Facebook Assigned Five Patents

Directing air in storage-system chassis
Facebook, Inc., Menlo Park, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,349,554) developed by Adrian, Jason David, San Jose, CA, for “apparatus, system, and method for directing air in a storage-system chassis.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A cold-air bypass apparatus may include,(1) a mount configured to couple the cold-air bypass apparatus to a drive-plane board housed within a storage-system chassis and, (2) a baffle configured to direct a portion of an airflow through an opening in the drive-plane board from below the drive-plane board to above the drive-plane board. The drive-plane board may include, (1) a front drive section that includes storage-drive connectors coupled to the drive-plane board, (2) a rear drive section that includes additional storage-drive connectors coupled to the drive-plane board, and, (3) the opening located between the front drive section and the rear drive section that allows air to flow from below the drive-plane board to above the drive-plane board. Various other apparatus, systems, and methods for directing air in a storage-system chassis are also disclosed.”

The patent application was filed on August 29, 2017 (15/689,650).

Atomic update operations in data storage
Facebook, Inc., Menlo Park, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,346,381) developed by Nicholas, Deon Chris, Kitchener, CA, Xu, Haobo, Palo Alto, CA, and Borthakur, Dhrubajyoti, Sunnyvale, CA, for an “atomic update operations in a data storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Technology is disclosed for performing atomic update operations in a storage system, (‘the technology). The technology can receive an update command to update a value associated with a key stored in the storage system as a function of an input value, store the input value in a log stored at the storage system but not updating the value stored in the storage system, and update the value associated with the key with the received input values value based on the a function to generate an updated value, the updating occurring asynchronously with respect to receiving the update command.”

The patent application was filed on November 14, 2013 (14/080,572).

Managing sequential data store
Facebook, Inc., Menlo Park, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,331,625) developed by Marchukov, Mark V., Mountain View, CA, and Puzar, Lovro, London, Great Britain, for a “managing sequential data store.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The disclosure is directed to storing a data log file, (log) in a distributed computing system. The log can be stored as a sequence of data records, (records). A number of writer computers, (writers) can write to a log, and a number of reader computers, (readers) can read from the log. A log sequencer computer, (log sequencer) facilitates storage of the records in data storage nodes of the distributed computing system. When the log sequencer receives a request for appending a record to a log, the log sequencer assigns a sequence number to the record that is unique and increases monotonically within the log. When a reader requests the log, the records can be delivered to the reader in the order of their sequence numbers. Further, since the records are associated with sequence numbers, a reader can seek to arbitrary sequence number within the log.”

The patent application was filed on September 22, 2015 (14/861,784).

Storage card adapter
Facebook, Inc., Menlo Park, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,283,161) developed by Ehlen, Jon Brian, Newark, CA, for a “storage card adapter.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Technology is provided for a storage card adapter. The storage card adapter is used for housing storage cards, (e.g., M.2 storage cards), and the storage card adapter can then be inserted into a drive bay. The storage card adapter includes an adapter frame and an adapter cover. The adapter frame includes a pair of guide posts having a ledge upon which one end of a storage card rests when the storage cards are installed in storage card connectors on a printed circuit board installed in the storage card adapter. The adapter cover includes a pair of clamping posts that are aligned to engage with the guide posts when the adapter cover is fully mated with the adapter frame. In this manner, the end of the storage card becomes clamped between the guide post and the clamping post to thereby secure the storage card within the storage card adapter.”

The patent application was filed on May 30, 2017 (15/608,204).

Canary testing for storage devices
Facebook, Inc., Menlo Park, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,255,163) developed by Gardner, Darryl Edward, Newark, CA, Bayani, Yashar, Menlo Park, CA, and Qin, Zhanhai, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “canary testing for storage devices.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Embodiments are disclosed for analyzing data storage devices. The present disclosure employs a ‘canary’ test that selects multiple storage devices and tests the same for a predetermined period of time. By analyzing the statuses of the storage devices monitored and recorded during the applicable tests, the present disclosure can generate an analytical result regarding the characteristics of the storage devices. The analytical result can be presented to an operator in a meaningful way so as to enable him or her to make an informed decision when utilizing a storage device with characteristics similar to the tested storage devices.”

The patent application was filed on March 7, 2017 (15/452,691).