IBM Assigned Thirty Patents

Multiple functionality in virtual SAN device
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,594,080) developed by Mark Sean Fleming, Tucson, AZ, Hemanth Kalluri, and Jeffry Lynn Larson, San Jose, CA, for a “multiple functionality in a virtual SAN device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In one aspect of the present description, a connection between a predetermined input port and a predetermined output port is created in a partition of a VSAN switch, in which the connection is a destination address independent physical layer connection conforming to the physical layer of a communication protocol. Another connection between a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports may be created in another partition of the VSAN switch, in which the connection is a multi-layer connection which includes a network layer connection conforming to the network layer of the communication protocol. Other features and aspects may be realized, depending upon the particular application.”

The patent application was filed on Oct. 29, 2010 (12/916,366).

Memory architecture with policy based storage
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,595,463) developed by Robert B. Tremaine, Stormville, NY, and Robert W. Wisniewski, Ossining, NY, for a “memory architecture with policy based storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A computing system and methods for memory management are presented. A memory or an I/O controller receives a write request where the data two be written is associated with an address. Hint information may be associated with the address and may relate to memory characteristics such as an historical, O/S direction, data priority, job priority, job importance, job category, memory type, I/O sender ID, latency, power, write cost, or read cost components. The memory controller may interrogate the hint information to determine where (e.g., what memory type or class) to store the associated data. Data is therefore efficiently stored within the system. The hint information may also be used to track post-write information and may be interrogated to determine if a data migration should occur and to which new memory type or class the data should be moved.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 15, 2010 (12/882,551).

Processing read requests by storage system
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,595,444) developed by Lior Aronovich, Konstantin Mushkin, Toronto, Canada, and Oded Sonin, Omer, Israel, for “processing read requests by a storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Read messages are issued by a client for data stored in a storage system. A client agent mediates between the client and the storage system. Each sequence of read requests generated by a single thread of execution in the client to read a specific data segment in the storage is defined as a client read session. Each read request sent from the client agent to the storage system includes a position and a size for reading. The read-ahead cache and a current sequence ID value for each client read session are maintained. For each incoming read request, the storage system determines whether to further process the read request based on a sequence ID value of the read request, and the source from which to obtain data for the read request, and which of the data to load into the read-ahead cache according to data positions of the read request.”

The patent application was filed on March 8, 2013 (13/789,927).

Robotic safety stop for automated storage library
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,585,103) developed by Nicholas A. Hartl, San Jose, CA, and Shawn M. Nave, Tucson, AZ, for a “robotic safety stop for automated storage library.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A connector has first and second ends. The first end is configured to contact a door of the automated storage library when the door is in at least a first position. A safety stop is connected to the second end of the connector and adapted to move from a down position to an up position. The safety stop is in the down position when the door is in the first position. The connector is adapted to travel in a lateral direction corresponding to a similar movement of the door as the door is opened between the first position and a second position, causing the safety stop to move from the down position to an up position to prevent travel of the robotic accessor beyond the safety stop.”

The patent application was filed on Jan. 14, 2010 (12/687,333).

Processing read requests by storage system
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,595,444) developed by Lior Aronovich, Konstantin Mushkin, Toronto, Canada, and Oded Sonin, Omer, Israel, for “processing read requests by a storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Read messages are issued by a client for data stored in a storage system. A client agent mediates between the client and the storage system. Each sequence of read requests generated by a single thread of execution in the client to read a specific data segment in the storage is defined as a client read session. Each read request sent from the client agent to the storage system includes a position and a size for reading. The read-ahead cache and a current sequence ID value for each client read session are maintained. For each incoming read request, the storage system determines whether to further process the read request based on a sequence ID value of the read request, and the source from which to obtain data for the read request, and which of the data to load into the read-ahead cache according to data positions of the read request.”

The patent application was filed on March 8, 2013 (13/789,927).

Determination of storage availability for files
to be stored at one or more device quality parameter settings
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,587,693) developed by four co-inventors for “determination of storage availability for files to be stored at one or more device quality parameter settings.”

The co-inventors are Michael Andrew Bockus, Manor, TX, Derek Ryan Brewer, Rochester, MN, Robert Dale Wilhelm, Cheyenne, WY, and Jeffrey Owen Manthei, Redwood Falls, MN.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method, programmed medium and system are disclosed which provide for enabling a user to set the number of images/video that needs to be recorded prior to storing them in memory. The system is configured to manage the resolution and quality of the images/video, either automatically or manually, so that the images or video recordings are stored with the highest possible quality aspects within the free memory space available.”

The patent application was filed on Nov. 17, 2010 (12/948,365).

Storage in cloud
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,589,355) developed by four co-inventors for a “storage in a cloud.”

The co-inventors are Abhinay R. Nagpal, Pune, India, Sandeep R. Patil, Elmsford, N.Y., Sri Ramanathan, Lutz, FL, and Matthew B. Trevathan, Kennesaw, GA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods and systems for managing storage of data in a cloud by receiving a request, wherein the request includes information to store data within a cloud, environment comprising a plurality of data storages coupled to each other over a network; routing the data to be stored within a specific location of storage within the cloud environment by checking for any regulatory compliance. Other embodiments are also disclosed.”

The patent application was filed on Oct. 29, 2010 (12/916,248).

Security compliant storage management
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,590,050) developed by four co-inventors for a “security compliant storage management.”

The co-inventors are Abhinay Ravinder Nagpal, Pune, India, Sri Ramanathan, Lutz, FL, Sandeep Ramesh Patil, Elmsford, NY, and Matthew Bunkley Trevathan, Kennesaw, GA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An embodiment of the invention is a program for dynamically managing files to comply with security requirements. In one embodiment, changing security requirements require that the computer system identifies the current storage locations of files along with the files’ respective security levels. Files containing changed security levels due to the changed security requirements are relocated to storage locations clustered with storage locations containing files of the same security level. In another embodiment, the computer system receives a file having a certain security level, identifies current storage locations of files with the files’ respective security levels, and finally allocates the new file to a storage location clustered with storage locations containing files of the same security level.”

The patent application was filed on May 11, 2011 (13/105,283).

Storage system cache using flash memory with direct block access
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,583,868) developed by seven co-inventors for a “storage system cache using flash memory with direct block access.”

The co-inventors are Wendy A. Belluomini,Binny S. Gill, James L. Hafner, San Jose, CA, Steven R. Hetzler, Los Altos, CA, Venu G. Nayar, San Jose, CA, Daniel F. Smith, Felton, CA, and Krishnakumar Rao Surugucchi, Fremont, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Embodiments of the invention enable a storage cache, comprising flash memory devices, to have direct block access to the flash such that the physical block addresses are presented to the storage system’s cache layer, which thereby controls the storage cache data stream. An aspect of the invention includes a caching storage system. The caching storage system comprises a plurality of flash memory units organized in an array configuration. Each of the plurality of flash memory units includes at least one flash memory device and a flash unit controller. Each flash unit controller provides the caching storage system with direct physical block access to its corresponding at least one flash memory device. The caching storage system further comprises a storage cache controller. The storage cache controller selects physical block address locations (within a flash memory device) to be erased where data are to be written, issues erase commands to a flash unit controller corresponding to the selected physical block address locations, and issues page write operations to a set of erase blocks.”

The patent application was filed on Aug. 29, 2011 (13/220,256).

Synchronizing storage systems in storage environment
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,583,886) developed by seven co-inventors for a “synchronizing storage systems in a storage environment.”

The co-inventors are Akram Bitar, Irit Dolev, Shachar Fienblit, Olympia Gluck, Gilad Sharaby, Haifa, Israel, Gail Spear, Tucson, AZ, and Aviad Zlotnick, Haifa, Israel.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for synchronizing data storage systems is provided. The method comprises designating a relationship between a first data storage system and a second data storage system, such that data stored in the first data storage system is copied to the second data storage system, in response to determining that the data stored in the first data storage system has been modified; receiving a first request to modify data stored in a first data block of a first storage volume in the first data storage system, wherein the data block is modified according to the first request; determining that the first data block has not been successfully synchronized when the modified data stored in the first data block is not copied to the second data storage system; and executing a process to retry synchronization of the first data block until synchronization of the first data block is successful, without suspending the relationship while the process is executed.”

The patent application was filed on Feb. 2, 2010 (12/698,331).

Full-stripe-write protocol for maintaining parity coherency
in write-back distributed redundancy storage system
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,583,866) developed by David D. Chambliss, Morgan Hill, CA, James L. Hafner, and Tarun Thakur, San Jose, CA, for a “full-stripe-write protocol for maintaining parity coherency in a write-back distributed redundancy storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Data storage reliability is maintained in a write-back distributed data storage system including multiple nodes. Information is stored as a stripe including a collection of a data strips and associated parity strips, the stripe distributed across data and parity nodes. Each data node maintains the data strip holding a first copy of data, and each parity node maintains a parity strip holding a parity for the collection of data strips. A driver node initiates a full-stripe-write parity update protocol for maintaining parity coherency in conjunction with other nodes, to keep the relevant parity strips coherent. Parity is determined directly by computing parity strips for all data strips of a stripe. Any node may function as a driver node.”

The patent application was filed on Feb. 22, 2010 (12/710,151).

System and service to facilitate encryption in storage devices
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,577,043) developed by four co-inventors for a “system and service to facilitate encryption in storage devices.”

The co-inventors are Allen K. Bates, Nhan X. Bui, Brian G. Goodman, and Daniel J. Winarski, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An encryption communications appliance provides data encryption management for a data storage library. The appliance is coupled to an encryption-capable storage device, a data storage library controller within the data storage library and with an encryption key manager (EKM). The encryption command communications appliance intercepts encryption key requests from the data storage device and transparently forwards the requests to the EKM. The appliance also forwards transparently communications between the library controller and the data storage device.”

The patent application was filed on Jan. 9, 2009 (12/351,700).

Dynamic look-ahead extent migration for tiered storage architectures
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,578,114) developed by four co-inventors for a “dynamic look-ahead extent migration for tiered storage architectures.”

The co-inventors are Paul Anthony Jennas II, Larry Juarez, David Montgomery, and Todd Charles Sorenson, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for migrating extents between extent pools in a tiered storage architecture maintains a data access profile for an extent over a period of time. Using the data access profile, the method generates an extent profile graph that predicts data access rates for the extent into the future. The slope of the extent profile graph is calculated and used to determine whether the extent will reach a migration threshold within a specified “look-ahead” time. If so, the method calculates a migration window that allows the extent to be migrated prior to reaching the migration threshold. In certain embodiments, the method determines the overall performance impact on the source extent pool and destination extent pool during the migration window. If the overall performance impact is below a designated impact threshold, the method migrates the extent during the migration window.”

The patent application was filed on April 24, 2012 (13/455,062).

On demand conversion of standard logical volumes
to thin-provisioned logical volumes
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,578,087) developed by five co-inventors for an “on demand conversion of standard logical volumes to thin-provisioned logical volumes.”

The co-inventors are Mario Francisco Acedo, Paul Anthony Jennas II, Tucson, AZ, Jason Lee Peipelman, Vail, AZ, Richard Anthony Ripberger, Tucson, AZ, and Matthew John Ward, Vail, AZ

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for concurrently converting a standard volume to a thin-provisioned volume includes initially establishing metadata for a thin-provisioned volume. The method then updates the metadata for the thin-provisioned volume to point to extents residing in a standard volume. The method then suspends I/O to metadata for the standard volume. Upon suspending the I/O, the method migrates control of the extents in the standard volume from a standard-volume control algorithm to a thin-provisioned-volume control algorithm. The method then resumes the I/O to the metadata for the thin-provisioned volume. Using this technique, standard volumes may be rapidly converted to thin-provisioned volumes while minimally disrupting I/O to the volumes. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also disclosed and claimed herein.”

The patent application was filed on Feb. 2, 2010 (12/698,614).

Extent migration scheduling for multi-tier storage architectures
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,578,107) developed by David Montgomery, Tucson, AZ, for an “extent migration scheduling for multi-tier storage architectures.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for scheduling the migration of extents between extent pools of a storage system is disclosed herein. In certain embodiments, such a method includes periodically profiling an extent pool to generate a historical data access profile of the extent pool. Using this historical data access profile, the method determines an optimal migration window for migrating an extent to the extent pool. The method then identifies an actual extent for migration to the extent pool. Once the actual extent is identified, the method schedules the extent for migration to the extent pool during the optimal migration window. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also disclosed herein.”

The patent application was filed on Feb. 16, 2010 (12/706,421).

Allocation of storage space for critical data sets
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,578,125) developed by four co-inventors for an “allocation of storage space for critical data sets.”

The co-inventors are Douglas Lee Lehr, Franklin Emmert McCune, David Charles Reed, and Max Douglas Smith, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Described are embodiments of an invention for allocating storage space in a storage system for critical data sets. The computing environment includes at least one server including a processor and memory. The server is coupled to storage. The memory further includes a storage manager including an allocation module and an alert module. The storage manager defines a common area for storing non-critical data sets and critical data sets in the storage group. The storage manager also defines a critical reserve area for storing only critical data sets in the first storage group. A predefined percentage of available storage space is reserved for the critical reserve area. The predefined percentage of available space is determined by comparing the available storage space within the critical reserve area to the storage space in the storage group. Upon allocating additional storage to the storage group, the allocation module allocates an amount of the additional storage space to the critical reserve area such that the predefined percentage of available storage space is maintained in the critical reserve area. ”

The patent application was filed on Oct. 13, 2010 (12/903,777).

Dynamic look-ahead extent migration for tiered storage architectures
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,578,108) developed by four co-inventors for a “dynamic look-ahead extent migration for tiered storage architectures.”

The co-inventors are Paul Anthony Jennas II, Larry Juarez, David Montgomery, and Todd Charles Sorenson, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for migrating extents between extent pools in a tiered storage architecture maintains a data access profile for an extent over a period of time. Using the data access profile, the method generates an extent profile graph that predicts data access rates for the extent into the future. The slope of the extent profile graph is calculated and used to determine whether the extent will reach a migration threshold within a specified “look-ahead” time. If so, the method calculates a migration window that allows the extent to be migrated prior to reaching the migration threshold. In certain embodiments, the method determines the overall performance impact on the source extent pool and destination extent pool during the migration window. If the overall performance impact is below a designated impact threshold, the method migrates the extent during the migration window. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also disclosed herein.”

The patent application was filed on Aug. 3, 2010 (12/849,087).

Migration methodology for use with arrays of powered-down storage devices
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,578,113) developed by ten co-inventors for a “data migration methodology for use with arrays of powered-down storage devices.”

The co-inventors are Dale Howard Anderson, Tucson, AZ, Philip Matthew Doatmas, Flagstaff, AZ, Michael Robert Groseclose, Paul Anthony Jennas, Larry Juarez, Tucson, AZ, Brian Sean McCain, Mountain View, CA, David Montgomery, Tucson, AZ, Jason Lee Peipelman, Vail, AZ, Joshua Marshall Rhoades, and Todd Charles Sorenson, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for managing extents in a data storage system includes monitoring usage statistics for an extent residing on one or more powered-up storage devices. In the event the extent has not been accessed for specified period of time (as determined from the usage statistics), the method automatically compresses the extent and migrates the extent to an intermediate repository. Once the amount of data in the intermediate repository reaches a specified level, the method migrates the extent from the intermediate repository to one or more normally powered-down storage devices. If I/O is received for the extent while it resides in the normally powered-down storage devices or the intermediate repository, the method automatically migrates the extent from the normally powered-down storage devices or the intermediate repository to the normally powered-up storage devices. A corresponding apparatus and computer program product are also disclosed.”

The patent application was filed on April 16, 2012 (13/447,434).

Calculating read operations and filtering redundant read requests
in storage system
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,578,101) developed by Lior Aronovich, Toronto, Konstantin Mushkin, Toronto, Canada, and Oded Sonin, Omer, Israel, for “calculating read operations and filtering redundant read requests in a storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Read messages are issued by a client for data stored in a storage system of the networked client-server architecture. A client agent mediates between the client and the storage system. Each sequence of read requests generated by a single thread of execution in the client to read a specific data segment in the storage is defined as a client read session. The client agent maintains a read-ahead cache for each client read session and generates read-ahead requests to load data into the read-ahead cache. Each read request and read-ahead request sent from the client agent to the storage system includes positions and a size for reading and a sequence id value. The storage system filters and modifies incoming read request and read-ahead requests based on sequence ID values, positions and sizes of the incoming read request and read-ahead requests.”

The patent application was filed on March 8, 2013 (13/789,914).

Determining data contents to be loaded into read-ahead cache in storage system
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,578,102) developed by Lior Aronovich, Konstantin Mushkin, Toronto, Canada and Oded Sonin, Omer, Israel, for “determining data contents to be loaded into a read-ahead cache in a storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Read messages are issued by a client for data stored in a storage system of the networked client-server architecture. A client agent mediates between the client and the storage system. Each sequence of read requests generated by a single thread of execution in the client to read a specific data segment in the storage is defined as a client read session. Each read request sent from the client agent to the storage system includes positions and size for reading. A read-ahead cache is maintained for each client read session. The read-ahead cache is partitioned into two buffers. Data is loaded into the logical buffers according to the changes of the positions in the read requests of the client read session and loading of new data into the buffers is triggered by the read requests positions exceeding a position threshold in the data covered by the second logical buffer.”

The patent application was filed on March 8, 2013 (13/789,924).

Data encoding in SSDs
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,578,246) developed by Thomas Mittelholzer, Zurich, Switzerland, Nikolaos Papandreou, and Charalampos Pozidis, Thalwil, Switzerland, for a “data encoding in solid-state storage devices.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods and apparatus are provided for recording input data in q-level cells of solid-state memory (2), where q>2. Input data words are encoded as respective codewords, each having a plurality of symbols. The coding scheme is such that each symbol can take one of q values corresponding to respective predetermined levels of the q-level cells, and each of the possible input data words is encoded as a codeword with a unique sequence of relative symbol values. The symbols of each codeword are then recorded in respective cells of the solid-state memory by setting each cell to the level corresponding to the recorded symbol value. Input data is thus effectively encoded in the relative positions of cell levels, providing resistance to certain effects of drift noise.”

The patent application was filed on April 29, 2011 (13/097,402).

Methods and physical computer storage media for transferring de-dupe data
organized in virtual volumes to target set of physical media
for forming bitmap and creating volume map
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,566,291) developed by five co-inventors for “methods and physical computer storage media for transferring de-duplicated data organized in virtual volumes to a target set of physical media for forming a bitmap and creating a volume map.”

The co-inventors are John J. Auvenshine, Tucson, AZ, Erik Bartholomy, Superior, CO, Andrew G. Hourselt, John T. Olson, and Harley D. Puckett III, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method include forming an initial bitmap from the de-duplicated data on virtual volumes, sorting discrete blocks according to frequency of occurrence to form a revised bitmap to first include a plurality of most common discrete blocks, creating a physical volume map from the revised bitmap, reviewing, from the physical volume map, an initial virtual volume of the virtual volumes contained on a corresponding original physical volume, to determine whether moving the initial virtual volume to a different physical volume reduces the total number of data blocks in the physical volume map, deleting the initial virtual volume from its corresponding original physical volume and adding the initial virtual volume to the different original physical volume to create a revised physical volume map including revised physical volumes, and writing the revised physical volumes to the target set of physical media using the revised physical volume map.”

The patent application was filed on June 27, 2012 (13/534,115).

High density storage medium, method and device
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,599,673) developed by eleven co-inventors for a “high density storage medium, method and device.”

The co-inventors are Richard Anthony DiPietro, Campbell, CA, Urs T. Duerig, Rueschlikon, Switzerland, Jane Elizabeth Frommer, San Jose, CA, Bernd Walter Gotsmann, Horgan, Switzerland, Erik Christopher Hagberg, Evansville, IN, James Lupton Hedrick, Pleasanton, CA, Armin W. Knoll, Rueschlikon, Switzerland, Teddie Peregrino Magbitang, Robert Dennis Miller, San Jose, CA, Russell Clayton Pratt, Los Gatos, CA, and Charles Gordon Wade, Los Gatos, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A composition of matter for the recording medium of nanometer scale thermo-mechanical information storage devices and a nanometer scale thermo-mechanical information storage device. The composition includes: one or more polyaryletherketone polymers, each of the one or more polyaryletherketone polymers having two terminal ends, each terminal end having two or more phenylethynyl moieties. The one or more polyaryletherketone polymers are thermally cured and the resulting cross-linked polyaryletherketone resin used as the recording layers in atomic force data storage devices. ”

The patent application was filed on Jan. 3, 2012 (13/342,409).

Cartridge refresh and verify
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,559,124) developed by five co-inventors for a “cartridge refresh and verify.”

The co-inventors are Scott Milton Fry, Oro Valley, AZ, Reed A. Hancock, James M. Karp, Pamela R. Nylander-Hill, Tucson, AZ, and Eiji Ogura, Yokohama, Japan.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method in one embodiment includes receiving a command to perform at least one of a refresh operation and a verification operation on a media cartridge having a tape wrapped around a spool; mounting the media cartridge in a tape drive; starting execution of the refresh and/or verification operation; aborting execution of the refresh and/or verification operation upon occurrence of a predetermined event. A method in another embodiment includes receiving an instruction to perform a verification operation on a media cartridge having a tape wrapped around a spool; unwrapping at least some of the tape from the spool; after the unwrapping, wrapping at least some of the tape back onto the spool; during at least one of the unwrapping and wrapping, performing a verification operation; terminating execution of the verification operation when a drive error is detected; outputting an indication of a media error when a media error is encountered.”

The patent application was filed on May 3, 2012 (13/463,745).

Pass-through accessor comprising fixturing apparatus
for storing a plurality of portable storage cassettes
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,559,129) developed by four co-inventors for a “pass-through accessor comprising a fixturing apparatus for storing a plurality of portable storage cassettes.”

The co-inventors are Matthew Charles Compton, Durham, NC, Louis Daniel Echevarria, Stefan Lehmann, and Richard Albert Welp, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A pass-through accessor comprising a fixturing apparatus that can store a plurality of portable data storage cassettes. The pass-through accessor comprises a moveable gripper assembly comprising a plurality of gripping members. The gripper assembly releaseably attaches to a portable data storage cassette disposed in a storage slot, pulls that portable data storage cassette outwardly from the storage slot, and releaseably attaches that portable data storage cassette to one of a plurality of fixturing assemblies disposed on the fixturing apparatus.”

The patent application was filed on Oct. 1, 2008 (12/243,132).

Synchronous extent migration protocol for paired storage
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,560,792) developed by four co-inventors for a “synchronous extent migration protocol for paired storage.”

The co-inventors are Paul A. Jennas II, Larry Juarez, Tucson, AZ, David Montgomery, Costa Mesa, CA, and Todd C. Sorenson, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Extent migration is provided in a data storage environment configured for synchronous replication between a primary and secondary pair of storage entities, each having tiered storage devices In one embodiment, by way of example only, a migration instruction is sent, by the primary storage entity, to the secondary storage entity, the migration instruction including a relative priority based on a primary ordered heat map of the tiered storage devices of the primary storage entity. The relative priority is used against a secondary ordered heat map of the tiered storage devices of the secondary storage entity to perform the extent migration, regardless of whether the primary and secondary storage entities are identical.”

The patent application was filed on Dec. 16, 2010 (12/970,832).

Control of logical write protection of rewritable storage cartridge
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,612,709) developed by Leonard George Jesionowski, Tucson, AZ, for a “control of logical write protection of rewritable storage cartridge.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Write protection for data of a rewritable data storage cartridge having partitions is provided in certain circumstances by providing logical write protection; and in response to detection of an application issuing at least one partition-based command with respect to the rewritable data storage cartridge, the logical write protection is disabled with respect to the detected application. Thus, where the cartridge has a non-default index addressing location, in response to detection of an application issuing at least one command initially addressing a location other than the non-default index location, logical write protection is enabled with respect to the detected application; and if the non-default index location is addressed, the logical write protection is disabled.”

The patent application was filed on April 29, 2010 (12/770,361).

Application server provisioning system and method based on disk image profile
International Business Machines, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,612,393) developed by five co-inventors for an “application server provisioning system and method based on disk image profile.”

The co-inventors are Jian Huang, Wei Li, Pei Ni Liu, Hao Wang, and Zhe Xiang, Beijing.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An application server disk image generating apparatus and method comprising a basic disk image generating component for generating basic disk images for basic programs used by the server; an incremental disk image generating component for generating incremental disk images including heritage relationship for other respective applications based on the basic programs used by the server; and an image profile generating means for generating an image profile for each of the basic disk images and the incremental disk images. By using the apparatus, the storage consumption can be decreased greatly and the storage efficiency can be improved. The invention also discloses an application server disk image management and distribution system to which the application server disk image generating apparatus is applied, and a system for provisioning the application server using disk images.”

The patent application was filed on March 21, 2008 (12/052,783).