Alibaba Group Holding Assigned Twelve Patents

Blockchain system and data storage
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,505,720) developed by Li, Ning, Hangzhou, China, for “blockchain system and data storage method and apparatus.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for storing data are provided. One of the methods includes: receiving, by one or more computing devices, a transaction request from a first node, the transaction request comprising transaction data, determining, by the one or more computing devices based on the transaction data, a blockchain network corresponding to the transaction request from a plurality of blockchain networks connected to the one or more computing devices, wherein the first node is excluded from a consensus process associated with the determined blockchain network, forwarding, by the one or more computing devices, the transaction request to the determined blockchain network, receiving, by the one or more computing devices from the determined blockchain network, a block generated based on consensus validation on the transaction request, and forwarding, by the one or more computing devices, the block to the first node.”

The patent application was filed on July 16, 2019 (16/513,432).

Increasing storage areal density using predictive data locations
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,504,542) developed by Li, Shu, Santa Clara, CA, for an “increasing storage areal density using predictive data locations.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Disclosed are systems, methods, and devices for increasing the storage areal density of a storage device. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising receiving host data, the host data including first data and extra bit data, generating run-length limited, (RLL) data by encoding the first data with an RLL encoder, generating a symbol corresponding to at least one bit of the extra bit data, and generating superpositioned data by inserting the symbol within a contiguous section of repeating bits in the RLL-encoded first data.”

The patent application was filed on January 7, 2019 (16/240,934).

Low-latency lightweight distributed storage
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,503,409) developed by Li, Shu, Bothell, WA, and Lin, Ming, San Jose, CA, for a “low-latency lightweight distributed storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments described herein provide a system for facilitating a lightweight distributed storage system. During operation, the system generates a data segment from a data file associated with a write operation and determines a storage key for the data segment. The storage key indicates a calculated storage path associated with a replica of the data segment. The system then determines whether a user-defined storage path is specified by a user for the data segment. If a user-defined storage path has not been specified by the user for the data segment, the system generates a data packet comprising the data segment, wherein a destination for the data packet corresponds to a target disk specified by the calculated storage path.”

The patent application was filed on September 27, 2017 (15/717,667).

Data destruction in phase change memory-based storage
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,496,829) developed by Li, Shu, Bothell, WA, and Zhou, Ping, Folsom, CA, for “method and system for data destruction in a phase change memory-based storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”One embodiment facilitates data destruction in a phase change memory-based storage device. During operation, the system detects, by the storage device, a power loss. Subsequent to the power loss, the system overwrites keys and configuration information used to transform data stored in the phase change memory, wherein the keys and the configuration information are stored in the phase change memory, thereby preventing the data from being recovered.”

The patent application was filed on September 15, 2017 (15/705,698).

User-space storage I/O stack with user-space flash translation layer
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,496,548) developed by Li, Shu, Bothell, WA, for “method and system for user-space storage I/O stack with user-space flash translation layer.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”One embodiment facilitates a user-space storage I/O stack. During operation, the system generates, by a file system in the user-space, a logical block address associated with an I/O request which indicates data to be read or written. The system generates, by a flash translation layer module in the user-space, a physical block address corresponding to the logical block address, wherein the flash translation layer module is located between the file system and a block device driver in the user-space. The system estimates a latency associated with executing the I/O request. In response to determining that the estimated latency is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold, and that the I/O request is a read request, the system reads the requested data from a location other than the physical block address.”

The patent application was filed on February 7, 2018 (15/891,151).

Data storage, query methods
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,489,372) developed by Chu, Xiaoying, Hangzhou, China, for “data storage methods, query methods, and apparatuses thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”The present application discloses methods for storing data, methods for querying data, and apparatus thereof. A method for storing data may include receiving a data record to be stored. When the data record includes a timestamp, a numerical value generated at a time point identified by the timestamp, and a first combination of identification-field values that can identify the numerical value, the method may also include obtaining a target numerical value and a target time satisfying user query needs, and a second combination of identification-field values as a query condition by the preprocessing of the data record based on the user query needs. The method may further include storing a storage identity representing the second combination of identification-field values, the target time, and the target numerical value into a second information table correspondingly.”

The patent application was filed on June 17, 2015 (15/324,661).

Flash storage failure rate reduction and hyperscale infrastructure robustness enhancement through MRAM-NOR flash based cache architecture
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,489,313) developed by Li, Shu, Santa Clara, CA, for “flash storage failure rate reduction and hyperscale infrastructure robustness enhancement through the MRAM-NOR flash based cache architecture.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the present invention provide flash-based storage with non-volatile memory components. MRAM is mainly used as a data buffer, and NOR flash is used to store metadata, such as FTL information, thereby providing non-volatile storage and significantly simplifying power failure mitigation. MRAM and NOR are jointly used to share the work performed by DRAM in existing SSDs based on the characteristics of the data stored, reducing the power consumption and cost of the SSD. The cache fault rate is reduced because both MRAM and NOR are immune from soft errors. Moreover, the working mechanisms are simplified and the power-up duration is significantly reduced because less data is copied from NAND flash, as there is no need to move all of the FTL information back to NAND flash at power off.”

The patent application was filed on October 31, 2016 (15/338,897).

Enhancing backup efficiency by bypassing encoding and decoding
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,445,190) developed by Li, Shu, Bothell, WA, for “method and system for enhancing backup efficiency by bypassing encoding and decoding.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”One embodiment facilitates data backup on at least one storage device. During operation, the system decodes, by a computing device, based on an error correction code, a first difference between a first and a second set of data to obtain a codeword, wherein the first set of data indicates a backup version and the second set of data indicates subsequent modifications to the first set of data. The system calculates a value based on a second difference between a first signature for the first set of data and a second signature for the second set of data. In response to determining that a decoding of the codeword based on a cyclic redundancy check matches the calculated value, the system stores the codeword on the at least one storage device.”

The patent application was filed on November 8, 2017 (15/807,041).

Optimization of log-structured merge, tree-based databases using object SSD
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,445,022) developed by Qui, Sheng, Dublin, CA, Liu, Fei, Burlingame, CA, and Li, Shu, Santa Clara, CA, for “optimization of log-structured merge, (LSM) tree-based databases using object solid state drive, (SSD) devices.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”The disclosed embodiments are directed to improvements in log-structured merge, (LSM) tree databases. In one embodiment, a method is disclosed comprising receiving data to be written to a log-structured merge, (LSM) tree, the data including a key and value, determining that an in-memory buffer lacks capacity to store the data to be written, compacting key-ranges stored in at least one level of the LSM tree stored in an object storage device (OSD), each of the key-ranges associated with a respective object identifier, generating a key range object, the key range object including object identifiers associated with a subset of the key-ranges, erasing physical blocks corresponding to each of the object identifiers included in the key range object, and writing the key range object to at least one physical block of the OSD.”

The patent application was filed on April 26, 2018 (15/963,386).

High-priority read based on in-place suspend/resume write
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,423,508) developed by Li, Shu, Bothell, WA, for “method and system for a high-priority read based on an in-place suspend/resume write.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”One embodiment facilitates a high-priority read. During operation, the system receives, by a controller module of a storage device, a first request to write first data to a non-volatile memory of the storage device. The system commences a write operation to write the first data to the non-volatile memory. In response to detecting a second request to read second data from the non-volatile memory, the system: suspends the write operation, reads the second data from the non-volatile memory, and resumes the suspended write operation.”

The patent application was filed on August 11, 2017 (15/675,447).

Aggregating service data for transmission and risk analysis
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,417,426) developed by Chen, Lujia, Shanghai, China, Zhou, Qingyue, and Wang, Weiqiang, Hangzhou, China, for an “aggregating service data for transmission and risk analysis.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods, systems, and computer-readable storage media for risk identification of service data using operations of determining, by a client-side computing device, a first service data corresponding to a first operation behavior associated with a user input on the client-side computing device, determining, by the client-side computing device, a first variable corresponding to the first service data, the first variable including a first eigenvalue, retrieving, by the client-side computing device, a second eigenvalue corresponding to a second operation behavior that was performed at a second time before the first operation behavior, generating, by the client-side computing device, a decay value by processing the first time and the second time a decay function, generating, by the client-side computing device, an aggregated data by processing the first variable, the second eigenvalue, and the decay value using an aggregation function, and determining, by the one or more processors, a risk associated with the first operation by processing the aggregated data using a risk identification model.”

The patent application was filed on August 30, 2017 (15/691,098).

Chunk-wide data organization and placement with real-time calculation
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Grand Cayman, Cayman Island, has been assigned a patent (10,402,112) developed by Li, Shu, Bothell, WA, for “method and system for chunk-wide data organization and placement with real-time calculation.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”One embodiment provides a system for facilitating data organization. The system receives a request which indicates a file to be read from a non-volatile storage, which is divided into a plurality of logical chunks, wherein a chunk is divided into a plurality of bulks. The system determines a chunk index, a first offset between a beginning of the file and a beginning of a chunk corresponding to the chunk index, and a requested length of the file. The system calculates a bulk index for the requested file based on the chunk index and the first offset. The system identifies a location in the non-volatile storage based on the bulk index. The system reads the requested file from the identified location in the non-volatile storage based on the requested length.”

The patent application was filed on February 14, 2018 (15/896,747).