IBM Assigned Twenty Nine Patents

Use of a virtual drive as a hot spare for a raid group
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,959,389) developed by Kulkarni, Janmejay S., Navi Mumbai, India, for a “use of a virtual drive as a hot spare for a raid group.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method that includes identifying a failure indication for a first data storage device that is a member of a first RAID group within a storage array. The method further can include, via a processor external to the storage array, identifying a virtual drive that is defined to include at least one logical storage volume defined in a second RAID group. The virtual drive can be provisioned to serve as a virtual hot spare within the first RAID group to replace the first data storage device.“

The patent application was filed on November 23, 2011 (13/303,683).

Double authentication for controlling disruptive operations on storage resources
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,959,356) developed by Boucher, Vincent, Thoiry, France, Chabrolles, Sebastien, Baillargues, France, Granier, Benoit, Vailhauques, France, and Mante, Arnaud, Montpellier, France, for a “double authentication for controlling disruptive operations on storage resources.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage controller and program product is provided for performing double authentication for controlling disruptive operations on storage resources generated by a system administrator. A first request is received from a first user for generation of a first key. A first key is generated, provided to the first user and associated with the storage resource. An input is received from the administrator, the input comprises a second key and a command for performing the disruptive operation. The second key and the first key are compared. It is verified that the administrator is authorized as an administrator of the storage resource. The disruptive operation is performed on the storage resource if the second key and the first key match and the administrator is authorized. Otherwise, the performance of the disruptive operation is denied.“

The patent application was filed on March 15, 2013 (13/837,454).

Accessing data in storage system
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,959,301) developed by Becker-Szendy, Ralph A., Los Gatos, CA, Deenadhayalan, Veera W., Guthridge, D. Scott, San Jose, CA, and Wyllie, James C., Monte Sereno, CA, for a “accessing data in a storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the invention relate to accessing data that spans multiple storage devices in a storage system. A first index records identifiers of data blocks and their storage locations, and a second index records storage locations. An update request is processed by writing multiple copies of a received data block identifier and the updated data block to storage locations recorded in the second index. A read request is processed by performing a quorum read of the storage locations recorded in the second index to retrieve the updated data blocks. The processing of the read request also includes performing a quorum read of the first index to determine storage locations that contain data blocks to be read as part of processing the read request. The data blocks to be read exclude the updated data blocks.“

The patent application was filed on November 9, 2012 (13/673,183).

Hybrid storage subsystem with mixed placement of file contents
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,959,286) developed by Bell, Jr., Robert H., Chiang, Men-Chow, Hua, Hong L., and Srinivas, Mysore S., Austin, TX, for a “hybrid storage subsystem with mixed placement of file contents.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage subsystem combining solid state drive, (SSD) and hard disk drive, (HDD) technologies provides low access latency and low complexity. Separate free lists are maintained for the SSD and the HDD and blocks of file system data are stored uniquely on either the SSD or the HDD. When a read access is made to the subsystem, if the data is present on the SSD, the data is returned, but if the block is present on the HDD, it is migrated to the SSD and the block on the HDD is returned to the HDD free list. On a write access, if the block is present in the either the SSD or HDD, the block is overwritten, but if the block is not present in the subsystem, the block is written to the HDD.“

The patent application was filed on April 1, 2013 (13/854,484).

Populating first stride of tracks from first cache to write to second stride in second cache
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,959,279) developed by Ash, Kevin J., Benhase, Michael T., Gupta, Lokesh M., Kalos, Matthew J., and Nielsen, Karl A., Tucson, AZ, for a “populating a first stride of tracks from a first cache to write to a second stride in a second cache.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for managing data in a cache system comprising a first cache, a second cache, and a storage system. A determination is made of tracks stored in the storage system to demote from the first cache. A first stride is formed including the determined tracks to demote. A determination is made of a second stride in the second cache in which to include the tracks in the first stride. The tracks from the first stride are added to the second stride in the second cache. A determination is made of tracks in strides in the second cache to demote from the second cache. The determined tracks to demote from the second cache are demoted.“

The patent application was filed on May 4, 2012 (13/464,668).

Transformation of logical data objects for storage
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,959,064) developed by Koifman, Chaim, Rishon Lezion, Israel, Kedem, Nadav, Tel Aviv, Israel, and Zohar, Avi, Rosh Haain, Israel, for a “systems and methods for transformation of logical data objects for storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods and systems for transforming a logical data object for storage in a storage device configured to operate with at least one storage protocol. One method comprises creating in the storage device a transformed logical data object comprising a one or more allocated storage sections with a predefined size and receiving one or more data chunks corresponding to the transformed logical data object. The method further comprises determining if each received data chunk comprises a predefined criterion, transforming each data chunk that comprises the predefined criterion, maintaining each data chuck in raw form that does not comprise the predefined criterion, and sequentially storing each transformed data chuck and data chunk in raw form into said one or more allocated storage sections in accordance with an order said transformed data chunks and data chunks in raw form are received. One system comprises a processor configured to perform the above method.“

The patent application was filed on July 7, 2011 (13/178,406).

Caching scheme synergy for extent migration between tiers of storage system
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,958,253) developed by Montgomery, David, and Sorenson, Todd C., Tucson, AZ, for a “caching scheme synergy for extent migration between tiers of a storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method according to one embodiment includes determining to move an extent from a source-tier in a storage system to a destination-tier in the storage system, determining whether any track from the set of tracks is presently being written to, designating to a write-stack associated with the source-tier each track that is presently being written to and designating to a read-stack associated with the source-tier remaining tracks from the set of tracks, removing oldest tracks from the read-stack and the write-stack until the read-stack and the write-stack have been depleted of tracks, when a parameter of the extent exceeds a migration threshold: populating a destination-tier cache with the tracks as they are removed from the read-stack and the write-stack using a predetermined read-to-write ratio and removing tracks from a source-tier cache that were removed from the read-stack and the write-stack, and migrating the extent from the source-tier to the destination-tier.“

The patent application was filed on May 30, 2012 (13/484,123).

Transformation of logical data objects for storage
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,954,756) developed by Koifman, Chaim, Rishon Lezion, Israel, Kedem, Nadav, Tel Aviv, Israel, and Zohar, Avi, Rosh Haain, Israel, for a “systems and methods for transformation of logical data objects for storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods for encrypting a plaintext logical data object for storage in a storage device operable with at least one storage protocol, creating, reading, writing, optimization and restoring thereof. Encrypting the plaintext logical data object includes creating in the storage device an encrypted logical data object including a header and one or more allocated encrypted sections with predefined size, encrypting one or more sequentially obtained chunks of plaintext data corresponding to the plaintext logical data object thus giving rise to the encrypted data chunks, and sequentially accommodating the processed data chunks into the encrypted sections in accordance with an order the chunks are received, wherein the encrypted sections serve as atomic elements of encryption/decryption operations during input/output transactions on the logical data object.“

The patent application was filed on February 16, 2012 (13/397,875).

Handling storage pages in database system
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,954,688) developed by Oberhofer, Martin A., Bondorf, Deutschland, and Seifert, Jens, Gaertringen, Deutschland, for a “handling storage pages in a database system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An operation is disclosed for handling storage pages in a database system. The database system may include a management component and a storage component. The storage component may include storage locations with different hierarchical levels. Each storage page of the storage pages may include a number of records. The operation may include copying a storage page from the storage component to a buffer pool controlled by the management component, monitoring which records of the storage page in the buffer pool are being accessed, and setting information indicating access for each record accessed. The operation may also include determining, based on the information indicating access, whether to split the storage page into at least two resulting storage pages. The operation may also include writing the at least two resulting storage pages to the storage component at storage locations, where the at least two resulting storage pages have different hierarchy levels.“

The patent application was filed on June 10, 2011 (13/157,829).

Virtualized SAS adapter with logic unit partitioning
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,954,685) developed by Bakke, Brian E, Bauman, Ellen M, Rochester, MN, Schimke, Timothy J, Stewartville, MN, and Sendelbach, Lee A, Rochester, MN, for a “virtualized SAS adapter with logic unit partitioning.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method, computer program product and computer system for virtualizing an SAS storage adapter, so as to allow logical partitions of a computer system to share a storage device. The method, computer program product and computer system includes assigning a logical storage adapter to an operating system of each of the logical partitions, creating a mapping from each of the logical partitions to a set of logical blocks in the storage device, and configuring the logical storage adapter using a hypervisor, so that a select partition can access a select set of logical blocks that the select partition is allowed to access.“

The patent application was filed on June 23, 2008 (12/144,174).

Storage writes in mirrored virtual machine system
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,954,645) developed by North, Geraint, Manchester, Great Britany, McNeeney, Adam, Cambridgeshire, Great Britany, Mealey, Bruce G., and Twichell, Brian C., Austin, TX, for a “storage writes in a mirrored virtual machine system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Performing storage writes in a mirrored virtual machine system by receiving a state of a primary virtual machine during execution of an application, wherein the primary virtual machine runs on a first physical machine and a secondary virtual machine runs on a second physical machine, wherein the state is captured by checkpointing, and the primary virtual machine is configured to write data to a first block and concurrently write the data to a write buffer on the secondary virtual machine. The method also includes storing a copy of data within a second block to a rollback buffer for the secondary virtual machine, in response to identifying a checkpoint in the application, merging the rollback buffer with the write buffer, in response to detecting a failover, writing a copy of the rollback buffer to the disk storage, and continuing execution on the secondary virtual machine from the last checkpoint.“

The patent application was filed on January 25, 2012 (13/358,067).

Continuously transferring data using USB mass storage device
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,954,631) developed by Ayyagari, Phani K., Jasti, Purnachandra R., Maddali, Sudhir, and Thanugundala, Madhusudana R., Hyderabad, India, for a “continuously transferring data using a USB mass storage device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method for continuous data transfer when a USB mass storage device is disconnected and reconnected is provided. The method may include monitoring state information from one or more mass storage devices, using a software driver to detect a change in state of the mass storage device on the computer. Active I/O transfers using the USB mass storage device are paused when the software driver detects that the USB mass storage device is detached from the computer. A configurable timer is started. The software drive may detect the attaching of a USB device. If, prior to the expiration of the timer, the software driver verifies that the USB mass storage device is the same that was previously attached to the computer, active I/O transfers are continued.“

The patent application was filed on April 8, 2013 (13/858,143).

Transformation of logical data objects for storage
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,954,403) developed by Koifman, Chaim, Rishon Lezion, Israel, Kedem, Nadav, Tel Aviv, Israel, and Zohar, Avi, Rosh Haain, Israel, for a “systems and methods for transformation of logical data objects for storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods for transforming a logical data object for storage in a storage device operable with at least one storage protocol, creating, reading, writing, optimization and restoring thereof. Transforming the logical data object comprises creating in the storage device a transformed logical data object comprising one or more allocated storage sections with a predefined size, transforming one or more sequentially obtained chunks of obtained data corresponding to the transforming logical data object, and sequentially storing the processed data chunks into said storage sections in accordance with a receive order of said chunks, wherein said storage sections serve as atomic elements of transformation/de-transformation operations during input/output transactions on the logical data object. The processing may comprise two or more data transformation techniques coordinated in time, concurrently executing autonomous sets of instructions, and provided in a manner preserving the sequence of processing and storing the processed data chunks.“

The patent application was filed on March 28, 2012 (13/432,145).

Saving log data using a disk system as primary cache and tape library as secondary cache
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,949,524) developed by Iwasaki, Norie, Fujisawa, Japan, Masuda, Koichi, Yokohama, Japan, Minoura, Tadaaki, Yamato, Japan, Nakamura, Tomokazu, Kawasaki, Japan, Sohda, Takeshi, Sagamihara, Japan, and Tsuda, Takahiro, Yokohama, Japan, for a “saving log data using a disk system as primary cache and a tape library as secondary cache.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Various embodiments are provided for saving a log data in a hierarchical storage management system using a disk system as a primary cache with a tape library as a secondary cache. The user data is stored in the primary cache and written into the secondary cache at a subsequent period of time. Blank tapes in the secondary cache is prepared for storing the user data and the log data based on priorities. At least one of the blank tapes is selected for copying the log data and the user data from the primary cache to the secondary cache based on priorities. The log data is stored in the primary cache. The selection of at least one of the blank tapes completely filled with the log data is delayed for writing additional amounts of the user data.“

The patent application was filed on September 17, 2013 (14/029,435).

Dynamic record management for systems utilizing virtual storage access method, (VSAM)
data sets with a corresponding VSAM control block structure
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,949,286) developed by Ho, Kam H., Daly City, CA, and Pandya, Maya P., San Jose, CA, for a “dynamic record management for systems utilizing virtual storage access method, (VSAM) data sets with a corresponding VSAM control block structure.”

The patent application was filed on February 14, 2013 (13/767,653).

Efficient backup and restore of cluster aware virtual I/O server within IOS cluster
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,949,188) developed by Pafumi, James A., Leander, TX, Siddeshwar, Chintamani P., Karwar, India, Thota, Rupesh Kumar, Bangalore, India, and Vallabhaneni, Vasu, Austin, TX, for a “efficient backup and restore of a cluster aware virtual input/output server, VIOS) within a VIOS cluster.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In a Virtual Input/Output, I/O) Server, (VIOS) partition within a data processing system that comprises cluster-aware VIOSes, a method includes: performing, via a backup/restore utility of a cluster aware, (CA) operating system, (OS) executing on a processor resource of the first VIOS partition, a backup operation on the first VIOS partition, which creates a first configuration backup file having configuration information about the hardware, logical and virtual devices of the VIOS partition, storing the configuration backup file within local storage, and responsive to receipt of a VIOS restore command: retrieving the configuration backup file from the local storage, and restoring the configuration of the hardware, logical and virtual devices of the first VIOS to a state that existed at a time at which the backup operation creating the configuration backup file was performed.“

The patent application was filed on September 15, 2012 (13/621,206).

Continuous and asynchronous replication of consistent dataset
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,949,183) developed by Hildebrand, Dean, Singh, Aameek, and Tewari, Renu, San Jose, CA, for a “continuous and asynchronous replication of a consistent dataset.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the invention relate to creating and maintaining consistent data sets in a shared pool of configurable computer resources to support disaster recovery support. Data from an application is stored in local data storage and replicated to another data storage. A consistency point of the data is created in both of the data storage, with the consistency point representing an identical data set at a point-in-time. Based upon the created consistency points, a consistent set of application data may be requested to support a read operation for a migrated application.“

The patent application was filed on August 13, 2012 (13/584,509).

Continuous and asynchronous replication of consistent dataset
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,949,182) developed by Hildebrand, Dean, Singh, Aameek, and Tewari, Renu, San Jose, CA, for a “continuous and asynchronous replication of a consistent dataset.”

The patent application was filed on June 17, 2011 (13/162,615).

Program log record optimization
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,949,799) developed by Che, Yang, Luo, Zhi Da, and Wang, Ye Xin, Beijing, China, for a “program log record optimization.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”The present invention relates to application program logs. In particular, the invention relates to a method and a system in which an original log method of an application program is optimized and newly injected to the application program. According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for optimizing an application program log record, comprising: identifying an original log method of an application program, separating a character string parameter in the original log method into a constant part and a variable part, establishing a correspondence flag between the constant part and the variable part, constituting an optimized log method by the constant part, the variable part and the correspondence flag, and replacing the original log method with the optimized log method through a code injection. With the above method, the hard disk storage amount of the log record and the IO operation frequency can be reduced.“

The patent application was filed on October 17, 2012 (13/653,571).

Tape head system with controllable electrostatic elements
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,947,829) developed by Dellmann, Laurent A., Engelen, Johan B. C., Furrer, Simeon, Lantz, Mark A., and Rothuizen, Hugo E., Rueschlikon, Switzerland, for a “tape head system with controllable electrostatic elements.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A tape head system includes a read and/or write head having at least one read and/or write element configured to read from and/or write to magnetic tape and at least one electrostatic element arranged adjacent to the read and/or write element, and a controller configured to apply a potential to the at least one electrostatic element.“

The patent application was filed on June 14, 2013 (13/918,123).

Detecting ervo pattern using data channel in magnetic tape drive
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,947,821) developed by Blinick, Katherine T., Tempe, AZ, Cherubini, Giovanni, Rueschlikon, Switzerland, Hutchins, Robert A., Tucson, AZ, and Jelitto, Jens, Rueschlikon, Switzerland, for a “detecting a servo pattern using a data channel in a magnetic tape drive.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”According to one embodiment, a system for processing data includes an equalizer configured to use servo coefficients for processing servo data and data coefficients for processing non-servo data, wherein the equalizer includes a finite impulse response, FIR) filter configured to process data read with a magnetic tape channel using the servo coefficients to generate equalized data, one or more low-pass filters with aggressive frequency characteristics configured to filter the equalized data to output filtered data, the one or more low-pass filters with aggressive frequency characteristics being configured to remove high frequency noise from the equalized data, a peak detector configured to process peaks in a waveform of the filtered data, and at least one servo pattern detector configured to detect a servo pattern in the filtered data. Other systems and methods for processing data are described in more embodiments.“

The patent application was filed on July 17, 2014 (14/334,369).

Write head
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,941,949) developed by Cherubini, Giovanni, Engelen, Johan B. C., Furrer, Simeon, Jelitto, Jens, Lantz, Mark A., and Rothuizen, Hugo E., Rueschlikon, Switzerland, for a “write head.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A write head is provided for writing a servo pattern to a magnetic tape storage medium. The write head comprises at least a first write gap, (A) and a second write gap, B, the first write gap, (A) and the second write gap, (B) being separately energizable. The second write gap, (B) comprises at least a first section, (a) and a second section, (b). The first section, (a) is designed such that an energization of the second write gap, B) causes a magnetic flux across the first section, (a) insufficient for changing a magnetization of a track of the magnetic tape storage medium, (TP) passing the first section, (a) of the second write gap, (B). The second section, (b) is designed such that an energization of the second write gap, (B) causes a magnetic flux across the second section, b) sufficient for magnetizing a track of the magnetic tape storage medium, (TP) passing the second section, (b) of the second write gap, (B).“

The patent application was filed on May 15, 2014 (14/278,791).

Converting first address mapping function for mapping addresses to storage locations
to second address mapping function
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,943,283) developed by Fiske, Rahul, Pune, India, Jones, Carl E., Tucson, AZ, and Roy, Subhojit, Pune, India, for a “converting a first address mapping function for mapping addresses to storage locations to a second address mapping function.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for converting a first address mapping function for mapping addresses to storage locations to a second address mapping function. For each of a plurality of addresses allocated in the storage using the first address mapping function, a node is generated in the second address mapping function. Each node in the second address mapping function associates a logical address with a physical location for the logical address. A determination is made of addresses having unused space and storage space is freed for the determined addresses having the unused space. Indication is made in the second address mapping function that the storage space for the determined addresses has been freed.“

The patent application was filed on August 31, 2012 (13/601,497).

Dynamic record management for systems utilizing virtual storage access method,
data sets with corresponding VSAM control block structure
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,943,104) developed by Ho, Kam H., Daly City, CA, and Pandya, Maya P., San Jose, CA, for a “dynamic record management for systems utilizing virtual storage access method, VSAM) data sets with a corresponding VSAM control block structure.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”When using virtually stored data sets, such as virtual storage access method, VSAM) data sets, while the data set is open, referred to as an open time) static data set characteristics and/or job parameters have been defined for the VSAM data set. In one approach, even after a data set is opened, a virtually stored control block structure for the data set may be modified, such as by providing a dynamic address space associated with the data set in order to interact with the data set in an environment which allows for a service block request to modify the control block structure, such that data set characteristics and/or job parameters for the data set may be modified during the open time of the data set.“

The patent application was filed on August 30, 2011 (13/221,802).

Utilizing stored write environment conditions for read error recovery
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,941,940) developed by Bayang, Josephine F., Gale, Ernest S., Tucson, AZ, Nakayama, Hirokazu, Shiga-ken, Japan, and Nishida, Mitsuhiro, Kanagawa, Japan, for a “utilizing stored write environment conditions for read error recovery.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Described herein are embodiments for utilizing stored write environment conditions for read error recovery. A tape drive measures read environment conditions as a result of receiving a read command to read data from a portion of tape and compares the read environment conditions to the write environment conditions stored for that portion of tape. If the read environment conditions are not within the predetermined range of the write environment conditions, then the handling of the tape is altered to improve read element placement on the tape by accounting for expansion and contraction of the tape based on the stored write environment conditions. The handling of the tape is altered by at least one of increasing or decreasing the tension of the tape, offsetting the tape head up or down laterally with respect to the tape, and slowing down the movement of tape across the tape head.“

The patent application was filed on July 17, 2014 (14/334,603).

Tape servo track write compensation
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,937,786) developed by Herget, Philipp, San Jose, CA, for a “tape servo track write compensation.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Setting a servo write head spacing for writing servo tracks on a magnetic tape in a manufacturing environment. One or more processors receive one or more environmental condition measurements of the manufacturing environment. The processors determine a spacing for a pair of servo write heads based at least on a nominal spacing for the pair of servo tracks, and a product of a difference between the nominal environmental conditions associated with the nominal spacing and the corresponding environmental condition measurements of the manufacturing environment, and coefficients of expansion for the magnetic tape. Spacing for the pair of servo write heads is set to the determined spacing, such that the spacing of the pair of servo write heads is substantially the nominal spacing when the one or more manufacturing environment environmental condition measurements are the one or more nominal environmental conditions.“

The patent application was filed on December 18, 2013 (14/132,195).

Hybrid surface format HDD
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,941,936) developed by Smith, Daniel F., Santa Cruz, CA, for a “hybrid surface format hard disk drive.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the invention relate to a hard disk drive, HDD) formatted with at least two surfaces, each of the surfaces serviced a write head, each write head configured for the respective surface. At least one of the surfaces of the HDD is serviced by a random block overwrite, RBO) head for an associated surface. Similarly, at least one of the surfaces of the HDD is serviced by a shingled magnetic recording, SMR) head for an associated SMR surface. The properties of both the RBO and SMR surfaces are retained, and at the same time leveraged to maximize data density and write performance in a single HDD.“

The patent application was filed on June 27, 2014 (14/317,266).

Efficient reduction of read disturb errors in NAND flash memory
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,943,263) developed by Frost, Holloway H., Houston, TX, Camp, Charles J., Sugar Land, TX, Fisher, Timothy J., Cypress, TX, Fuxa, James A., and Shelton, Lance W., Houston, TX, for a “efficient reduction of read disturb errors in NAND flash memory.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods and apparatuses for reduction of Read Disturb errors in a NAND FLASH memory system comprise a controller configured to organize FLASH memory devices into blocks, each block having a plurality of pages, and each page defining an individually addressable physical memory location. The controller is further configured to accumulate a Block READ Count corresponding to the number of times any pages in a first block of pages have been read since the first block was last erased. Once the READ count reaches a predetermined number, the controller responds to subsequent READ requests for pages within the first block by moving data associated with a requested page to a page in a second, different block without moving data associated with other pages in the first block, and modifying a logical-to-physical translation table to associate the moved data with the physical address of the page in the second block.“

The patent application was filed on May 28, 2012 (13/481,930).

Intelligent data archiving
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,938,430) developed by Agrawal, Sheshnarayan, Karnataka, India, and Mohania, Mukesh K., Agra, India, for a “intelligent data archiving.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, implementing and using techniques for archiving an active record in a database. An auxiliary table is created in the database. The auxiliary table can store metadata information about active records to be archived and deleted from the database. An active record to be deleted from the database is selected. Metadata information is stored in the auxiliary table for the selected active record. The selected active record is archived into a data storage device. The selected active record is deleted from the database, based on the update information in the auxiliary table, without comparing column data for the archived record in the data storage device and the active record in the database prior to deletion of the active record from the database.“

The patent application was filed on February 22, 2012 (13/402,529).