Marvell Assigned Six Patents

Managing cache of data storage device
Marvell International Ltd., Hamilton, Bermuda, has been assigned a patent (10,061,704) developed by Xi, Weiya, Jin, Chao, Yong, Khai Leong, Tan, Sophia, and Ching, Zhi Yong, Singapore, Singapore, for “systems and methods for managing cache of a data storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device includes a data storage medium having a plurality of data blocks. A cache includes a plurality of cache blocks. Each cache block includes a corresponding cache block address. A metadata table includes a plurality of table entries for the data blocks, respectively. Each of the table entries is configured to store the cache block address of one of the cache blocks in which data of a corresponding one of the data blocks is written. A bitmap is configured to store statuses of all of the cache blocks, respectively.”

The patent application was filed on November 29, 2016 (15/363,325).

Two-level storage device with faster front end
Marvell International Ltd., Hamilton, Bermuda, has been assigned a patent (10,056,147) developed by Alexopoulos, Pantelis, Melts, Dimitry, San Jose, CA, Therene, Christophe, Livermore, CA, and Kuno, Shinichiro, Hiratsuka, Japan, for a “two-level storage device with faster front end.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage device includes a first data storage medium having a first capacity and a first speed, a second data storage medium having a second capacity and a second speed, and a device controller for interfacing between the data storage device and a host system. The second capacity is greater than the first capacity and the second speed is slower than the first speed. The device controller presents the data storage device to the host system as having a device capacity at least equal to the second capacity and a device speed at least equal to the first speed. The first data storage medium may be a solid-state drive while the second data storage medium is a hard disk drive. The device controller may be a solid-state drive controller, or a hard disk drive controller that may accept at least one solid-state drive command, such as a TRIM command.”

The patent application was filed on May 24, 2017 (15/604,303).

Dynamic differential compression for storage device look-up table
Marvell International Ltd., Hamilton, Bermuda, has been assigned a patent (9,996,461) developed by Xu, Wei, Milpitas, CA, Keung, Ka-Ming, San Jose, CA, Sun, Fei, Irvine, CA, He, Jinjin, Santa Clara, CA, Huang, ChengKuo, Sunnyvale, CA, and Yoon, Tony, Los Altos, CA, for a “dynamic differential compression for storage device look-up table.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method for storing data on a storage device includes receiving data to be stored and a logical address for storing the data. A physical address is determined and the data to be stored is stored at the determined physical address. A table that associates logical addresses with physical addresses is examined to determine a difference relationship between the determined physical address and a corresponding physical address for one of other logical addresses. Information representing the determined physical address is stored in the table, in association with the received logical address, as a function of the determined difference relationship. A data storage device includes controller circuitry and memory for storing a lookup table that associates logical addresses with physical addresses. The controller circuitry operates in accordance with the method.”

The patent application was filed on August 20, 2015 (14/831,063).

Enhanced data access to HDD with caching
Marvell International Ltd., Hamilton, Bermuda, has been assigned a patent (9,946,599) developed by Burd, Gregory, San Jose, CA, for “systems and methods for enhanced data access to a hard disk drive with caching.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Systems and methods described herein provide a method for enhanced data access to a hard disk drive with caching. The method includes obtaining data for storage from a data source. The method further includes applying at least one of a track error-correcting code scheme, a redundant array of independent disks, (RAID) encoder, streaming inter-track interference cancellation and a lower power read-data channel to the obtained data. The method further includes configuring a caching system to store a frequently accessed portion of the encoded data, and receiving, from a host computer, a data access request. The method further includes retrieving a data file from the caching system to the host computer in response to the data access request.”

The patent application was filed on April 22, 2016 (15/136,466).

Storage space allocation for logical disk creation
Marvell International Ltd., Hamilton, Bermuda, has been assigned a patent (9,940,022) developed by Bitner, Haim, Raanana, Israel, Tipnis, Sanjyot, Pune, India, and Gole, Abhijeet P., Cupertino, CA, for a “storage space allocation for logical disk creation.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present disclosure includes apparatus, systems, computer readable storage media and techniques relating to virtualization of data storage space. In one aspect, a system includes: solid-state drive, (SSD) devices, wherein each of the SSD devices includes contiguous portions, and a data storage controller configured to assign a priority value to each of available ones of the contiguous portions of the respective SSD devices, based on weighted criteria, and choose a subset of the available ones of the contiguous portions of the respective SSD devices, in accordance with the assigned priority values, to form a logical disk, wherein the logical disk includes at least one available portion from each of two or more of the SSD devices.”

The patent application was filed on May 5, 2016 (15/147,486).

Generating soft information in flash device
Marvell International Ltd., Hamilton, Bermuda, has been assigned a patent (9,912,353) developed by Low, Seo-How, San Jose, CA, for “systems and methods for generating soft information in a flash device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Systems and methods are provided for generating a soft information metric corresponding to a bit stored in a memory. The systems and methods include comparing a symbol value associated with the stored bit to a plurality of decision thresholds to obtain a plurality of binary values. One of the plurality of binary values is selected to obtain a reference value. Further, a frequency metric is computed, which corresponds to the number of times each of the plurality of binary values equals a predefined value. The soft information metric is then determined based on the frequency metric and the reference value.”

The patent application was filed on March 10, 2016 (15/066,330).