Oracle Assigned Twelve Patents

Rotary actuator with coil winding portions
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,824,706) developed by Yeakley, Darryl Wayne, Erie, CO, Goodknight, Frank A., Niwot, CO, and Suttle, Steven G., Broomfield, CO, for a “rotary actuator with coil winding portions having opposing current flow directions.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A rotary actuator for positioning a recording head in a data storage mechanism and that includes first and second cylindrical subassemblies separated by an air gap. One of the subassemblies includes a magnetically conductive core with an electrically conductive coil wrapped thereover to enable first and second current flow directions in the circuit. The other of the subassemblies includes a magnetically conductive core and at least one magnet secured thereto. Transmission of an electric current through the electrically conductive coil induces rotation of one of the subassemblies relative to the other of the subassemblies to rotate the recording head about an axis that is perpendicular to recording media on the recording head. The disclosed rotary actuator facilitates quick and accurate recording head position changes due to low inertia of the rotating subassembly as well as reduced inductance and symmetrical mass distribution of the actuator.”

The patent application was filed on October 31, 2013 (14/068,368).

Simultaneous pivoting and translation of robot arm of storage library
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,821,958) developed by Manes, Joseph Paul, Arvada, CO, Plutt, Daniel James, Superior, CO, and Ostwald, Timothy Craig, Boulder, CO, for a “system for simultaneous pivoting and translation of robot arm of storage library.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Utilities, (e.g., systems, apparatuses, methods) that reduce robotic assembly contention in media element storage libraries by translating, (e.g., displacing) a robot arm of a first robotic assembly mounted over a first storage array of a storage library away from a central reference plane as the robot arm is being pivoted into a first position adjacent the first storage array to allow a robot arm of a second robotic assembly to slide or otherwise move past the robot arm of the first robotic assembly, even when the robot arms of the first and second robot arms are disposed at the same height, (e.g., along a z-axis) within the storage library. For instance, a pivot member of the robot arm may be mounted on a carriage that is configured to translate between the first and second storage arrays in response to the pivot member being pivoted about a pivot axis.”

The patent application was filed on December 22, 2014 (14/578,643).

Management of robotics assembly and cartridge access port
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,799,366) developed by Manes, Joseph Paul, Arvada, CO, Plutt, Daniel James, Superior, CO, and Ostwald, Timothy Craig, Boulder, CO, for a “management of robotics assembly and cartridge access port of media element storage library.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Utilities that increase the volume of media elements that can be simultaneously loaded and/or unloaded into or from a storage library, facilitate mounting of media element magazines into a storage library, and limit access to an interior of a storage library by users during operation of robotics assemblies of the storage library. One disclosed utility includes a cartridge access port for use with a storage library that has a storage container that is pivotable, (e.g., swingable) between at least first and second positions. In the first position, the storage container is adjacent an opening in the housing of the library for loading and unloading of media elements by a user into or from the container via the opening. After the storage container has swung into the second position, the storage container is spaced from the opening and faces the interior of the library for access by a robotics assembly.”

The patent application was filed on February 4, 2016 (15/015,580).

Managing cache on storage devices supporting compression
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,798,655) developed by Coudhury, Nilesh, Redwood City, CA, Aya, Selcuk, San Carlos, CA, Zhang, Zheren, Milpitas, CA, Umamageswaran, Kothanda, Sunnyvale, CA, and Loaiza, Juan, Woodside, CA, for a “managing a cache on storage devices supporting compression.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Flash memory on a flash memory device is virtualized using compression that is native to the flash memory device. Through compression, the flash memory device is used to logically store more data in a virtual address space that is larger than the physical address space of the flash memory device. Physical storage capacity of a flash memory device may prevent further storage of data even when the virtual address space is not fully populated. Because compressibility may vary, the extent to which the virtual address space may be populated before physical storage capacity is reached varies. The approaches for virtual memory described herein rely on the memory device client to monitor when this point is reached. In addition, the memory device client is responsible for freeing space as needed to accommodate subsequent requests to store data in the flash memory.”

The patent application was filed on March 28, 2014 (14/229,809).

Implementing workload management by monitoring disk utilizations
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,772,798) developed by Shah, Akshay D., Sunnyvale, CA, and Lee, Sue K., Foster City, CA, for a “method and system for implementing workload management by monitoring disk utilizations.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Disclosed is an improved approach for managing access to resources by workloads in a computing system. A much more accurate and useful technique is provided for determining disk utilization, and for using the calculated disk utilization to enforce workload constraints and limits. The technique may be used by any application that is attempting to share storage between multiple workloads can use the present solution, as well as any operating system and workload manager that need to manage workloads and resources.”

The patent application was filed on January 21, 2011 (13/011,756).

Data block movement offload to storage systems
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,772,793) developed by Sridharan, Vijay, Santa Clara, CA, Tsukerman, Alexander, Foster City, CA, Shi, Jia, Burlingame, CA, and Umamageswaran, Kothanda, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “data block movement offload to storage systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In a write by-peer-reference, a storage device client writes a data block to a target storage device in the storage system by sending a write request to the target storage device, the write request specifying information used to obtain the data block from a source storage device in the storage system. The target storage device sends a read request to the source storage device for the data block. The source storage device sends the data block to the target storage device, which then writes the data block to the target storage device. The data block is thus written to the target storage device without the storage device client transmitting the data block itself to the target storage device.”

The patent application was filed on September 18, 2014 (14/490,367).

Manipulating power switch of electronic device located in remote position within storage cabinet
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,769,950) developed by Stewart, Thomas E., San Diego, CA, Vazirizad, Tina, Sampath, Ramanan, Santa Clara, CA, and Figueroa, Gilberto, Modesto, CA, for an “apparatuses for manipulating power switch of electronic device located in remote position within storage cabinet.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Power switch manipulation apparatuses that allow users to manipulate power switches of FRUs mounted within storage racks in a manner free of a user having to physically reach into the storage rack to manipulate the power switches. One embodiment of the disclosed manipulation apparatus broadly includes a base member that may be rigidly secured to a portion of the frame of a storage rack, e.g., on a side or vertical member adjacent a rear door or opening of the rack at the same or similar height as at least one of the power switches) along with a tool that is movably mounted or mountable to the base member for manipulating a power switch of a FRU mounted in the rack.”

The patent application was filed on May 29, 2015 (14/725,680).

Quadrature track error signal for optical recording media and devices
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,734,859) developed by Mahnad, Faramarz, Brookline, MA, for a “quadrature track error signal for optical recording media and devices.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for providing tracking error signals in an optical data storage system includes a step of receiving a wobble signal having a first frequency from the wobble detection system. The wobble detection system includes an optical pick up unit that detects positions of the head relative to lands and grooves. Characteristically, the wobble signal is amplitude modulated for positions intermediate between the land and the groove. The method further includes a step of receiving a primary tracking error signal from the wobble detection system. The wobble signal is multiplied with a synchronous signal to about a product signal. The product signal is positive for a first direction of motion and negative for a second direction of motion that is opposite that of the first direction. The product signal is integrated to obtain a quadrature track error signal.”

The patent application was filed on November 26, 2013 (14/090,240).

Storage and retrieval of fragmented data using pseudo linear dynamic byte array
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,720,970) developed by Surber, Douglas, Orinda, CA, De Lavarene, Jean, Menlo Park, CA, Shivarudraiah, Ashok, Fremont, CA, Shirk, Edward, Berkeley, CA, and Jungerman, Mark, Redwood City, CA, for an “efficient storage and retrieval of fragmented data using pseudo linear dynamic byte array .“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system and method for efficient storage and retrieval of fragmented data using a pseudo linear dynamic byte array is provided. In accordance with an embodiment, the system comprises a database driver which provides access by a software application to a database. The database driver uses a dynamic byte array to enable access by the application to data in the database, including determining a size of a required data to be stored in memory, and successively allocating and copying the required data into the dynamic byte array as a succession of blocks. The data stored within the succession of blocks can then be accessed and provided to the application.”

The patent application was filed on April 23, 2014 (14/259,499).

Vertical pass-through for data storage library
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,715,894) developed by Ostwald, Timothy Craig, Boulder, CO, and Manes, Joseph Paul, Arvada, CO, for a “vertical pass-through for a data storage library.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Embodiments include systems and methods for providing throughput increase and/or physical expansion of a data storage library. Some embodiments include multiple robotic assemblies, each having its own hand assembly, which are electrically and mechanically integrated for concurrent use in a single storage library environment for increased throughput. Other embodiments include an active vertical pass-through assembly that operates to ferry cartridges from one storage library environment to another, vertically adjacent storage library environment. Some such embodiments use existing robotic mechanisms of the libraries to exploit a shared slot through which vertical pass-through functionality can be realized. Other embodiments include an active horizontal pass-through assembly that operates to ferry cartridges from one storage library environment to another, horizontally adjacent storage library environment. Some such embodiments include a separate robotic mechanism that couples with each library and actively passes a cartridge among them and is adjustable to varying spans between the libraries.”

The patent application was filed on March 5, 2015 (14/639,900).

Policy-based file management for storage delivery network
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,705,979) developed by Chatley, Scott P., Gallagher, J. Gabriel, Phan, Thanh T., and Gatchell, Troy C., San Diego, CA, for a “policy-based file management for a storage delivery network.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for managing storage and access to data files stored in a storage delivery network comprising a plurality of geographically distributed storage nodes, the method including: receiving a file request from a user, wherein the user is associated with a service level agreement, (SLA) containing one or more policies governing handling of file requests from the user, determining if the SLA dictates redirecting the file request to a predetermined storage node, if the SLA dictates redirecting the file request to a predetermined storage node, redirecting the file request to the predetermined storage node, otherwise, identifying all storage nodes from the plurality of geographically distributed storage nodes that are not too busy by determining whether a number of current access requests being served by each storage node exceeds a predetermined threshold value, identifying a nearest storage node from among the not too busy storage nodes, and redirecting the user request to the nearest storage node.”

The patent application was filed on October 14, 2013 (14/052,875).

Universal cache management
Oracle International Corporation, Redwood City, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,703,706) developed by Bagal, Prasad V., San Jose, CA, and Long, Rich, Woodside, CA, for an “universal cache management system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for universal cache management are described. In an example embodiment, a plurality of caches are allocated, in volatile memory of a computing device, to a plurality of data-processing instances, where each one of the plurality of caches is exclusively allocated to a separate one of the plurality of data-processing instances. A common cache is allocated in the volatile memory of the computing device, where the common cache is shared by the plurality of data-processing instances. Each instance of the plurality of data-processing instances is configured to: identify a data block in the particular cache allocated to that instance, where the data block has not been changed since the data block was last persistently written to one or more storage devices, cause the data block to be stored in the common cache, and remove the data block from the particular cache. Data blocks in the common cache are maintained without being persistently written to the one or more storage devices.”

The patent application was filed on February 28, 2011 (13/037,172).