Fujitsu Assigned Seventeen Patents

Storage device, connection device, and storage control
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,234,921) developed by Matsuda, Shinnosuke, Kawasaki, Japan, for a “storage device, connection device, and storage control method for measuring electric power consumed in a control unit and plurality of memory devices.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage device includes a first measurement unit, a second measurement unit, and a collection unit. The first measurement unit measures electric power consumed in each of a plurality of memory devices. The second measurement unit measures electric power consumed in a control unit controlling access from an information processing apparatus to the plurality of memory devices. The collection unit collects first information regarding the electric power measured by the first measurement unit and second information regarding the electric power measured by the second measurement unit.“

The patent application was filed on April 11, 2013 (13/860,905).

Storage system and controlling storage system
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,229,660) developed by Konishi, Yotaro, Yokohama, Japan, for a “storage system and method for controlling storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to an aspect of the present invention, provided is a storage system including a plurality of storage devices, a plurality of access control devices, a relay device, and a connection control device. The plurality of access control devices control access to each of the plurality of storage devices. The relay device connects each of the plurality of storage devices to one of the plurality of access control devices. The connection control device instructs, in response to load states of the plurality of access control devices, the relay device to switch an access control device connected to one of the plurality of storage devices so that deviation of loads among the plurality of access control devices is improved.“

The patent application was filed on May 3, 2013 (13/886,623).

Control method and system
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,224,422) developed by Kubota, Norihide, Kawasaki, Japan, Igashira, Atsushi, Yokohama, Japan, Kobayashi, Kenji, Tsukahara, Ryota, Daikokuya, Hidejirou, Ikeuchi, Kazuhiko, Maeda, Chikashi, and Watanabe, Takeshi, Kawasaki, Japan, for a “control method and system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A control method of controlling a disk storage unit, includes: obtaining, by a computer, for a plurality of sectors allocated on a disk included in the disk storage unit, track identifying information that identifies a track to which sectors belong, in a first order starting from a first start sector, and storing, if first track identifying information obtained in a first sector of the plurality of sectors does not match second track identifying information obtained in a second sector of the plurality of sectors immediately before the first sector, a data length from the first start sector to the second sector in a storage unit.“

The patent application was filed on May 17, 2013 (13/896,799).

Storage pool-type storage system and computer-readable storage medium
for peak load storage management
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,218,276) developed by Oe, Kazuichi, Yokohama, Japan, Ogihara, Kazutaka, Hachioji, Japan, Noguchi, Yasuo, Kumano, Tatsuo, Tamura, Masahisa, Kawasaki, Japan, Maeda, Munenori, Iizawa, Ken, Ozawa, Toshihiro, Yokohama, Japan, and Kato, Jun, Kawasaki, Japan, for a “storage pool-type storage system, method, and computer-readable storage medium for peak load storage management.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage apparatus is provided, including a first storage unit, a load information obtaining unit that obtains load information for each of a plurality of portions defined by dividing the first storage unit, a portion identifying unit that identifies a candidate portion that is to be relocated in the first storage unit based on the load information, a determining unit that determines whether or not data in the candidate portion is allowed to be migrated to a second storage unit, the second storage unit having a performance value higher than a performance value of the first storage unit, an adder that adds the second storage unit, when the determining unit determines that the data in the candidate portion is not allowed to be migrated, and a relocation unit that migrates the data in the candidate portion from the first storage unit to the added second storage unit“

The patent application was filed on December 7, 2012 (13/707,667).

Storage device, computer-readable recording medium, and storage control
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,208,114) developed by Maeda, Munenori, Yokohama, Japan, Kato, Jun, Kumano, Tatsuo, Tamura, Masahisa, Kawasaki, Japan, Ilzawa, Ken, Yokohama, Japan, Noguchi, Yasuo, Kawasaki, Japan, and Ozawa, Toshihiro, Yokohama, Japan, for a “storage device, computer-readable recording medium, and storage control method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage device being one of a plurality of storage devices storing data includes a memory and a processor coupled to the memory. The processor executes determining, when having received a new request and a new priority information during a preparation for an execution of another update processing, whether a new priority indicated by the new priority information is higher than a priority of the update processing in the preparation. The process including canceling the update processing in the preparation when having determines at the determining that the new priority is higher than the priority of the update processing in the preparation. The process includes forwarding the new request and the new priority information to another storage device when having determined at the determining that the new priority is higher than the priority of the update processing in the preparation.“

The patent application was filed on September 14, 2012 (13/615,836).

Storage apparatus, controller module, and storage apparatus control
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,207,741) developed by Tsukamoto, Nina, Koutou, Japan, and Maeda, Shigeyuki, Yokohama, Japan, for a “storage apparatus, controller module, and storage apparatus control method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage apparatus includes first and second controller modules. The first controller module monitors power states of the first and second controller modules. When the monitoring results indicate that the power state of the first controller module is an ON state and the power state of the second controller module is an ON processing state in which an ON process of switching from OFF to ON is being executed, the first controller module maintains the power state of the first controller module upon detection of a power control signal for controlling the power state of the first controller module.“

The patent application was filed on March 8, 2013 (13/789,710).

File management , and file management system
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,201,888) developed by Suzuki, Yasuhiro, Yokohama, Japan, Yamamoto, Kohshi, Kawasaki, Japan, and Kataoka, Masahiro, Tama, Japan, for a “file management apparatus, file management method, and file management system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An information processing apparatus includes a processor configured to divide a first file of a first plurality of files stored in a storage device into a second plurality of files, each of the second plurality of files including a different range of values, when each range of values corresponding to each of the first plurality of files includes a specific range and a total size of the first plurality of files exceeds a threshold.“

The patent application was filed on February 19, 2013 (13/770,443).

Storage device, error processing, and communication system
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,201,741) developed by Nishita, Satoru, Kahoku, Japan, for a “storage device, error processing method, and communication system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage device, includes: a plurality of controller modules, a bus disposed among the plurality of controller modules, the bus including a plurality of transmission paths, a detector configured to detect an error in data communication through the bus, and a connection controller configured to carry out partial fallback processing of the bus if the number of the errors has exceeded a given number.“

The patent application was filed on October 25, 2013 (14/063,524).

Storage control system, recording medium storing recovery program
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,201,734) developed by Matsumura, Tadashi, Yasu, Noriyuki, Kawasaki, Japan, Muroyama, Tomohiko, Yokohama, Japan, and Sotani, Motoki, Fuchu, Japan, for a “storage control system, recording medium storing recovery program, and method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage control system includes: storage units each including a first storage area storing information and a second storage area storing management information that contains attribute information of partition information indicating how information is stored in partitions obtained by partitioning the first storage area, an obtaining unit to obtain the management information from the plurality of storage units, a determination unit to determine whether abnormal management information is present in the obtained management information by comparing the obtained management information with itself, and a recovery unit to reconfigure, when it is determined there is the abnormal management information, for each unit of partition, information stored in the first storage area of the storage unit from which the abnormal management information has been obtained by using one of the storage units from which normal management information has been obtained, based on attribute information of the normal management information in each partition.“

The patent application was filed on September 10, 2013 (14/022,271).

Library device
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,196,290) developed by Hashimoto, Koujiro, Yokohama, Japan, for a “library device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A library device includes: a first robot configured to transport a storage medium stored in a storage rack, and a second robot configured to transport a storage medium stored in the storage rack, and wherein the first robot and the second robot each include: a hand device, a transportation body including a slot to store the storage medium, a rotation device configured to rotate the transportation body between a first orientation in which an opening of the slot faces the hand device of at least one of the first robot and the second robot and a second orientation in which the opening of the slot faces the hand device of the other one of the first robot and the second robot, and a switch device configured to control the rotation device.“

The patent application was filed on October 8, 2013 (14/048,919).

Information storage device
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,195,398) developed by Aono, Yoshihisa, and Fujihara, Takashi, Kawasaki, Japan, for a “information storage device and method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An information storage device includes a storage unit to which a storage region is assigned, a first management information storage unit that stores address information indicating an address range of the storage region in association with identification information identifying the storage region, and a processor that executes a procedure that includes acquiring the address information corresponding to the identification information from the first management information storage unit and accesses the storage region corresponding to the address information and rewriting the identification information stored in the first management information storage unit.“

The patent application was filed on March 15, 2013 (13/832,327).

Storage system and method for controlling storage system
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,189,171) developed by Ando, Shun, Kahoku, Japan, for a “storage system and method for controlling storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage system includes a plurality of control devices each including an interface unit and an arithmetic processing unit. The arithmetic processing unit stores, when requested to execute saving processing for saving dump data of a specific interface unit in which an error has occurred, the dump data collected from the specific interface unit into a storage unit. The arithmetic processing unit calculates an execution time of the saving processing. The arithmetic processing unit compresses, when the execution time exceeds a time limit and before a remaining time is reached, part of the dump data stored in the storage unit and save the compressed dump data into a saving unit. The arithmetic processing unit saves, when the execution time exceeds the time limit and after the remaining time has been reached, rest of the dump data stored in the storage unit into the saving unit without compression.“

The patent application was filed on April 26, 2013 (13/871,511).

Power consumption control on identified unused storage unit
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,189,058) developed by Thielo, Omar Hame, Kawasaki, Japan, Sakagami, Yuichi, Sagamihara, Japan, Yoshiya, Yukihiro, Yokohama, Japan, Otaka, Atsuhiro, Kawasaki, Japan, and Takatsu, Kazuma, Yokohama, Japan, for a “power consumption control on an identified unused storage unit.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage system that functions as one or more logical volumes includes a control unit and a plurality of storage units connected to the control unit, wherein the control unit includes a memory that stores allocation status information that indicates status of allocation of the plurality of storage units to a logical volume, an access request responding unit that controls at least one storage unit among the plurality of storage units in response to a request for access to each logical volume from a host device, and a power saving controller that identifies an unused storage unit not allocated to any logical volume among the plurality of storage units on the basis of the allocation status information and performs power saving control on the identified unused storage unit.“

The patent application was filed on May 16, 2013 (13/895,592).

Data managing method, apparatus, and recording medium of program,
and searching method, apparatus, and medium of program
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,183,320) developed by Ono, Toshirou, Nishinomiya, Japan, and Nishigaki, Masaki, Kobe, Japan, for a “data managing method, apparatus, and recording medium of program, and searching method, apparatus, and medium of program.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data management apparatus includes a storage device, and a processor that executes a procedure, the procedure including selecting a data group, each data in the data group including one of a plurality of tags, among a plurality of data, compressing the data group into a compressed data group, and storing the compressed data group in the storage device, the stored compressed data group being associated with tagging information which indicates that each data of the data group includes the certain tag.“

The patent application was filed on August 22, 2012 (13/591,876).

Data storage apparatus and method for storing data
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,183,077) developed by Tsushita, Katsuya, Saitama, Japan, for a “data storage apparatus and method for storing data.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage apparatus includes: a memory configured to store data, an input delay circuit configured to input a set of data of a plurality of bits into the memory at different timings between the plurality of bits by adding different delays to the plurality of bits in the set of data or by adding different delays to bits in bit groups obtained by grouping the plurality of bits in units of a consecutive bits, and an output delay circuit configured to obtain an original set of data, which is the set of data before the input delay circuit adds the different delays, by adding, to the plurality of bits in the set of data output from the memory, delays having a pattern opposite that of the delays added by the input delay circuit.“

The patent application was filed on December 30, 2013 (14/143,532).

Storage-medium diagnosis device
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,177,669) developed by Sakurai, Hiroshi, Kawasaki, Japan, for a “storage-medium diagnosis device, storage-medium diagnosis method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage-medium diagnosis includes a storage unit that stores therein respective diagnosis results of subregions of a storage region of a storage medium, a higher-access executing unit that accesses a region corresponding to access request from a higher-level device, and stores a result of the access as a diagnosis result in the storage unit, a diagnosis-region identifying unit that identifies a diagnosis region to be diagnosed next on the basis of the respective diagnosis results of the subregions stored in the storage unit, and a diagnosis executing unit that accesses and diagnoses the diagnosis region identified by the diagnosis-region identifying unit, and stores a result of the diagnosis in the storage unit. The storage-medium diagnosis can reduce the time used for diagnosis of the storage medium and suppress degradation in performance even during operation.“

The patent application was filed on February 19, 2013 (13/770,318).

Virtual tape device and control method of virtual tape device
Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki, Japan, has been assigned a patent (9,176,882) developed by Murayama, Takashi, Matsuo, Fumio, Nagano, Japan, Enohara, Katsuo, Kawaguchi, Japan, Yamato, Takaaki, Hirashima, Nobuyuki, and Kinoshita, Tetsuya, Nagano, Japan, for a “virtual tape device and control method of virtual tape device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A virtual tape device includes a storage unit, a cache determining unit, a selector, and a cache controller. The storage unit records logical volume information associated with an identifier of a logical volume, an updated time of the logical volume, information indicating whether the logical volume is allocated to a cache, an identifier of a physical volume storing data of the logical volume, and information indicating whether the physical volume are mounted in a physical tape drive. The cache determining unit determines, based on the logical volume information, whether the logical volume exists on the cache, when a request to store the logical volume on the cache is received and the cache does not have an available capacity. The selector selects the logical volume based on the determined result as an off-cache target logical volume. The selected logical volume is off-cached by the cache controller.“

The patent application was filed on January 24, 2013 (13/748,898).