LSI Assigned Five Patents

Reduced signal path count for interconnect signals within storage system expander
LSI Corp., Milpitas, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,626,974) developed by two co-inventors for methods and systems “for reduced signal path count for interconnect signals within a storage system expander.”

The co-inventors are Alpana Bastiman and Ramprasad Raghavan, Pune, India.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods and systems for reducing the signal path count between circuits within a SAS expander used for establishing SAS connections. The system comprises a SAS expander. The SAS expander comprises a plurality of link layer control circuits, each link layer control circuit adapted to communicatively couple with a SAS device. The SAS expander further comprises a connection manager communicatively coupled with the link layer control circuits for routing communications between the link layer control circuits. Each of the plurality of link layer control circuits is adapted to establish a SAS connection with another link layer control circuit through the connection manager by segmenting a plurality of interconnect signals into multiple data segments for sequential transmission to the connection manager, (e.g., without impacting the performance of the connection manager). The connection manager interprets the data segments to extract the plurality of interconnect signals to establish the SAS connection.”

The patent application was filed on Jan. 19, 2012 (13/354,018 ).

Optical source driver circuit with controllable termination
may be implemented in a HAMR system
LSI, Milpitas, CA, has been assigned a patent (20130308431) developed by Jason P. Brenden, Woodbury, MN, for “optical source driver circuit with controllable termination.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A driver circuit for a laser diode or other optical source comprises a controllable termination for a transmission line coupled between the driver circuit and the optical source, with the controllable termination being switchable between at least first and second termination configurations. The transmission line comprises a first conductor coupled to a first terminal of the optical source and a second conductor coupled to a second terminal of the optical source, and the driver circuit comprises a first current source configured to drive the first conductor, and a second current source configured to drive the second conductor. By way of example, the first termination configuration may comprise an alternating current (AC) termination configuration and the second termination configuration may comprise a direct current (DC) termination configuration.”

Caching data in storage medium implementing tiered data structures
LSI, San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,595,451) developed by two co-inventors for a method “for caching data in a storage medium implementing tiered data structures.”

The co-inventors are Brian McKean, Longmont, CO, and Mark Ish, Sandy Springs, GA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for caching data in a storage medium implementing tiered data structures may include storing a first portion of critical data at the instruction of a storage control module. The first portion of critical data may be separated into data having different priority levels based upon at least one data utilization characteristic associated with a file system implemented by the storage control module. The method may also include storing a second portion of data at the instruction of the storage control module. The second storage medium may have at least one performance, reliability, or security characteristic different from the first storage medium“

The patent application was filed on Nov. 4, 2010 (12/939,863).

Storage tiering with minimal use of DRAM memory for header overhead
LSI, San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,621,134) developed by Mark Ish, Norcross, GA, for a method “of storage tiering with minimal use of DRAM memory for header overhead that utilizes the beginning of the volume to store frequently accessed or hot data.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Disclosed is a method of storage tiering with minimal use of DRAM memory for header overhead that utilizes the beginning of the volume to store frequently accessed or hot data. A solid state storage device is placed at the beginning of a tiered volume and is used to store frequently accessed data. When data becomes less frequently accessed it is moved to a cold data storage area on a hard disk drive in the tiered volume. The data exchange is performed on a one-to-one basis reducing the amount and use of DRAM.”
 
The patent application was filed on Feb. 8, 2011 (13/023,457).

Managing visibility of devices in clustered storage system
LSI, Milpitas, CA, has been assigned a patent (8,621,603) developed by five co-inventors for methods and structure “for managing visibility of devices in a clustered storage system.“

The co-inventors are James A. Rizzo, Austin, TX, Basavaraj G. Hallyal, Fremont, CA, Gerald E. Smith, Niwot, CO, Adam Weiner, Henderson, NE, and Vinu Velayudhan, Fremont, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods and system for implementing a clustered storage solution are provided. One embodiment is a storage controller that communicatively couples a host system with a storage device. The storage controller comprises an interface and a control unit. The interface is operable to communicate with the storage device. The control unit is operable to identify ownership information for a storage device, and to determine if the storage controller is authorized to access the storage device based on the ownership information. The storage controller is operable to indicate the existence of the storage device to the host system if the storage controller is authorized, and operable to hide the existence of the storage device from the host system if the storage controller is not authorized.”

The patent application was filed on March 28, 2012 (13/432,220).