IBM Assigned Thirty Five Patents

Determining server write activity levels to use to adjust write cache size
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,247,003) developed by Bell, Jr., Robert H., Austin, TX, Roll, Michael D., and Yiparaki, Olga, Tucson, AZ, for a “determining server write activity levels to use to adjust write cache size.”

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 determining server write activity levels to use to adjust write cache size. Server write activity information on server write activity to the cache is gathered. The server write activity information is processed to determine a server write activity level comprising one of multiple write activity levels indicating a level of write activity. The determined server write activity level is transmitted to a storage server having a write cache, wherein the storage server uses the determined server write activity level to determine whether to adjust a size of the storage server write cache.“

The patent application was filed on January 27, 2015 (14/606,983).

Ensuring health and compliance of devices
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,246,752) developed by Holst, Bent Braum, Alleroed, Danemark, Kildal, Nicolai, Hoerning, Danemark, Laing, Donald C., Midland, TX, Lindgaard, Thomas, Ronde, Danemark, Lutkemeyer, Per, Lystrup, Danemark, Schreitmueller, Susan, Elon, NC, Sonder, Christian, Nyborg, Danemark, and Wood, Stanley C., Round Rock, TX, for a “ensuring health and compliance of devices.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A compliance method and associated system is provided. The method includes generating backup devices for devices of a list of devices associated with a data storage environment. A device from the list of devices is selected and available credentials for connecting and authenticating the device are determined. Configuration and operational state data for the device are retrieved. A backup device associated with the device is selected and associated policies are loaded. Each policy is evaluated with respect to the backup devices, associated dependencies, and the configuration and operational state data. Compliant and non-compliant policies with respect to the backup devices are determined.“

The patent application was filed on June 18, 2013 (13/920,716).

Junction field-effect quantum dot memory switch
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,246,113) developed by Chan, Kevin K., Staten Island, NY, Chen, Tze-Chiang, Yorktown Heights, NY, Gopalakrishnan, Kailash, San Jose, CA, Haensch, Wilfried Ernst-August, Somers, NY, and Hekmatshoartabari, Bahman, White Plains, NY, for a “junction field-effect quantum dot memory switch.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A dense binary memory switch device combines the function of a pass transistor and a memory cell and has low programming and operation voltages. The device includes a charge storage region coupled to a gate electrode through a gate dielectric layer and directly contacting a channel region. The charge storage region contains quantum structures, deep traps or combinations thereof and is charged by carriers injected from injection regions that are in direct contact with the charge storage region. Fabrication of the device at low temperatures compatible with back-end-of-line processing is further disclosed.“

The patent application was filed on February 14, 2014 (14/181,302).

Junction field-effect floating gate quantum dot memory switch
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,245,896) developed by Afzali-Ardakani, Ali, Ossining, NY, Chen, Tze-Chiang, Yorktown Heights, NY, Gopalakrishnan, Kailash, San Jose, CA, Haensch, Wilfried Ernst-August, Somers, NY, and Hekmatshoartabari, Bahman, White Plains, NY, for a “junction field-effect floating gate quantum dot memory switch.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A dense binary memory switch device combines the function of a pass transistor and a memory cell and has low programming and operation voltages. The device includes a charge storage region coupled to a gate electrode through a gate dielectric layer and to a channel region through another dielectric layer. The charge storage region is charged by carriers injected from injection regions that are in direct contact with the charge storage region. Fabrication of the device at low temperatures compatible with back-end-of-line processing is further disclosed.“

The patent application was filed on February 14, 2014 (14/181,381).

Multi-user universal serial bus, (USB) key
with customizable file sharing permissions
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,245,131) developed by Ashok, Rohith K., Apex, NC, Brabson, Roy F., Hockett, Hugh E., Raleigh, NC, and Low, Andrew R., Stittsville, CA, for a “multi-user universal serial bus, (USB) key with customizable file sharing permissions.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method, data storage device and computer program product for having multiple users share a single data storage device securely. A data storage device, such as a Universal Serial Bus, (USB) key, is plugged into a computing device. A USB controller of the USB key recognizes the computing device and creates an account for the user. The created account is associated with the user as well as associated with the computing device. Data uploaded to the USB key by the user is then associated with the created account. Only that user will be able to view that data on his/her computing device, (computing device associated with the created account) unless the user indicates to share that data with other users. Such a process may be repeated each time the USB key is plugged into a different computing device thereby creating multiple accounts associated with multiple computing devices and users.“

The patent application was filed on April 1, 2013 (13/854,213).

Multi-user universal serial bus, (USB) key
with customizable file sharing permissions
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,245,130) developed by Ashok, Rohith K., Apex, NC, Brabson, Roy F., Hockett, Hugh E., Raleigh, NC, and Low, Andrew R., Stittsville, CA, for a “multi-user universal serial bus, USB) key with customizable file sharing permissions.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method, data storage device and computer program product for having multiple users share a single data storage device securely. A data storage device, such as a Universal Serial Bus,(USB) key, is plugged into a computing device. A USB controller of the USB key recognizes the computing device and creates an account for the user. The created account is associated with the user as well as associated with the computing device. Data uploaded to the USB key by the user is then associated with the created account. Only that user will be able to view that data on his/her computing device, (computing device associated with the created account) unless the user indicates to share that data with other users. Such a process may be repeated each time the USB key is plugged into a different computing device thereby creating multiple accounts associated with multiple computing devices and users.“

The patent application was filed on March 29, 2013 (13/853,491).

Disk image introspection for storage systems
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,244,933) developed by Hildebrand, Dean, Tewari, Renu, San Jose, CA, and Tarasov, Vasily, Stony Brook, NY, for a “disk image introspection for storage systems.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method for disk image access in a storage system comprises receiving an input/output, (I/O) request to a disk image in a file system of a storage system, and in response to the I/O request to the disk image in the file system, reconstructing a file system request. Introspection is performed on the disk image to determine an original file system request based on the I/O request to the disk image. The method further includes laying out a disk image in the file system of the storage system, and performing type-specific introspection on the disk image. Based upon the results of the introspection, data ranges in the disk image are mapped to block or files within the file system. A mapping of disk image data ranges to block or files in the file system is maintained for responding to further I/O requests.“

The patent application was filed on April 29, 2011 (13/098,317).

Quasi disk drive for testing disk interface performance
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,244,807) developed by Dobbelstein, Steven L., and Pratt, Steven L., Austin, TX, for a “quasi disk drive for testing disk interface performance.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the invention relate to diagnostic evaluation of hardware components of a computer machine. A conventional storage device is replaced with a modified storage device. Read and write operations are received by the modified storage device. Issuance of a response to the read and write operations is limited to an acknowledgement receipt, which is employed to evaluate performance and/or bandwidth of the machines with respect to hardware for data storage.“

The patent application was filed on June 24, 2011 (13/168,778).

Maximizing use of storage in data replication environment
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,244,788) developed by Chen, Chiahong, Oro Valley, AZ, Elliott, John C., and Sherman, William G., Tucson, AZ, for a “maximizing use of storage in a data replication environment.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Mechanisms for controlling access to storage volumes on the secondary storage system is provided. A determination is made as to whether a first site computing device has sent a notification of a failure condition of a first site. In response to a determination that the notification of the failure condition of the first site has not been received, secondary workloads of a second site computing device are permitted to access storage volumes on the secondary storage system. In response to a determination that the notification of the failure condition of the first site has been received, a mode of operation of the second site is modified from a normal mode of operation to a failure mode of operation. In the failure mode of operation, the storage system controller of the second site blocks at least a portion of access requests from secondary workloads of the second site computing device.“

The patent application was filed on December 3, 2014 (14/559,587).

Maximizing use of storage in data replication environment
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,244,787) developed by Chen, Chiahong, Oro Valley, AZ, Elliott, John C., and Sherman, William G., Tucson, AZ, for a “maximizing use of storage in a data replication environment.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Mechanisms for controlling access to storage volumes on the secondary storage system is provided. A determination is made as to whether a first site computing device has sent a notification of a failure condition of a first site. In response to a determination that the notification of the failure condition of the first site has not been received, secondary workloads of a second site computing device are permitted to access storage volumes on the secondary storage system. In response to a determination that the notification of the failure condition of the first site has been received, a mode of operation of the second site is modified from a normal mode of operation to a failure mode of operation. In the failure mode of operation, the storage system controller of the second site blocks at least a portion of access requests from secondary workloads of the second site computing device.“

The patent application was filed on December 2, 2014 (14/557,710).

Substitution of target volume of secondary storage controller
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,244,786) developed by Crawford, Joshua James, Tucson, AZ, Donie, Benjamin J., Chandler, AZ, Koster, Andreas Bernardus Mattias, Vail, AZ, and Vaterlaus, Leann Armstrong, Tucson, AZ, for a “substitution of a target volume of a secondary storage controller for a source volume of a primary storage controller for executing a write operation.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A secondary storage controller receives metadata that uniquely identifies a source volume of a primary storage controller. Data stored in the source volume of the primary storage controller is synchronously copied to a target volume of the secondary storage controller. The secondary storage controller receives a command from a primary host to write selected data to the source volume. In response to receiving the command at the secondary storage controller, the selected data is written to the target volume of the secondary storage controller.“

The patent application was filed on December 10, 2010 (12/965,648).

Recovery of storage device in redundant array of independent disk,
or raid-like array
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,244,784) developed by Bartlett, Eric J., Salisbury, Great Britain, Fairhurst, Matthew J., Winchester, Great Britain, and Scales, William J., Fareham, Great Britain, for a “recovery of storage device in a redundant array of independent disk, raid) or raid-like array.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method for managing storage devices in a storage subsystem having an array of storage devices, according to one embodiment, includes determining that a storage device in an array of storage devices has failed. A first candidate storage device having storage device characteristics that match storage device characteristics of the failed storage device is identified. The first candidate storage device is exchanged with a second candidate storage device in response to determining that the second candidate storage device has storage device characteristics that are more similar to the storage device characteristics of the array of storage devices than the first candidate storage device.“

The patent application was filed on July 7, 2014 (14/325,257).

Responding to maintenance free storage container security threat
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,244,770) developed by Gladwin, S. Christopher, Resch, Jason K., Chicago, IL, Grube, Gary W., Barrington Hills, IL, and Markison, Timothy W., Mesa, AZ, for a “responding to a maintenance free storage container security threat.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method for responding to a security threat for a maintenance free storage container begins by a dispersed storage, (DS) processing module identifying a security threat for the maintenance free storage container, wherein the maintenance free storage container allows for multiple storage servers of a plurality of storage servers to be in a failure mode without replacement. The method continues with the DS processing module determining a failure mode level that is indicative of whether one or more of the multiple storage servers are in the failure mode. The method continues with the DS processing module selecting a security threat countermeasure based on the security threat and the failure mode level. The method continues with the DS processing module implementing the security threat countermeasure.“

The patent application was filed on June 20, 2012 (13/527,881).

Dispersed storage network file system directory
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,244,768) developed by Volvovski, Ilya, Dhuse, Greg, and Baptist, Andrew, Chicago, IL, for a “dispersed storage network file system directory.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A dispersed storage device manages a file system directory of a dispersed storage network by receiving a data object to be stored and a user file name of the data object, calculating a data compression function of the data object, creating a file identifier based on a result of the data compression function, creating a source name for the data object using the file identifier and linking the user file name to the source name in the file system directory.“

The patent application was filed on May 13, 2010 (12/779,640).

File load times with dynamic storage usage
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,244,624) developed by Auvenshine, John J., Tucson, AZ, Bartholomy, Erik, Longmont, CO, Olson, John T., and Taljanovic, Nedzad, Tucson, AZ, for a “file load times with dynamic storage usage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Provided is a technique for improving file load times with dynamic storage usage. A file made up of data blocks is received. A list of storage devices is retrieved. In one or more iterations, the data blocks of the file are written by: updating the list of storage devices by removing any storage devices with insufficient space to store additional data blocks, generating a performance score for each of the storage devices in the updated list of storage devices, determining a portion of the data blocks to be written to each of the storage devices based on the generated performance score for each of the storage devices, writing, in parallel, the determined portion of the data blocks to each of the storage devices, and recording placement information indicating the storage devices to which each determined portion of the data blocks was written.“

The patent application was filed on August 1, 2013 (13/956,839).

Storage management system for preserving consistency of remote copy data
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,239,766) developed by Burr, Dale, Winchester, Great Britain, and Butterworth, Henry Esmond, Hampshire, Great Britain, for a “storage management system for preserving consistency of remote copy data.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage control system adapted to operate as a remote copy pair by communicating between a primary and a secondary of the remote copy pair comprises a selector for selecting writes to be placed in a batch based on one or more criteria, a sequence number requester for requesting a sequence number for the batch, and a sequence number granter for granting a sequence number for the batch. The storage control system also comprises a batch transmitter for transmitting the batch to the secondary, a permission receiver for receiving a permission to write the batch from the secondary, and a write component responsive to the permission receiver to write the batch to completion, wherein the secondary is responsive to the completion to grant a further permission to write for a further batch.“

The patent application was filed on August 2, 2007 (12/377,577).

Dynamic gain control for use with adaptive equalizers
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,236,084) developed by Blinick, Katherine T., Tempe, AZ, Hutchins, Robert A., Tucson, AZ, and Oelcer, Sedat, Kilchberg, Switzerland, for a “dynamic gain control for use with adaptive equalizers.”

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 a controller configured to: receive data read from a magnetic storage medium, apply a finite impulse response, (FIR) filter to the data to obtain equalized data, and direct the equalized data through either a first FIR gain module or a second FIR gain module to control FIR gain of the equalized data, wherein the first FIR gain module is utilized when reading data in an asynchronous mode, and wherein the second FIR gain module is utilized when reading data in a synchronous mode and a FIR gain value of the second FIR gain module is automatically controlled. Other systems and methods for processing data using dynamic gain control with adaptive equalizers are presented according to more embodiments.“

The patent application was filed on July 17, 2014 (14/334,474).

Optimizing storage allocation in virtual desktop environment
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,235,589) developed by D’Amore, Cristiana, Iannucci, Pietro, Pichetti, Luigi, and Salem, Randa, Rome, Italy, for a “optimizing storage allocation in a virtual desktop environment.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Mechanisms for optimizing the storage allocation in a virtual desktop environment, (VDE) managing a shared storage capacity, are provided. The shared storage capacity includes previously stored files, each being associated with a respective unique first file identifier, the VDE providing a virtual desktop to a processing device of a user. Upon reception of a first write request for writing a second file specified in the request, a second file identifier of the specified second file is determined and compared with the first file identifier of any first file stored to the shared storage capacity. A pointer to the stored first file associated with that first file identifier is created if the second file identifier is identical to one of the first file identifiers and, if not, the specified second file associated with the second file identifier is stored in the shared storage capacity.“

The patent application was filed on November 20, 2012 (13/681,605).

List range operation dispersed storage network frame
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, with Cleversafe, Inc., Chicago, IL (applicant), has been assigned a patent (9,235,549) developed by Baptist, Andrew, Mt. Pleasant, WI, Leggette, Wesley, Resch, Jason K., Mark, Zachary J., Volvovski, Ilya, Dhuse, Greg, and Motwani, Manish, Chicago, IL, for a “list range operation dispersed storage network frame.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method begins by generating list range requests. A list range request includes a payload section and a protocol header section. The payload section includes a start slice name field regarding a start slice name of a slice name range, an end slice name field regarding an end slice name of the slice name range, and a maximum response count field regarding a maximum slice name response count. The protocol header includes a payload length field that represents a length of the payload section and an operation code field to indicate the list range request operation. The list range request includes a request to provide a list of slices names corresponding to stored encoded data slices associated with slice names within the slice name range. The method continues by sending the range requests to storage units of the DSN.“

The patent application was filed on June 23, 2014 (14/312,163).

Substitution of target volume of secondary storage controller
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,235,483) developed by Crawford, Joshua James, Tucson, AZ, Donie, Benjamin J., Chandler, AZ, Koster, Andreas Bernardus Mattias, Vail, AZ, Vaterlaus, and Leann Armstrong, Tucson, AZ, for a “substitution of a target volume of a secondary storage controller for a source volume of a primary storage controller for executing a write operation.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A secondary storage controller receives metadata that uniquely identifies a source volume of a primary storage controller. Data stored in the source volume of the primary storage controller is synchronously copied to a target volume of the secondary storage controller. The secondary storage controller receives a command from a primary host to write selected data to the source volume. In response to receiving the command at the secondary storage controller, the selected data is written to the target volume of the secondary storage controller.“

The patent application was filed on May 21, 2012 (13/476,659).

Consistent data retrieval in multi-site computing infrastructure
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,235,482) developed by Hildebrand, Dean, Singh, Aameek, and Tewari, Renu, San Jose, CA, for a “consistent data retrieval in a multi-site computing infrastructure.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the invention relate to dynamic application migration in a shared pool of configurable computer resources with disaster recovery support. Data from an application is replicated from local data storage to remote data storage. A consistency point of the data is created in both the local data storage and the remote data storage. The application may be migrated to a second data site with separate local data storage. The migration may be planned or unplanned. Based upon the created consistency point, a consistent set of application data may be requested to support a read operation from the migrated application.“

The patent application was filed on April 29, 2011 (13/097,791).

Dispersed storage unit and methods with metadata separation
for use in dispersed storage system
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,235,350) developed by Mark, Zachary J., Chicago, IL, for a “dispersed storage unit and methods with metadata separation for use in a dispersed storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data slice to be stored in a dispersed storage unit of the dispersed storage system is received. A plurality of data blocks are generated from the data slice and metadata are generated associated with each of the plurality of data blocks. A data file is generated based on the plurality of data blocks. A metadata file is generated based on the metadata associated with the plurality of data blocks. The metadata file and the data file are stored in at least one memory of the dispersed storage unit.“

The patent application was filed on March 30, 2010 (12/749,583).

Initializing memory system
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,235,348) developed by Grusy, Ellen J., Hatfield, Brian D., Lovrien, Kurt A., Ripberger, Richard A., and Sanchez, Matthew, Tucson, AZ, for a “system, and methods for initializing a memory system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods for initializing a memory system are provided. One system includes a processor and a memory including a storage volume coupled to the processor. The storage volume includes a first bitmap for tracking an initialization process for the storage volume and a second bitmap for tracking a copying process for the storage volume. A method includes performing, via the processor, an initialization process for the storage volume and tracking, via the processor utilizing the first bitmap, the initialization process. The method further includes performing, via the processor, a copying process for the storage volume prior to completing the initialization process and tracking, via the processor utilizing the second bitmap, the copying process. Also provided are computer storage mediums including computer program code for performing the above method.“

The patent application was filed on August 19, 2010 (12/859,751).

Identifying redundant data for disk image streaming
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,235,344) developed by Gschwind, Thomas, Zurich, Switzerland, for a “identifying redundant data for disk image streaming.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Redundant data in a streaming disk image is identified using commands to indicate unused disk blocks, such as TRIM/UNMAP commands. A TRIM/UNMAP layer is added between an operating system and a disk driver to support the use of TRIM/UNMAP commands. Using the TRIM/UNMAP layer, blocks of a streamed disk image that are unallocated by the operating system are identified. The identified unallocated blocks are streamed to a server for analysis and storage.“

The patent application was filed on November 28, 2012 (13/687,827).

Renderable content partitioning and portability
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,232,263) developed by Baker, Nathan A., Raleigh, NC, Creasman, James D., Apex, NC, Pellas, Barry J., Durham, NC, and Vrouwenvelder, Adrian P., Chapel Hill, NC, for a “renderable content partitioning and portability.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storable duration of renderable content, based upon available memory for storage of renderable content associated with a mobile device, is determined in response to detecting a request for a portion of renderable content via an input device. The request for the portion of the renderable content based upon the storable duration is sent to a renderable content storage device, where the renderable content is identified by a content identifier. A content partition identifier and the portion of the renderable content having a duration less than or equal to the storable duration is received at the mobile device in response to the request. The content identifier, the content partition identifier, and the portion of the renderable content are stored within the available memory for storage of renderable content associated with the mobile device.“

The patent application was filed on September 1, 2009 (12/551,905).

Computer system for manufacturing physical medium
configured to store data
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,230,201) developed by Kamijoh, Kohichi, Kamijo, Noboru, Ochiai, Kazumasa, and Usuba, Yasuo, Kanagawa-ken, Japan, for a “computer system for manufacturing a physical medium configured to store data.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A computer system which implements a method of manufacturing a physical medium configured to store data. The computer system includes a processor, a memory coupled to the processor, and a computer readable storage device coupled to the processor. The storage device contains program code which, upon being executed by the processor via the memory, implements the method. In accordance with the method, a layout design of visible information to be printed with visible ink in a book is generated, wherein the visible information including an article, and a layout design of invisible information to be printed with invisible ink in a book is generated, wherein the invisible information includes a Universal Resource Locator, (URL) of an address of a web server at which additional information is located, the URL being encoded in a code within the invisible information, and the additional information being associated with the article.“

The patent application was filed on January 7, 2015 (14/591,080).

Encrypting and decrypting virtual disc
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,230,118) developed by Marinelli, Claudio, Latina, Italy, Pichetti, Luigi, Rome, Italy, Fontignie, Jacques, Perly, Switzerland, and Stueckelberg, Marc V., Geneva, Switzerland, for a “encrypting and decrypting a virtual disc.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A computer-readable storage medium containing machine executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to encrypt a virtual disc, wherein the virtual disc comprises a virtual disc image, and wherein execution of the machine executable instructions cause the processor to: receive the virtual disc, increase the size of the virtual disc, write a decryption-master-boot-record and a decryption program to the virtual disc, encrypt at least a portion of the virtual disc image, wherein the decryption program comprises decryption-machine-executable-instructions for decrypting the at least partially encrypted virtual disc image in accordance with a cryptographic key.“

The patent application was filed on November 3, 2011 (13/884,680).

Encrypting and decrypting virtual disc
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,230,113) developed by Marinelli, Claudio, Latina, Italy, Pichetti, Luigi, Rome, Italy, Fontignie, Jacques, Perly, Switzerland, and Stueckelberg, Marc V., Geneva, Switzerland, for a “encrypting and decrypting a virtual disc.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A computer-readable storage medium containing machine executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to encrypt a virtual disc, wherein the virtual disc comprises a virtual disc image, and wherein execution of the machine executable instructions cause the processor to: receive the virtual disc, increase the size of the virtual disc, write a decryption-master-boot-record and a decryption program to the virtual disc, encrypt at least a portion of the virtual disc image, wherein the decryption program comprises decryption-machine-executable-instructions for decrypting the at least partially encrypted virtual disc image in accordance with a cryptographic key.“

The patent application was filed on September 8, 2014 (14/479,475).

Dynamic reconfiguration of storage system
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,229,849) developed by Yang, Shu, Ma, Yao, Gu, Hui Xiang, and Zhang, Jun Wei, Shanghai, China, for a “dynamic reconfiguration of storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage system is dynamically reconfigured. The storage system includes storage pools that each include one or more storage disks. Storage pools to be expanded are determined as target storage pools. For the target storage pools, source storage disks to be moved into the target storage pools are determined from other storage pools than the target storage pools in the storage system. The source storage disks are migrated to the respective target storage pools.“

The patent application was filed on March 29, 2013 (13/853,646).

Storage management system for preserving consistency of remote copy data
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,229,827) developed by Burr, Dale, Winchester, Great Britain, and Butterworth, Henry Esmond, Hampshire, Great Britain, for a “storage management system for preserving consistency of remote copy data.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage control system adapted to operate as a remote copy pair by communicating between a primary and a secondary of the remote copy pair comprises a selector for selecting writes to be placed in a batch based on one or more criteria, a sequence number requester for requesting a sequence number for the batch, and a sequence number granter for granting a sequence number for the batch. The storage control system also comprises a batch transmitter for transmitting the batch to the secondary, a permission receiver for receiving a permission to write the batch from the secondary, and a write component responsive to the permission receiver to write the batch to completion, wherein the secondary is responsive to the completion to grant a further permission to write for a further batch.“

The patent application was filed on April 27, 2012 (13/457,766).

Caching rebuilt encoded data slices in dispersed storage network
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, with Cleversafe, Inc., Chicago, IL (applicant), has been assigned a patent (9,229,824) developed by Resch, Jason K., Chicago, IL, for a “caching rebuilt encoded data slices in a dispersed storage network.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method begins with a processing module of a computing device of a dispersed storage network, (DSN) executing a rebuild function to produce a rebuilt encoded data slice for storage in a targeted storage unit of the DSN. When the targeted storage unit is currently unavailable, the method continues with the processing module storing the rebuilt encoded data slice in local memory of the computing device, recording storage of the rebuilt encoded data slice in the local memory, and recording that the targeted storage unit is currently unavailable. When the targeted storage unit is currently available, the method continues with the processing module sending the rebuilt encoded data slice to the targeted storage unit and recording storage of the rebuilt encoded data slice by the targeted storage unit.“

The patent application was filed on August 6, 2014 (14/453,176).

Storage and retrieval of dispersed storage network access information
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,229,823) developed by Resch, Jason K., Gladwin, S. Christopher, Baptist, Andrew, Chicago, IL, and Shirley, Jr., Thomas Franklin, Wauwatosa, WI, for a “storage and retrieval of dispersed storage network access information.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method begins by a dispersed storage, (DS) processing module receiving a certificate signing request, (CSR) from a user device. The method continues with the DS processing module generating a set of hidden passwords based on the CSR and accessing a set of authenticating units to obtain a set of passkeys. The method continues with the DS processing module retrieving a set of encrypted shares and decrypting the set of encrypted shares to produce a set of encoded shares. The method continues with the DS processing module decoding the set of encoded shares to recapture a private key and generating a user signed certificate based on the private key. The method continues with the DS processing module discarding the private key to substantially protect the private key from the user device and outputting the user signed certificate to the user device.“

The patent application was filed on August 16, 2012 (13/587,277).

Enhanced reliability in deduplication technology over storage clouds
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,229,819) developed by Patil, Sandeep R., Pune, India, Ramanathan, Sri, Lutz, FL, Shiraguppi, Riyazahamad M., Sodhiya, Prashant, Pune, India, and Trevathan, Matthew B., Roswell, GA, for a “enhanced reliability in deduplication technology over storage clouds.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods and systems for enhancing reliability in deduplication over storage clouds are provided. A method includes: determining a weight for each of a plurality of duplicate files based on parameters associated with a respective storage device of each of the plurality of duplicate files, and designating one of the plurality of duplicate files as a master copy based on the determined weight.“

The patent application was filed on October 27, 2014 (14/524,442).

Enabling efficient recovery from multiple failures together
with one latent error in storage array
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,229,810) developed by He, Huan, and Li, Mingqiang, Beijing, China, for a “enabling efficient recovery from multiple failures together with one latent error in a storage array.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”The present invention provides a method and apparatus of managing a storage array. The method comprises: striping the storage array to form a plurality of stripes, selecting F storage chunks from each stripe as local parity chunks, and selecting another L storage chunks from the storage array as global parity chunks, performing, (F+L) fault tolerant erasure coding on all data chunks in a stripe to generate, (F+L) groups of parity data, and storing F groups of parity data therein into the F local parity chunks, performing cross-stripe operation on another L groups of parity data to generate L groups of global parity data, and storing them into the L global parity chunks, respectively. The apparatus corresponds to the method. With the invention, a plurality of errors in the storage array can be detected and/or recovered to improve fault tolerance and space utilization of the storage array.“

The patent application was filed on June 17, 2013 (13/919,295).

Identifying redundant data for disk image streaming
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (9,229,641) developed by Gschwind, Thomas, Zurich, Switzerland, for a “identifying redundant data for disk image streaming.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Redundant data in a streaming disk image is identified using commands to indicate unused disk blocks, such as TRIM/UNMAP commands. A TRIM/UNMAP layer is added between an operating system and a disk driver to support the use of TRIM/UNMAP commands. Using the TRIM/UNMAP layer, blocks of a streamed disk image that are unallocated by the operating system are identified. The identified unallocated blocks are streamed to a server for analysis and storage.“

The patent application was filed on September 11, 2013 (14/023,994).