EMC Assigned Nine Patents

Preserving symbolic links by storage virtualization system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,667,034) developed by Dylan Simon, New York, Ronald Brown, Dunfermline, United Kingdom, and Mingzhou Joe Sun, Santa Clara, CA, for a “system and method for preserving symbolic links by a storage virtualization system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention enables a storage virtualization system to identify and preserve symlinks stored in a mixed protocol NFS+CIFS NAS system. Using the results of a multi-protocol scan, a storage virtualization system may identify which data objects are symlinks. The storage virtualization system may also determine the symlinks’ target path information either by monitoring access or by referring to metadata discovered during the scan. After recording this target path information, the storage virtualization system may provide symlink expansion capabilities separate from the client computer or the NAS system. In addition, this target path information may be preserved upon symlink migration to a second NAS system.“

The patent application was filed on Feb. 20, 2008 (12/034,505).

Managing global metadata caches in storage systems
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,661,068) developed by five co-inventors for “managing global metadata caches in storage systems.“

The co-inventors are Christopher Seibel, Walpole, MA, Philippe Armangau, Acton, MA, Sitaram Pawar, Shrewsbury, MA, Jean-Pierre Bono, Westborough, MA, and Diane M. Delgado, Carlisle, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method is used in managing global metadata caches in data storage systems. Space is allocated in a memory of a data storage system to a global metadata cache which is configured to store metadata objects for a plurality of different file systems responsive to file system access requests from the plurality of different file systems. A metadata object associated with a file of a file system of the plurality of different file systems is stored in the global metadata cache. The metadata object is accessed by a plurality of different versions of the file.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 29, 2011 (13/249,008).

Cross domain delegation by storage virtualization system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,650,615) developed by Mingzhou Joe Sun, Santa Clara, CA, for the “cross domain delegation by a storage virtualization system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present is a system and method for preserving user account security privileges during a migration or re-direction of data from one NAS system to another. Certain NAS systems authenticate user accounts using Kerberos Delegation Technology. In addition, some NAS systems feature the ability to constrain delegation to certain services. While effective in limiting access and promoting network security, this constrained delegation restricts the ability of a storage virtualization system to migrate or re-direct data to other NAS systems, especially if the other NAS system resides or is identified by a different domain name. The present invention is a system and method for storing user account credentials that work with the former NAS system, and providing a way to translate these credentials to a new NAS system with a new domain, permitting seamless data migration and re-direction across domains.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 28, 2007 (11/906,026).

Controlling information about storage system returned to end-user
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,645,375) developed by five co-inventors for a “controlling information about a storage system returned to an end-user.“

The co-inventors are Michael Liberty, Ayer, MA, Douglas A. Wood, Uday K. Gupta, Westford, MA, Mark A. Parenti, Milford, NH, and Stephen J. Todd, Shrewsbury, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Described are techniques for use in controlling information about a data storage system returned to an end user. A first set of information is sent from a first recipient location included in a hierarchy to a second recipient location included in the hierarchy. At the second recipient location, a second set of information is produced using information control criteria of said second recipient location. The second set of information is sent from the second recipient location to a component used to manage the data storage system.“

The patent application was filed on Sept. 29, 2008 (12/286,434).

Performing RAID operation in storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,645,623) developed by five co-inventors for a “method for performing a raid operation in a storage system.”

The co-inventors are John O’Shea, Newton, MA, Jeffrey Kinne, Needham, MA, Michael Sgrosso, Franklin, MA, Steven T. McClure, Northborough, MA, and Yechiel Yochai, Lincoln, RI.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage system having protocol controller for converting packets between PCIE format used by a storage processor and Rapid IO format used by a packet switching network. The controller includes a PCIE end point for transferring atomic operation (DSA) requests, a data pipe section having a plurality of data pipes for passing user data; and a message engine section for passing messages among the plurality of storage processors. An acceleration path controller bypasses a DSA buffer in the absence of congestion on the network. Packets fed to the PCIE end point include an address portion having code indicating an atomic operation. An encoder converts the code from a PCIE format into the same atomic operation in SRIO format. Each one of a plurality of CPUs is adapted to perform a second DSA request during execution of a first DSA request.“

The patent application was filed on June 28, 2007 (11/769,746).

Selecting physical storage in storage systems
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,645,654) developed by Charles Christopher Bailey, Cary, NC, and Dayanand Suldhal, Durham, NC, for “selecting physical storage in storage systems.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method is used in selecting physical storage in data storage systems. A request for allocation of a portion of storage area of a data storage system is received from a requesting entity. The data storage system is comprised of a set of storage entities and a set of data buses for transferring data to and from the set of storage entities. The set of storage entities are organized into a set of logical units. Each logical unit of the set of logical units is subdivided into a set of slices. A slice is selected from a logical unit of the set of logical units for allocation for use by the requesting entity in response to receiving the request for allocation. The selection is based on an optimum value indicating physical location of the logical unit within the set of storage entities during access to data to be stored in the data storage system.”

The patent application was filed on June 29, 2011 (13/172,517).

Facilitating communication between host and downstream devices in storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,639,864) developed by Douglas R. Sullivan, Hopkinton, MA, Howard G. Drake, Westborough, MA, and Matthew Yellen, Worcester, MA, for a “method and system for facilitating communication between a host and downstream devices in a storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A diplex FPGA is utilized to fan out a single high speed host universal asynchronous receiver transmitter (“UART”) channel into a number of diplex UART channels. The diplex FPGA includes a microprocessor, memory, a host UART and a number of diplex UARTs. In operation, the microprocessor polls each of the UARTs in a ’round robin’ manner and accepts packets from the host UART for transmission downstream and from the diplex UARTs for transmission upstream.”

The patent application was filed on June 30, 2005 (11/171,841).

Determining optimal chunk sizes of deduplicated storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,639,669) developed by Frederick Douglis, Basking Ridge, NJ, Philip N. Shilane, Yardley, PA, and Grant Wallace, Pennington, NJ, for a “method and apparatus for determining optimal chunk sizes of a deduplicated storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for evaluating deduplication effectiveness of data chunks in a storage system are described herein. In one embodiment, metadata of first data chunks associated with a deduplicated storage system is examined, where the first data chunks have been partitioned according to a first chunk size. A second chunk size is calculated based on the examination of the metadata of first data chunks. Metadata of the first data chunks is merged according to the second chunk size to represent second data chunks to which the first data chunks would have been merged. A deduplication rate of the second data chunks is determined based on the merged metadata.”

The patent application was filed on Dec. 22, 2011 (13/334,732).

Interfacing to storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,635,423) developed by Steven M. Blumenau, Holliston, MA, for “methods and apparatus for interfacing to a storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A dynamic volume configuration technique is provided which allows storage space within storage devices in the data storage system to be dynamically associated and disassociated (i.e., added and removed) from the volumes on an as-needed basis, without requiring disruption of host activities with respect to the volumes. The persistent identifier of a volume allows all hosts and other data storage systems to “see” the volume. This allows a volume in one data storage system to have associated storage space from another volume in another data storage system. Using these techniques, the invention allows software applications and operating systems on hosts that interface to the data storage system to perceive that a volume is always present on the data storage system, even if storage space understood to be associated with the volume from the host’s perspective is allocated elsewhere or is non-existent.”

The patent application was filed on Sept. 14, 2010 (12/882,081).