Intel Assigned Fourteen Patents

Multi-level memory with direct access
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,190,124) developed by Fanning, Blaise, Folsom, CA, Qawami, Shekoufeh, El Dorado Hills, CA, Tetrick, Raymond S., and Hady, Frank T., Portland, OR, for a “multi-level memory with direct access.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of a method, device, and system for implementing multi-level memory with direct access are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method includes designating an amount of a non-volatile random access memory, (NVRAM) in a computer system to be utilized as a memory alternative for a dynamic random access memory, (DRAM). The method continues by designating a second amount of the NVRAM to be utilized as a storage alternative for a mass storage device. Then the method re-designates at least a first portion of the first amount of NVRAM from the memory alternative designation to the storage alternative designation during operation of the computer system. Finally, the method re-designates at least a first portion of the second amount of NVRAM from the storage alternative designation to the memory alternative designation during operation of the computer system.“

The patent application was filed on December 29, 2011 (13/993,695).

Tunnel messages to storage devices by overloading
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,185,079) developed by Saxena, Paritosh, Portland, OR, Mangold, Richard Paul, Forest Grove, OR, Thadikaran, Paul J., Rancho Cordova, CA, Triantafillou, Nicholas D., Portland, OR, Wright, Adam Greer, Corrales, NM, Sholar, Janet Yabeny, Bowen, Thomas R., Rio Rancho, NM, and Nepomuceno, Reginald David, Placitas, NM, for a “method and apparatus to tunnel messages to storage devices by overloading.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of systems, apparatuses, and methods for securely transferring data between a storage system and an agent are described. In some embodiments, a system establishes a tunnel between the storage system and the agent. The system further securely transfers the data between the storage system and the agent using the tunnel. In one embodiment, the tunnel uses an action and results mailbox to transfer the data. In another embodiment, the tunnel is based on a trusted send facility.“

The patent application was filed on December 22, 2011 (13/976,249).

Managing data in cloud computing environment using management metadata
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,160,769) developed by Devetter, Douglas P., Cameron Park, CA, Sedayao, Jeffrey C., San Jose, CA, Hassan, Vishwa, Chandler, AZ, Black, Christian D., and Yoshii, Terry H., Folsom, CA, for a “managing data in a cloud computing environment using management metadata.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Computer-readable storage medium, apparatus and method associated with management of data elements in a cloud computing environment are disclosed herein. In embodiments, one or more computer-readable storage medium may contain instructions which when executed by a computing apparatus may facilitate a user in managing the user’s data elements in a cloud computing environment. In embodiments, this may be accomplished through the use of management metadata associated with the user’s data elements. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.“

The patent application was filed on March 14, 2013 (13/995,470).

Unauthorized access and/or instruction prevention, detection,
and/or remediation, at least in part, by storage processor
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,158,916) developed by Nemiroff, Daniel, Folsom, CA, Thadikaran, Paul J., Rancho Cordova, CA, Saxena, Paritosh, Triantafillou, Nicholas D., Portland, OR, and Gafken, Andrew H., Folsom, CA, for a “unauthorized access and/or instruction prevention, detection, and/or remediation, at least in part, by storage processor.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An embodiment may include a storage processor that may be comprised, at least in part, in a host. The host may include at least one host central processing unit, (CPU) to execute at least one host operating system, (OS). The storage processor may execute at least one operation in isolation from interference from and control by the at least one host CPU and the at least one host OS. The at least one operation may facilitate, at least in part:, (1) prevention, at least in part, of unauthorized access to storage, (2) prevention, at least in part, of execution by the at least one host CPU of at least one unauthorized instruction, (3) detection, at least in part, of the at least one unauthorized instruction, and/or, (4) remediation, at least in part, of at least one condition associated, at least in part, with the at least unauthorized instruction.“

The patent application was filed on October 17, 2012 (13/995,244).

Accelerate access to network data using networking unit accessible non-volatile storage
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,152,432) developed by Cabot, Mason, San Francisco, CA, and Hady, Frank, Portland, OR, for a “system and method to accelerate access to network data using a networking unit accessible non-volatile storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In some embodiments, the invention involves a network controller having a pattern matching unit to identify whether boot file requested from a network accessible storage device for booting are stored locally in non-volatile memory accessible to the network controller. When required boot files are stored locally, the locally stored files are sent to the processor to boot the operating system. In an embodiment, retrieved boot files are automatically cached by the network controller in the accessible non-volatile memory. In other embodiments, a service operates to ensure coherency between locally store boot files and the boot filed stored on the network accessible storage. In another embodiment, data other than boot files may be stored and retrieved from the non-volatile memory. Other embodiments are described and claimed.“

The patent application was filed on June 30, 2008 (12/164,165).

Alternative boot path support for utilizing non-volatile memory devices
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,152,428) developed by Sarangshar, Nitin V., Portland, OR, for a “alternative boot path support for utilizing non-volatile memory devices.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the invention describe apparatuses, systems and method for particularly to providing alternative boot paths for computing devices. In embodiments of the invention, a non-volatile controller subsystem is powered up by default in order to allow memory operations to one or more non-volatile devices prior to PCIe/USB enumeration. Logic such as a system SPI controller receives a request to access an SPI flash device for executing a firmware image instruction, however, embodiments of the invention either do not include or do not utilize an SPI flash device. Instead of notifying an SPI flash device, the host SPI controller redirects this request to the non-volatile controller subsystem. The non-volatile controller accesses one or more non-volatile device(s) for executing the firmware image instruction. Furthermore, embodiments of the invention may also support the protection of storage operations initiated from the host controller to the non-volatile device from hardware attacks.“

The patent application was filed on September 28, 2012 (13/631,548).

Multi-level storage
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,141,560) developed by Ramakrishnan, Siva, Beaverton, OR, for a “multi-level storage apparatus”.
The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A multi-level storage apparatus includes a first-level storage area to store first information, a second-level storage area to store second information, and a selectively enabled third-level storage area to store information based on different operational states. The third-level storage area stores the first information from the first-level storage area when the third-level storage area is to change from a first state to a second state. The first information in third-level storage area is transferred to the first-level storage area when the third-level storage area is to change from the second state to the first state. The first information is to include page miss information.“

The patent application was filed on June 29, 2012 (13/538,211).

Nonvolatile memory wear management
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,141,536) developed by Faber, Robert W., Hillsboro, OR, for a “nonvolatile memory wear management.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments describe methods, apparatus, and system configurations for providing targeted wear management in nonvolatile memory. Specifically, embodiments may include a memory controller to receive a memory access request directed to a storage unit of the nonvolatile memory. The memory controller may access metadata in the storage unit and determine whether to perform a memory access in accordance with the memory access request based on the state information. Other embodiments may be described or claimed.“

The patent application was filed on November 4, 2011 (13/991,392).

Secure storage and use of biometric authentication information
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,137,247) developed by Smith, Ned M., Beaverton, OR, Cahill, Conor P., Waterford, VA, Sheller, Micah J., Hillsboro, OR, and Martin, Jason, Beaverton, OR, for a “technologies for secure storage and use of biometric authentication information.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Generally, this disclosure describes technologies for securely storing and using biometric authentication information, such as biometric reference templates. In some embodiments, the technologies include a client device that stores one or more biometric reference templates in a memory thereof. The client device may transfer such templates to an authentication device. The transfer may be conditioned on verification that the authentication device includes a suitable protected environment for the templates and will execute an acceptable temporary storage policy. The technologies may also include an authentication device that is configured to temporarily store biometric reference templates received from a client device in a protected environment thereof. Upon completion of biometric authentication or the occurrence of a termination event, the authentication devices may delete the biometric reference templates from the protected environment.“

The patent application was filed on March 15, 2013 (13/995,247).

Data security
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,135,470) developed by Zimmer, Vincent J., Federal Way, WA, and Rothman, Michael A., Puyallup, WA, for a “data security.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In one embodiment, a method is provided that may include one or more operations. One of these operations may include, in response, at least in part, to a request to store input data in storage, encrypting, based least in part upon one or more keys, the input data to generate output data to store in the storage. The one or more keys may be authorized by a remote authority. Alternatively or additionally, another of these operations may include, in response, at least in part, to a request to retrieve the input data from the storage, decrypting, based at least in part upon the at least one key, the output data. Many modifications, variations, and alternatives are possible without departing from this embodiment.“

The patent application was filed on May 3, 2010 (12/772,365).

Provide secure storage
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,135,446) developed by Triantafillou, Nicholas D., Saxena, Paritosh, Portland, OR, Thadikaran, Paul J., Ranch Cordova, CA, and Durham, David Michael, Beaverton, OR, for a “systems and methods to provide secure storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and method to provide secure storage are disclosed. An example method includes establishing a secure tunnel between a storage device and an agent, transferring first data from the storage device to the agent via the secure tunnel, the secure tunnel to prevent software executing in an operating system from modifying the data, and identifying a data modification by comparing the first data to second data.“

The patent application was filed on September 28, 2012 (13/630,043).

General storage cache functionality extension
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,128,848) developed by Zachariassen, Rayan, Toronto, Canada, for a “general storage cache functionality extension.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A system comprises a storage device, a cache coupled to the storage device and a metadata structure, coupled to the storage device and the cache, having metadata corresponding to each data location in the cache to control data promoted to the cache from the storage device.“

The patent application was filed on February 25, 2013 (13/976,290).

Interface for storage device access over memory bus
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,064,560) developed by Qawami, Shekoufeh, El Dorado Hills, CA, Sundaram, Rajesh, Folsom, CA, Zimmerman, David J., El Dorado Hills, CA, and Faber, Robert W., Hillsboro, CA, for a “interface for storage device access over memory bus.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A nonvolatile storage or memory device is accessed over a memory bus. The memory bus has an electrical interface typically used for volatile memory devices. A controller coupled to the bus sends synchronous data access commands to the nonvolatile memory device, and reads the response from the device bus based on an expected timing of a reply from the nonvolatile memory device. The controller determines the expected timing based on when the command was sent, and characteristics of the nonvolatile memory device. The controller may not need all the electrical signal lines available on the memory bus, and could issue data access commands to different groups of nonvolatile memory devices over different groups of electrical signal lines. The memory bus may be available and configured for either use with a memory controller and volatile memory devices, or a storage controller and nonvolatile memory devices.“

The patent application was filed on November 8, 2013 (14/075,765).

Security management provisioning at data storage device
Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,064,116) developed by Triantafillou, Nicholas D., Portland, OR, Saxena, Paritosh, Beaverton, OR, Strong, Robert W., Heiler, Richard J., Folsom, CA, Tamir, Eliezer, Bait Shemesh, Israel, Ben-Michael, Simoni, Givat Zeev, Israel, Stewart, Brad W., Elverta, CA, Kadam, Akshay R., Bangalore, India, Long, Men, Beaverton, OR, Doyle, James T., Phoenix, AZ, Khosravi, Hormuzd M., Portland, OR, Mosur, Lokpraveen B., Gilbert, AZ, Pullin, Edward J., Orefiled, PA, Schmitz, Paul S., North Plains, OR, Barrett, Carol L., Beaverton, OR, and Thadikaran, Paul J., Rancho Cordova, CA, for a “techniques for security management provisioning at a data storage device.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Techniques for a data storage device to locally implement security management functionality. In an embodiment, a security management process of the data storage device is to determine whether an access to non-volatile media of the data storage device is authorized. In certain embodiments, the data storage device is to restrict access to a secure region of the non-volatile storage media, the secure region to store information used and/or generated by a security management process of the data storage device.“

The patent application was filed on November 8, 2010 (12/941,915).