Lenovo Assigned Eleven Patents

RAID-1 mirror meshed into co-existing RAID-5 parity stream
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,335,940) developed by Cudak, Gary D., Creedmoor, NC, Do, Lydia M., Hardee, Christopher J., Raleigh, NC, and Roberts, Adam, Moncure, NC, for a “RAID 1 mirror meshed into a co-existing RAID 5 parity stream.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method includes storing an operating system in minor stripes on a first data storage device forming a first logical storage unit, and storing data in major stripes across a plurality of data storage devices forming a second logical data storage unit. Each major stripe includes a plurality of minor stripes storing data and a parity stripe. The method further includes calculating the parity stripe from the plurality of minor stripes within the major stripe and a corresponding one of the minor stripes on the first data storage device, wherein the minor stripes on the first data storage device match the size of the minor stripes on the array of data storage devices.“

The patent application was filed on May 27, 2014 (14/287,368).

Drive tray
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,330,730) developed by Makley, Albert V., Morrisville, NC, Martin-Otto, William F., Apex, NC, Pamley, Marc R., Durham, NC, and Farrow, Timothy S., Cary, NC, for a “drive tray.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An exemplary drive tray includes parallel side members, at least one end member connected to the parallel side members where the members collectively form a resilient, substantially rectangular frame for receipt of a drive body, and a pair of parallel side walls extending in a direction normal to a plane defined by the frame where the pair of parallel side walls include engagement features to engage opposing sides of a drive body. Various other apparatuses, systems, methods, etc., are also disclosed.“

The patent application was filed on March 23, 2010 (12/729,430).

Merging external NVRAM with full disk encryption
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,323,956) developed by Challener, David C., Raleigh, NC, Cromer, Daryl, Cary, NC, Locker, Howard, Cary, NC, and Springfield, Randall S., Chapel Hill, NC, for a “merging external NVRAM with full disk encryption.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods and arrangements for managing a flash drive, hard disk, or connection between the two, in a manner to ensure that sensitive data is not decrypted at any time when it would be vulnerable. Accordingly, in a first implementation, the data may preferably be encrypted as it first goes into a flash drive and decrypted when it comes out of the flash drive. In another implementation, the flash drive may be logically bound to the hard disk, so that they would both use the same encryption key. In yet another implementation, if a hard disk is moved to another system, then the flash drive may also preferably be simultaneously moved.“

The patent application was filed on September 30, 2007 (11/865,049).

Discovery, preview and control of media on remote device
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,317,505) developed by Childs, Philip Lee, Durham, NC, Vanover, Michael Terrell, Raleigh, NC, Wang, Hui, and Chen, Shaowei, Beijing, China, for a “discovery, preview and control of media on a remote device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An aspect provides a method, including: sending a media query from a controller user device to a second user device, receiving media meta data at the controller user device in response to the media query of the second user device, the received media meta data comprising media meta data regarding a media file currently playing on the second user device and media meta data regarding one or more queued media files, providing at the controller user device a visual display based on the received media meta data, the visual display comprising a visual indication of the media file currently playing on the second user device and a preview of the one or more queued media files to be played on the second user device, and issuing one or more control action commands from the controller user device to the second user device. Other aspects are described and claimed.“

The patent application was filed on November 30, 2012 (13/690,110).

Operating memory management controller
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,317,214) developed by Kolvick, Randolph S., Durham, NC, and Ono, Makoto, Chapel Hill, NC, for a “operating a memory management controller.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A memory management controller operatively coupled to a plurality of memory modules, the memory management controller including processing logic configured to: identify a plurality of memory tiers in the plurality of memory modules, each memory tier characterized by different operational characteristics, allocate a spare block of memory in each memory tier, identify a data characteristic for each of the one or more blocks of data in a plurality of memory tiers, migrate, in dependence upon the operational characteristics of each memory tier and the data characteristic for each of the one or more data blocks in the plurality of memory tiers, data in a first memory tier to the spare block of memory in a second memory tier, and migrate data in the second memory tier to the spare block of memory in the first memory tier.“

The patent application was filed on October 29, 2013 (14/066,108).

Nonvolatile random access memory use
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,298,602) developed by Davis, Mark Charles, Durham, NC, for a “nonvolatile random access memory use.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”For nonvolatile random access memory, (NVRAM) use, a query module identifies persistent data on a NVRAM in response to waking the NVRAM. A management module makes available the persistent data for use.“

The patent application was filed on November 27, 2013 (14/092,444).

Operating memory management controller
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,298,389) developed by Kolvick, Randolph S., Durham, NC, and Ono, Makoto, Chapel Hill, NC, for a “operating a memory management controller.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A memory management controller operatively coupled to a plurality of memory modules, the memory management controller including processing logic configured to: identify a plurality of memory tiers in the plurality of memory modules, each memory tier characterized by different operational characteristics, allocate a spare block of memory in each memory tier, identify a data characteristic for each of the one or more blocks of data in a plurality of memory tiers, migrate, in dependence upon the operational characteristics of each memory tier and the data characteristic for each of the one or more data blocks in the plurality of memory tiers, data in a first memory tier to the spare block of memory in a second memory tier, and migrate data in the second memory tier to the spare block of memory in the first memory tier.“

The patent application was filed on October 28, 2013 (14/064,673).

Dynamic use of RAID levels responsive to predicted failure of data storage device
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,286,173) developed by Nolterieke, Michael H., Raleigh, NC, Pagan, William G., Durham, NC, and Snyder, Devon D., Cary, NC, for a “dynamic use of RAID levels responsive to predicted failure of a data storage device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Data associated with a workload is stored in a first composite array of data storage devices, and is automatically stored in a second composite array in response to predicting failure of one of the data storage devices in the first composite array. The data may be stored in the second composite array by either converting the first composite array or migrating the data to the second composite array. One of the data storage devices may predict its own failure and issue a predictive failure alert.“

The patent application was filed on April 7, 2015 (14/680,235).

RAID-1 mirror meshed into co-existing RAID-5 parity stream
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,280,293) developed by Cudak, Gary D., Creedmoor, NC, Do, Lydia M., Hardee, Christopher J., Raleigh, NC, and Roberts, Adam, Moncure, NC, for a “RAID 1 mirror meshed into a co-existing RAID 5 parity stream.”

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 program instructions embodied therewith, wherein the program instructions are executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method. The method includes storing an operating system in minor stripes on a first data storage device forming a first logical storage unit, and storing data in major stripes across a plurality of data storage devices forming a second logical data storage unit. Each major stripe includes a plurality of minor stripes storing data and a parity stripe. The method further includes calculating the parity stripe from the plurality of minor stripes within the major stripe and a corresponding one of the minor stripes on the first data storage device, wherein the minor stripes on the first data storage device match the size of the minor stripes on the array of data storage devices.“

The patent application was filed on May 23, 2014 (14/285,673).

Dual side staggered surface mount dual in-line memory module
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,265,152) developed by Pymento, Larry G., Cary, NC, and Sass, Tony C., Fuquay Varina, NC, for a “dual side staggered surface mount dual in-line memory module.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the invention relates to a process and assembly for a dual sided and staggered connector arrangement on a substrate. Surface mount connector technology is employed to enable a flush connection of connector leads to the surface of the substrate. Retaining pins are provided with each connector and are sized to be received by the substrate, but not to extend through the substrate. The retaining pins are sized and configured to hold each connector in a set position, while mitigating interference with an opposing side of the PCB.“

The patent application was filed on December 17, 2013 (14/108,943).

Asynchronous data mirroring in memory controller
Lenovo Enterprises Solutions, (Singapore) Pte. Ltd., Singapore, has been assigned a patent (9,262,090) developed by Abali, Bulent, Hawthorne, NY, Ono, Makoto, RTP, NC, and Tsao, Michael M., Yorktown Heights, NY, for a “asynchronous data mirroring in memory controller.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method for mirroring data between virtual machines includes intercepting a write command initiated from a virtual machine. Address and data information from the intercepted write command is stored within a queue located within a memory buffer of the primary server. The stored address and data information is transferred, upon filling the queue of the memory buffer of the primary server to a predetermined level, to a dedicated region of the memory of the primary server. The stored address and data information is sent from the dedicated region of the memory of the primary server to a backup server upon filling of the dedicated region of the memory of the primary server to a predetermined level.“

The patent application was filed on February 26, 2013 (13/777,470).