Avago/Broadcom Assigned Three Patents

NVMe drive detection from SAS/SATA connector
Avago Technologies International Sales Pte. Limited/Broadcom, Singapore, Singapore, has been assigned a patent (10,452,576) developed by Stuhlsatz, Jason, Dacula, GA, for a “NVMe drive detection from a SAS/SATA connector.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: Embodiments presented herein provide for hot swappable connections to various storage devices. In one embodiment, a storage controller includes an interface operable to connect to at least one of a storage device and a midplane connected to a plurality of Non Volatile Memory Express, (NVMe) storage devices. The storage controller also includes a processor operable to detect when the interface is connected to the mid-plane, to determine that the NVMe storage devices each have a x4 NVMe connection, and to communicate sideband signaling, including a reference clock, to the NVMe storage devices through the midplane via Inter-Integrated Circuit, (I2C) upon determining that the NVMe storage devices each have a x4 NVMe connection.”

The patent application was filed on June 24, 2016 (15/192,108).

Hardware accelerated copyback
Avago Technologies International Sales Pte. Limited/Broadcom, Singapore, Singapore, has been assigned a patent (10,394,673) developed by Simionescu, Horia, Foster City, CA, Hoglund, Timothy, Colorado Springs, CO, Veerla, Sridhar Rao, Bangalore, IN, Pandit, Panthini, Bangalore, India, and Radhakrishnan, Gowrisankar, Colorado Springs, CO, for “method and system for hardware accelerated copyback.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A system and method for performing a copyback operation are provided. The disclosed method includes initiating a copyback process to move data from an online data storage drive to a spare data storage drive by setting an indicator in hardware to divert all write completions on the online data storage drive. The method further includes, while the indicator in hardware is set to divert the write completions, incrementing on a per-strip basis a copy of data from the online data storage drive to the spare data storage drive. The method further includes only after all data from the online data storage drive has been copied to the spare data storage drive, changing the setting of the indicator in hardware so that write requests received for the online data storage drive during the copyback process are re-issued on to the spare data storage drive.”

The patent application was filed on May 22, 2017 (15/601,073).

Host bus adapter with built-in storage for local boot-up
Avago Technologies International Sales Pte. Limited/Broadcom, Singapore, Singapore, has been assigned a patent (10,394,573) developed by Mukadam, Ketan, Bangalore, India, for a “host bus adapter with built-in storage for local boot-up.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method of a storage area network, (SAN) includes storing and communicating data received from a server at a host bus adapter via a bus controller of the adapter. In a case where the data is associated with an address corresponding to a default boot logical unit, (LUN) of a non-volatile memory, (NVM) of the adapter, the data is stored in the NVM. In a case where the data is not associated with an address corresponding to a boot LUN of the NVM, the data is communicated over the SAN. During power up of the adapter, in a case where it is determined that the NVM includes an image of an operating system, the adapter uses the bus controller to provide the server with information to select the NVM as a boot LUN for booting the operating system.”

The patent application was filed on March 1, 2016 (15/058,095).