, e.g., a specialized application-specific integrated circuit, (ASIC)) for performing the backup of volatile memory to a persistent storage device. In the event of a power failure of the main power source, the alternate power source is configured to supply power to the specialized ASIC for backing up the data in the volatile memory. For example, when power failure is detected, the ASIC can read the data from the DIMM socket using power supplied from the alternate power source and write that data to a persistent storage device.“

The patent application was filed on February 1, 2016 (15/012,608).

Long term encrypted storage and key management
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,455,963) developed by Roth, Gregory Branchek, Seattle, WA, and Brandwine, Eric Jason, Haymarket, VA, for a “long term encrypted storage and key management.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An encryption key not accessible outside a data storage device can be used to encrypt data stored in that device. The received data may have been encrypted under an external key, such as a key associated with a customer of a data storage service. Upon receiving the data encrypted under the external key, the data can be decrypted using a copy of the external key and then re-encrypted, inside the data storage device, using the internal key. If the external key is to be rotated, the stored data does not need to be modified as the data can be decrypted using the internal key and then re-encrypted using the new external key in response to an authorized request for the data after the change to the new external key. Such an approach provides near instant key rotation while not having to re-encrypt data under the new key unless requested.“

The patent application was filed on December 18, 2014 (14/575,676).

Wiped storage devices
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,454,493) developed by Adogla, Eden G., Seattle, WA, for a “systems and methods for wiped storage devices.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Systems and methods for verifying the wiping of a storage device using one of either a partial scan verification or a full scan verification, wherein a partial scan verification may be conducted based on at least one metric associated with the storage device and a threshold value for the at least one metric.“

The patent application was filed on May 4, 2012 (13/464,448).

Managing CDN registration by storage provider
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA, has been assigned a patent (9,451,046) developed by Richardson, David R., Seattle, WA, Marshall, Bradley Eugene, Bainbridge Island, WA, and Sivasubramanian, Swaminathan, Seattle, WA, for a “managing CDN registration by a storage provider.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system, method, and computer readable medium for managing registration, by a network storage provider, of one or more resources with a CDN service provider are provided. A network storage provider storing one or more resources on behalf of a content provider obtains registration information for registering the one or more resources with a CDN service provider. The registration information may include a request to publish one or more resources to a CDN service provider, an identification of the one or more resources, CDN selection criteria provided by the content provider or otherwise selected, and the like. The network storage provider transmits a CDN generation request corresponding to the registration information to the CDN service provider. Then, the network storage provider manages and processes data pursuant to registration of the one or more resources with the CDN service provider.“

The patent application was filed on July 22, 2013 (13/948,087).

Data replication framework
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA, has been assigned a patent (9,449,065) developed by O’Neill, Brian S., Bellevue, WA, Parakh, Vishal, Seattle, WA, Holgers, Tobias L., Jarfalla, Sweden, and Shivaprakash, Archit, Bellevue, WA, for a “data replication framework.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Generally described, the present disclosure is directed to an eventually consistent replicated data store that uses, for its underlying storage, a computer software library that provides a high-performance embedded database for data. The replicated data store employs a plurality of hosts interconnected to one another, allowing for writes to any host and full awareness of membership across all hosts. With the data replication framework disclosed herein, various modes are allowed to be built up on top of the core system.“

The patent application was filed on December 28, 2010 (12/980,153).

Block restore ordering in streaming restore system
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,449,040) developed by Gupta, Anurag Windlass, Atherton, CA, for a “block restore ordering in a streaming restore system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A distributed data warehouse system may maintain data blocks on behalf of clients, and may store primary and secondary copies of each data block on different disks or nodes in a cluster. The warehouse system may back up data blocks in a remote key-value backup storage system. A restore operation may retrieve data blocks from backup storage using their unique identifiers as keys, (while incoming queries are serviced) in response to a failure or a query targeting data that was lost or corrupted. The order in which data blocks are restored may be dependent on the relative likelihood that they will be accessed in the near future, (e.g., based on how recently or frequently they were accessed, written, or backed up, the values of one or more access counters associated with each data block, or how recently a database table containing data in each data block was loaded).“

The patent application was filed on March 11, 2013 (13/792,914).

Consistent object renaming in distributed systems
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,449,008) developed by Oikarinen, Matti Juhani, Wilmington, MA, Vincent, Pradeep, Kenmore, WA, and Frigo, Matteo, Acton, MA, for a “consistent object renaming in distributed systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In response to a rename request to change a file name at a storage service from a first name to a second name, a workflow comprising at least two atomic operations is initiated. In the first atomic operation, a lock is obtained on a first directory entry for the first name, and an intent record for the rename workflow is stored. In a second atomic operation, a pointer of a second directory entry for the second name is modified, and an indication of the pointer modification is stored. In a third set of operations, the intent record is deleted, the lock is released, and the first directory entry is deleted.“

The patent application was filed on March 31, 2014 (14/231,070).

Modular mass storage system with controller
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,448,601) developed by Beall, Christopher Strickland, Woodinville, WA, Bryan, David Edward, Seattle, WA, Frink, Darin Lee, Woodinville Seattle, WA, and Harland, Jason Alexander, Seattle, WA, for a “modular mass storage system with controller.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system for storing data includes a rack and one or more data storage modules coupled to the rack. The data storage modules may include a chassis, two or more backplanes coupled to the chassis, one or more mass storage devices coupled to the backplanes, and one or more data control modules mounted in one or more inlet air plenums extending upstream of one or more of the backplanes in the chassis interior. A data control module can be mounted in one or more air plenums extending beneath one or more of the backplanes in the chassis interior. A data control module can be mounted in one or more air plenums extending above one or more of the backplanes. A data control module mounted in a data storage module may access the mass storage devices in one or more of the data storage modules coupled to the rack.“

The patent application was filed on March 17, 2014 (14/217,154).

Scheduling and tracking control plane operations
for distributed storage systems
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,438,665) developed by Vasanth, Jai, Seattle, WA, Muniswamy-Reddy, Kiran-Kumar, Seattle, WA, Lutz, David Alan, Renton, WA, and Hunter, Jr., Barry Bailey, Sammamish, WA, for a “scheduling and tracking control plane operations for distributed storage systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system that implements distributed storage may schedule and track control plane operations for performance at the distributed storage service. Information may be maintained for control plane events detected at a distributed storage system. Resource utilization for currently performing control plane operations and currently scheduled control plane operations of the distributed storage system may be determined. The information about detected control plane events may be analyzed to schedule control plane operations to be performed in response to detecting the control plane events. As part of scheduling control plane operations, resource constraints may be applied to the determine resource utilization for the distributed storage system.“

The patent application was filed on June 18, 2013 (13/921,084).

Implementing scalable data storage service
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,432,459) developed by Sivasubramanian, Swaminathan, Sammamish, WA, Stefani, Stefano, Buragahain, Chiranjeeb, Issaquah, WA, Blackman, Rande A., Seattle, WA, Rath, Timothy Andrew, Des Moines, WA, Bradford, Raymond S., McAlister, Grant Alexander MacDonald, Seattle, WA, Kulesza, Jakub, Bellevue, WA, Hamilton, James R., Seattle, WA, and Cabrera, Luis Felipe, Bellevue, WA, for a “system and method for implementing a scalable data storage service.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system that implements a scalable data storage service may maintain tables in a non-relational data store on behalf of clients. The system may provide a Web services interface through which service requests are received, and an API usable to request that a table be created, deleted, or described, that an item be stored, retrieved, deleted, or its attributes modified, or that a table be queried, (or scanned) with filtered items and/or their attributes returned. An asynchronous workflow may be invoked to create or delete a table. Items stored in tables may be partitioned and indexed using a simple or composite primary key. The system may not impose pre-defined limits on table size, and may employ a flexible schema. The service may provide a best-effort or committed throughput model. The system may automatically scale and/or re-partition tables in response to detecting workload changes, node failures, or other conditions or anomalies.“

The patent application was filed on December 22, 2014 (14/579,602).

Importance-based data storage verification
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,430,320) developed by Li, Yi, Vestal, NY, Wei, Danny, Lee, Kerry Quintin, Miah, Mahmood, and Gopalakrishnan, Nandakumar, Seattle, WA, for a “importance-based data storage verification.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods and systems for detecting error in data storage entities based at least in part on importance of data stored in the data storage entities. In an embodiment, multiple verification passes may be performed on a data storage entity comprising one or more data blocks. Each data block may be associated with a probability indicating the likelihood that the data block is to be selected for verification. During each verification pass, a subset of the data blocks may be selected based at least in part on the probabilities associated with the data blocks. The probabilities may be adjusted, for example, at the end of a verification pass, based on importance factors such as usage and verification information associated with the data blocks. The probabilities may be updated to facilitate timely detection of important data blocks. Additionally, error mitigation and/or correction routines may be performed in light of detected errors.“

The patent application was filed on May 4, 2015 (14/703,593).

Providing data volume recovery access
in distributed data store to multiple recovery agents
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,424,140) developed by Madhavarapu, Pradeep Jnana, Mountain View, CA, and McKelvie, Samuel James, Seattle, WA, for a “providing data volume recovery access in a distributed data store to multiple recovery agents.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A distributed data store may provide volume recovery access to multiple recovery agents. A data volume may be maintained for a storage client at the distributed data store. Write access to the data volume may be granted according to a single writer consistency scheme. When a recovery event is detected for the data volume, the data volume may be made available to multiple recovery agents that may perform respective recovery operations. Upon first completion of a recovery operation for the data volume, granting access to the data volume according to the single writer consistency scheme may be resumed. In some embodiments, the distributed data store may be a log-structured data store.“

The patent application was filed on August 20, 2014 (14/464,299).

Equitable resource allocation for storage object deletion
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,417,917) developed by Barber, Jeffrey Michael, Perry, Carl Yates, Seattle, WA, Gattu, Praveen Kumar, Redmond, WA, Denny-Brown, II, Derek Ernest, Seattle, WA, and Elving, Christopher Henning, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “equitable resource allocation for storage object deletion.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods and apparatus for equitable resource allocation for storage object deletions are disclosed. A storage medium stores program instructions that when executed on a processor implement a deletion task dispatcher of a multi-tenant storage service. The dispatcher identifies one or more deletion job objects that each comprise an indication of a respective set of storage objects that are candidates for scheduled deletion from the storage service. The dispatcher determines a set of resources to be used for deletion operations corresponding to a particular deletion job object, based at least in part on the number of distinct clients whose storage objects are indicated in the job object, and assigned the set of resource to initiate the deletion operations corresponding to the particular job object.“

The patent application was filed on December 14, 2012 (13/715,898).

Capturing snapshots of storage volumes
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Seattle, WA, has been assigned a patent (9,417,815) developed by Elisha, Simon Jeremy, Melbourne, Australia, for a “capturing snapshots of storage volumes.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method and apparatus for capturing a snapshot of storage volumes of a data capture group are disclosed. In the method and apparatus, a request to create a data capture group may be received and processed. The data capture group may have one or more storage volumes. Upon defining the data capture group, a snapshot of the storage volumes of the data capture group may be taken.“

The patent application was filed on June 21, 2013 (13/924,335).