Hitachi Assigned Three Patents

Controlling data between storage systems
providing different storage functions

Hitachi Ltd., Tokyo, has been assigned a patent (8,356,140) developed by Tomohiro Kawaguchi, Cupertino, CA, for "methods and apparatus for controlling data between storage systems providing different storage functions."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system comprises a plurality of storage systems, which provides different storage functions, and is controlled by a management server. The management server determines whether to change the control of the storage controller between the storage systems, or to mount the target volume as an external volume and keep the storage controller under control so that the storage function provided to the source volume is maintained even after the configuration change between the storage systems. After the determination, the management server instructs the storage system to perform according to the determination."

The patent application was filed on July 19, 2010 (12/838,688).

Backup system and method for virtual infrastructure

Hitachi, Tokyo, has been assigned a patent (8,341,365) developed by Atsushi Murase, Sunnyvale, CA, and Yasunori Kaneda, San Jose, CA, for a "data backup system and method for virtual infrastructure."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Systems for backing up the data of an IT system by utilizing server or storage virtualization technology to create and move logical IT infrastructures dynamically. A virtualized IT system provides a server resource pool and a storage resource pool composed from multiple physical devices either within a datacenter or a globally located plurality of datacenters. The virtual server and the storage volume provisioned from those pools will be paired to form the virtual infrastructure. In other words, the virtual infrastructure becomes a logical IT environment build with the required computing and storage resources needed in order to execute specific applications. The virtual infrastructure can also be migrated within/among datacenter sites."

The patent application was filed on Jan. 5, 2012 (13/344,501).

Tiered storage pool management and control
for loosely coupled multiple storage environment

Hitachi, Tokyo, has been assigned a patent (8,356,147) developed by Tomohiro Kawaguchi, Cupertino, CA, for a "tiered storage pool management and control for loosely coupled multiple storage environment."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A system comprises a first storage system including a first storage controller, which receives input/output commands from host computers and provides first storage volumes to the host computers; and a second storage system including a second storage controller which receives input/output commands from host computers and provides second storage volumes to the host computers. A first data storing region of one of the first storage volumes is allocated from a first pool by the first storage controller. A second data storing region of another one of the first storage volumes is allocated from a second pool by the first storage controller. A third data storing region of one of the second storage volumes is allocated from the first pool by the second storage controller. A fourth data storing region of another one of the second storage volumes is allocated from the second pool by the second storage controller."

The patent application was filed on Aug. 20, 2010 (12/860,086).