Nimble Storage/HPE Assigned Five Patents

Congestion avoidance in network storage device using dynamic weights
Nimble Storage, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,600,337) developed by Karaje, Gurunatha, Barszczak, Tomasz, Buca, Vanco, Gulati, Ajay, and Maheshwari, Umesh, San Jose, CA, for a “congestion avoidance in network storage device using dynamic weights.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods, systems, and computer programs are presented for allocating CPU cycles and disk Input/Output’s, (IOs) to resource-creating processes based on dynamic weights that change according to the current percentage of resource utilization in the storage device. One method includes operations for assigning a first weight to a processing task that increases resource utilization of a resource for processing incoming input/output, (IO) requests, and for assigning a second weight to a generating task that decreases the resource utilization of the resource. Further, the method includes an operation for dynamically adjusting the second weight based on the current resource utilization in the storage system. Additionally, the method includes an operation for allocating the CPU cycles and disk IOs to the processing task and to the generating task based on their respective first weight and second weight.“

The patent application was filed on October 30, 2015 (14/927,868).

Transitioning control between two controllers of storage system
Nimble Storage, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,594,614) developed by Gupta, Vikas, Santa Clara, CA, Tripathi, Ashutosh, Union City, CA, Fozard, Bob, Los Gatos, CA, and Barszczak, Tomasz, Palo Alto, CA, for a “methods for transitioning control between two controllers of a storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Described herein are methods for transitioning control between a first and second controller of a storage system. In such transition, the first controller transmits a message to a memory element shared by the first and second controllers, the message capable of notifying the second controller of an imminent failure of the first controller. The second controller receives the message from the shared memory element, the message notifying the second controller of an imminent failure of the first controller. Subsequent to transmitting the message to the shared memory element, the first controller becomes unavailable to facilitate access to the storage devices of the storage system. Subsequent to receiving the message from the shared memory element, the second controller becomes available to facilitate access to the storage devices of the storage system.“

The patent application was filed on August 30, 2013 (14/015,910).

I/O cancellation
Nimble Storage, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,588,919) developed by Nanduri, Anil, Sunnyvale, CA, Han, Chunqi, Pleasanton, CA, and Vishnumolakala, Murali Krishna, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “methods and systems for I/O cancellation.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Described herein are techniques for cancelling I/O requests. Initially, virtual memory of an application is assigned to a first portion of memory. The application may issue a read request to an external device. The external device is instructed to record any response to the read request in the first portion of memory. The read request may be cancelled as follows. The virtual memory of the application may be re-assigned to a second portion of the memory. If and when the external device finishes processing the read request, the external device’s response to the read request may still be saved in the first portion of memory, even though the read request has been cancelled. Such action of the external device would ordinarily corrupt the virtual memory of the application, but due to the memory re-assignment, no corruption of the virtual memory occurs. Similar techniques may be applied to cancel write requests.“

The patent application was filed on November 28, 2014 (14/555,904).

Storing data in redundant manner on plurality of storage units of storage system
Nimble Storage, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,563,509) developed by Han, Chunqi, Pleasanton, CA, Nanduri, Anil, and Vishnumolakala, Murali Krishna, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “methods and systems for storing data in a redundant manner on a plurality of storage units of a storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Described herein are techniques for storing data in a redundant manner on a plurality of storage units of a storage system. While all of the storage units are operating without failure, only error-correction blocks are stored on a first one of the storage units, while a combination of data blocks and error-correction blocks are stored on a second one of the storage units. Upon failure of the second storage unit, one or more data blocks and one or more error-correction blocks formerly stored on the second storage unit are reconstructed, and the one or more reconstructed data blocks and the one or more reconstructed error-correction blocks are stored on the first storage unit.“

The patent application was filed on July 15, 2014 (14/332,282).

Managing scheduling of snapshots on storage array
Nimble Storage, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,563,378) developed by Mehta, Varun, Los Altos Hills, CA, Bagg, Rod, San Jose, CA, Gupta, Vikas, Santa Clara, CA, Leary, Dan, San Jose, CA, Singh, Ajay, San Francisco, CA, and Yuen, Hector, Santa Clara, CA, for a “methods and systems for managing the scheduling of snapshots on a storage array.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage management application of a storage array is operable to create a new volume on the storage device array, and to automatically configure, responsive to user selection of an application protection profile, data protection services for application data to be stored on the volume, and/or, responsive to user selection of an application performance profile, application specific performance parameters. The application protection profile specifies scheduling and replication of snapshots for application data to be stored on the volume, and the application performance profile specifies performance parameters such as setting a block size, enabling or modifying a data caching algorithm, turning on or modifying data compression, etc. The scheduling, replication and/or application performance may be managed by a daemon associated with the storage management application which communicates with an agent associated with an application server on which the application executes.“

The patent application was filed on March 3, 2016 (15/060,283).