IBM Assigned Twenty Patents

Optimizing file system for different types of applications
in compute cluster using dynamic block size granularity
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,229) developed by Ananthanarayanan, Rajagopal, Gupta, Karan, Pandey, Prashant, San Jose, CA, Pucha, Himabindu, Sarkar, Prasenjit, San Jose, CA, Shah, Mansi Ajit, Sunnyvale, CA, and Tewari, Renu, San Jose, CA, for a “optimizing a file system for different types of applications in a compute cluster using dynamic block size granularity.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the invention relate to optimizing a file system for different types of applications in a compute cluster using dynamic block size granularity. An exemplary embodiment includes reserving a predetermined number of storage allocation regions for each node in a cluster, wherein each storage allocation region comprises a set of contiguous data blocks on a single storage disk of locally attached storage, using a contiguous set of data blocks on a single storage disk of locally attached storage as a file system’s block allocation granularity for striping data to be stored in the file system for a compute operation in the cluster, and using a single data block of a shared storage subsystem as the file system’s block allocation granularity for striping data to be stored in the file system for a data access operation in the cluster.“

The patent application was filed on April 14, 2010 (12/760,476).

Moving blocks of data between main memory and storage class memory
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,226) developed by Driever, Peter D., Poughkeepsie, NY, Glassen, Steven G., Wallkill, NY, Oakes, Kenneth J., Wappingers Falls, NY, Sutton, Peter G., Lagrangeville, NY, and Yudenfriend, Harry M., Poughkeepsie, NY, for a “moving blocks of data between main memory and storage class memory.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An abstraction for storage class memory is provided that hides the details of the implementation of storage class memory from a program, and provides a standard channel programming interface for performing certain actions, such as controlling movement of data between main storage and storage class memory or managing storage class memory.“

The patent application was filed on June 10, 2011 (13/157,709).

Orphan storage release
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,220) developed by LeGendre, David B., Reed, David C., Rios, Esteban, and Smith, Max D., Tucson, AZ, for a “orphan storage release.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method, system and computer readable medium that identify orphan storage and release the orphaned storage before application or system outages can result. More specifically, in certain embodiments, a method, system and computer readable medium periodically scan through common memory storage and identifies those areas that are no longer associated with a running task or have been allocated for longer than a running task with a matching task address. These areas are then identified as potentially orphaned storage locations.“

The patent application was filed on August 1, 2012 (13/563,959).

Enhancing analytics performance using distributed multi-tiering
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,219) developed by Gupta, Karan, Pucha, Himabindu, and Sarkar, Prasenjit, San Jose, CA, for a “enhancing analytics performance using distributed multi-tiering.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the invention relate to cluster-centric tiered storage with a flexible tier definition to support performance of transactions. Object data is distributed in a multi-tiered shared-nothing cluster. Hierarchical tiers of data storage are assigned different roles within the hierarchy. The tiers are managed globally across the cluster and objects are placed in tiers according to a flexible tier definition. The probability of object access is computed for objects, and objects are moved to different tiers responsive to the computation to minimize system runtime. The location of an object is further optimized in response to an access request.“

The patent application was filed on December 14, 2012 (13/715,583).

Enhancing tiering storage performance
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,203) developed by Hyde, II, Joseph Smith, Tucson, AZ, and Roy, Subhojit, Pune, India, for a “enhancing tiering storage performance.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Various embodiments for improving data storage and retrieval performance, for a tiered storage environment having levels corresponding to storage performance, are provided. In one embodiment, by way of example only, reference count information of at least one data segment maintained in the tiered storage environment is used to determine which of the levels in the tiered storage environment the at least one data segment will be assigned. Those of the at least one data segment having higher reference counts are assigned to a higher performance level than those having lower reference counts.“

The patent application was filed on May 7, 2012 (13/465,435).

Demoting partial tracks from first cache to second cache
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,201) developed by Ash, Kevin J., Benhase, Michael T., and Gupta, Lokesh M., Tucson, AZ, for a “demoting partial tracks from a first cache to a second cache.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A determination is made of a track to demote from the first cache to the second cache, wherein the track in the first cache corresponds to a track in the storage system and is comprised of a plurality of sectors. In response to determining that the second cache includes a the stale version of the track being demoted from the first cache, a determination is made as to whether the stale version of the track includes track sectors not included in the track being demoted from the first cache. The sectors from the track demoted from the first cache are combined with sectors from the stale version of the track not included in the track being demoted from the first cache into a new version of the track. The new version of the track is written to the second cache.“

The patent application was filed on January 17, 2012 (13/352,239).

Providing versioning in storage device
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,191) developed by Chiu, Lawrence Y., San Jose, CA, and Hsu, Yu-Cheng, Tucson, AZ, for a “providing versioning in a storage device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Provided are a computer program product, system and method for managing Input/Output, I/O) requests to a storage device. A write request is received having write data for a logical address, wherein data for the logical address is at a first physical location in the storage device and has an indicated version number. Writing the write data to a second physical location in the storage device. Determining whether a preserve mode is enabled. In response to determining that the preserve mode is enabled, indicating the second physical location as having a current version number of the logical address and indicating the first physical location to have a previous version number of the logical address.“

The patent application was filed on March 4, 2014 (14/197,0979).

Testing disk drives shared by multiple processors in supercomputer complex
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,321) developed by Finch, Richard B., New Paltz, NY, Hirst, Jason T., Poughkeepsie, NY, and Stanquist, Gerald G., Salt Point, NY, for a “testing disk drives shared by multiple processors in a supercomputer complex.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An interface node selects a logical block address that corresponds to a contiguous memory location located on a storage device that is accessible by multiple interface nodes. The interface node retrieves a logical block address status indicator from a shared memory area and determines, based upon the logical block status indicator, whether the logical block address is utilized by a different interface node. If the logical block address is not utilized by a different interface node, the interface node tests the corresponding contiguous memory location.“

The patent application was filed on December 10, 2012 (13/709,452).

Clearing blocks of storage class memory
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,180) developed by Driever, Peter D., Poughkeepsie, NY, Glassen, Steven G., Wallkill, NY, Oakes, Kenneth J., Wappingers Falls, NY, Sutton, Peter G., Lagrangeville, NY, Szwed, Peter K., Rhinebeck, NY, and Yudenfriend, Harry M., Poughkeepsie, NY, for a “clearing blocks of storage class memory.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An abstraction for storage class memory is provided that hides the details of the implementation of storage class memory from a program, and provides a standard channel programming interface for performing certain actions, such as controlling movement of data between main storage and storage class memory or managing storage class memory.“

The patent application was filed on June 10, 2011 (13/157,710).

Store storage class memory information command
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,179) developed by Driever, Peter D., Gainey, Jr., Charles W., Poughkeepsie, NY, Glassen, Steven G., Wallkill, NY, Mathias, Thomas B., Vestal, NY, Oakes, Kenneth J., Wappingers Falls, NY, Sutton, Peter G., Lagrangeville, NY, Szwed, Peter K., Rhinebeck, NY, Tzortzatos, Elpida, Lagrangeville, NY, and Yudenfriend, Harry M., Poughkeepsie, NY, for a “store storage class memory information command.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An abstraction for storage class memory is provided that hides the details of the implementation of storage class memory from a program, and provides a standard channel programming interface for performing certain actions, such as controlling movement of data between main storage and storage class memory or managing storage class memory.“

The patent application was filed on June 10, 2011 (13/157,684).

Unified cloud computing infrastructure to manage
and deploy physical and virtual environments
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,097) developed by Ashok, Rohith K., Apex, NC, Brey, Thomas M., Cary, NC, Harrington, Raymond J., Staatsburg, NY, Hogstrom, Matt R., Cary, NC, and Sheard, Matthew J., Morrisville, NC, for a “unified cloud computing infrastructure to manage and deploy physical and virtual environments.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method, system and computer program product for managing and deploying physical and virtual environments across multiple hardware platforms. A single unit, referred to herein as a cloud construction block, contains both the hardware and software components used to build a cloud computing environment. By having such a single unit contain both the hardware and software components needed to build a cloud computing environment, the user no longer needs to purchase and integrate different hardware and software components. Furthermore, the cloud construction block contains modular pieces of hardware, such as compute hardware, memory hardware, storage hardware and network hardware, that are integrated with management software configured to manage both the hardware and the cloud computing environment in a seamlessly integrated package. Since there is a single management system, the management software allows the user to manage the modular pieces of hardware via a single user interface.“

The patent application was filed on May 8, 2012 (13/466,224).

Managing networked storage configuration
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,021,068) developed by Canto, Christopher, Grainger, Bernard John, Hampshire, Great Britain, O’Rourke, Nicholas Michael, Hants, Great Britain, and Tal, Sivan, Yokneam Illit, IL, for a “managing a networked storage configuration.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Managing a networked storage system having a host operable to connect through a network fabric to storage apparatus comprises: a configuration component for inputting a configuration change into the networked storage system responsive to change instructions, a monitoring component operable in communication with the host and the network fabric to monitor I/O activity associated with elements of the networked storage system, an activity data storage component responsive to the monitoring component for storing a record of a monitored I/O activity, an analysis component, responsive to the configuration component for inputting configuration changes, for analysing the record of a monitored I/O activity for a recent activity, and an alert component, responsive to the analysis component detecting a recent activity, for alerting the configuration component.“

The patent application was filed on February 10, 2009 (12/368,939).

Data storage tape with random access data
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,019,654) developed by Finn, Peter G., Markham, CA, for a “data storage tape with random access data.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Arrangements relate to a data storage system. The data storage system can include a data storage tape. The data storage tape can be arranged in a concertina format. In such a format, the data storage tape can include a plurality of tape segments. Each tape segment can be separated from a neighboring tape segment by a fold. In some arrangements, the data storage tape arranged in a concertina format can be received within a housing.“

The patent application was filed on August 23, 2013 (13/974,175).

Determining skew error signal
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,019,651) developed by Bui, Nhan X., Tucson, AZ, Pantazi, Angeliki, Thalwil, Switzerland, Taketomi, Tomoko, and Tsuruta, Kazuhiro, Tokyo, Japan, for a “determining a skew error signal, (SES) offset used to determine an SES to adjust heads in a drive unit.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for determining a skew error signal, (SES) offset used to determine an SES to adjust heads in a drive unit. A determination is made of a first difference in a first orientation with respect to a direction of movement of the recordable storage media based on first and second position information read by first and second servo read elements on a first head. A determination is made of a second difference in a second orientation with respect to the direction of movement of the recordable storage media based on third and fourth position information read by the first servo read element and a third servo read element on a second head. An offset, calculated based on the determined first and second difference, is used to generate an error signal to adjust the first and second heads.“

The patent application was filed on May 28, 2014 (14/289,452).

Hierarchical control of tiered error recovery for storage devices
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,019,639) developed by Nylander-Hill, Pamela R., Tucson, AZ, Oishi, Yutaka, Kanagawa, Japan, and Masuda, Setsuko, Tokyo, Japan, for a “hierarchical control of tiered error recovery for storage devices.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A computer program product includes a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code being executable by a processing circuit to cause the processing circuit to perform the following process. A data transfer operation is monitored for detecting one or more temps. A backhitch delay is set based at least in part on a post-recovery condition of a tape drive performing a portion of the data transfer operation. A backhitch is caused to be performed. At least one condition of the data transfer operation is altered after the backhitch delay.“

The patent application was filed on March 18, 2014 (14/218,735).

Modifying information on hand writable physical medium
with digital pen
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,019,247) developed by Muto, Satoshi, Tokyo-to, Japan, and Yokoyama, Satoshi, Chiba, Japan, for a “modifying information on a hand writable physical medium with a digital pen.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”One embodiment provides a method for modifying information stored in storage by modifying information on a hand writable physical medium with a digital pen, wherein the hand writable physical medium includes a predetermined field including one or more item field name and one or more first region for information entry associated with the one or more item field name. The information stored in the storage includes attribute values corresponding to each of the one or more item field name of the physical medium, and attribute values corresponding to information entered into each of the one or more first region. The method for modifying includes an apparatus communicable with the digital pen detecting that a modification symbol is added, by using the digital pen, to information which has been entered into any of the one or more first region in the predetermined field.“

The patent application was filed on November 21, 2012 (13/683,290).

Virtual machine rapid provisioning system
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,015,707) developed by Bealkowski, Richard, Redmond, WA, for a “virtual machine rapid provisioning system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A rapid provisioning method for connecting to a cloud, copying blocks of a virtual machine image to the cloud and booting the virtual machine image in the cloud, wherein some aspects of copying the blocks and booting the virtual machine are contemporaneous or overlap. The method may include starting with copying the blocks of the virtual machine and continuing to copy the blocks of the virtual machine image while the virtual machine image boots in the cloud. The method may also include starting with booting the virtual machine in the cloud from the customer computer and continuing to boot while copying the blocks transferred during boot to cloud storage.“

The patent application was filed on September 2, 2010 (12/874,766).

Computing device having migrated virtual machine
accessing physical storage space on another computing device
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,015,705) developed by Hoehle, Marco, Affoltern an Albis, Switzerland, Kirsch, Christian, Hamburg, Germany, Schmengler, Andreas, Meckenheim, Germany, and Schwarzer, Stephan, Hamburg, Germany, for a “computing device having a migrated virtual machine accessing physical storage space on another computing device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method and a computing device. A first computing device and a second computing device are connected, wherein the first computing device includes a first virtual machine monitor that hosts a first virtual machine. A boot image is provided on the first computing device, wherein the boot image includes a second virtual machine monitor that is adapted to host the first virtual machine. The second computing device is triggered to boot the boot image from the first computing device. A storage network is established between the first computing device and the second computing device, wherein the storage network includes storage space of the first computing device. Lastly, the first virtual machine is migrated from the first computing device to the second computing device, wherein the first virtual machine is executed by the second computing device but still located on the first virtual machine.“

The patent application was filed on December 19, 2008 (12/339,180).

Testing internationalized software using test resource file and test font
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,015,678) developed by Aoyama, Nozomu, Arima, Toshimichi, Itoh, Takaharu, and Yuko, Ito, Kanagawa-ken, Japan, for a “testing internationalized software using test resource file and test font.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage medium containing computer code, which when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform the steps of creating a second file of messages to be outputted by the software from a first file of messages, the messages in the first file being written in a first language and executing the software using the second file. The creating of the second file includes for each message in the first file, applying specified rules to form a second message by changing the character length of the second message, filling in any blank characters in the second message with a dummy character, inserting characters from the target language into prescribed places in the second message to form a second message having both characters of the first language and characters of the target language, and copying the second message into the second file.“

The patent application was filed on December 31, 2013 (14/145,587).

Performing background copy process during backup operation
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,015,119) developed by Scherzinger, Stefanie, Munich, Germany, and Trinks, Andreas, Boeblingen, Germany, for a “performing a background copy process during a backup operation.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In one embodiment, a system includes a performance monitoring facility of a database adapted for measuring performance of the database regularly, a data protection manager for controlling a backup operation of the database on a storage subsystem, logic adapted for providing an interface between the performance monitoring facility of the database and the data protection manager, logic adapted for starting the backup operation while informing the performance monitoring facility about the starting of the backup operation, logic adapted for continuously evaluating performance of the database to determine when a predefined performance criterion is violated, and logic adapted for sending information from the performance monitoring facility to the data protection manager to cause compliance with the predefined performance criterion in response to the predefined performance criterion being violated.“

The patent application was filed on August 4, 2011 (13/198,575).