Dell Assigned Eleven Patents

Wear levelling in storage array
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,656,843) developed by B, Kanaka Charyulu, Bangalore, India, for “systems and methods for wear levelling in a storage array.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a system may include a processor and a storage interface configured to sequentially select, one at a time, member storage resources of a virtual storage resource as a source storage resource for redirection of write input/output (I/O) and for each member storage resource, when selected as the source storage resource, in response to write I/O, redirect the write I/O to a spare storage resource available to the virtual storage resource.”

The patent application was filed on May 16, 2016 (15/155,678).

Storage controller failover
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,642,704) developed by Khemani, Lucky Pratap, and Sampathkumar, Kala, Bangalore, India, for a “storage controller failover system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage controller failover system includes servers, storage controllers coupled to storage subsystems, and a switching system coupling the servers to the storage controllers. A storage controller configurations and storage controller caches for each of the storage controllers are stored in one or more database. A failure is detected of a first storage controller that has provided first storage communications along a first path between a first server and a first storage subsystem and, in response, a second storage controller that is configured to take over the first storage communications from the first storage controller is determined based on its second storage controller configuration. A first storage controller cache for the first storage controller is provided to the second storage controller, and the second storage controller is caused to provide the first storage communications along a second path between the first server and the first storage subsystem.”

The patent application was filed on December 13, 2017 (15/841,083).

Storage allocation, electronic device, storage and computer program
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,628,071) developed by Xu, Xinlei, Gao, Jian, Jia, Ruiyong, Li, Liam, Liu, Yousheng, and Gao, Hongpo, Beijing, China, for “method of storage allocation, electronic device, storage system and computer program product.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method of storage allocation, an electronic device, a storage system and a computer program product. The method of storage allocation includes: obtaining respective wear levels of a plurality of disks associated with a redundant array of independent disks (RAID). The method further includes: determining respective spare extents in disk extents of the plurality of disks based on the obtained wear levels, such that a number of spare extents in a disk is positively correlated with the wear level of the disk. The method also includes: selecting, from disk extents other than the spare extents, a predetermined number of disk extents for creating RAID extents for the RAID, the predetermined number of disk extents being from different disks of the plurality of disks. Through the embodiments of the present disclosure, a life cycle of a disk is prolonged, frequent replacement of worn disks with new disks is avoided, and data loss is reduced.”

The patent application was filed on November 1, 2018 (16/177,736).

Utilizing different memory media with device
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,621,118) developed by Iyer, Shyamkumar Thiyagarajan, Varma, Yogesh, and Sankaranarayanan, Vadhiraj, Austin, TX, for “system and method of utilizing different memory media with a device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In one or more embodiments, one or more methods, processes, and/or systems may receive quality of service (QoS) configuration information associated with information storage and retrieval of a device coupled to an input/output memory management unit (IOMMU), may configure one or more registers of the memory controller with a range of addresses associated, may determine performance data based at least on one or more of an average number of transactions completed, an average number of cycles utilized by the transactions, and an average number of credits in a flow control between the memory controller and a first memory medium coupled to the memory controller, may determine that the performance data does not comply with the QoS configuration information, and if the performance data indicates that the information storage and retrieval of the device is congested, may remap the IOMMU to point to DMA buffers of a second memory medium.”

The patent application was filed on November 1, 2018 (16/177,657).

Triggering power loss protection on solid-state storage
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,599,503) developed by Rahmanian, Amir, Round Rock, TX, and Jenne, John E., Austin, TX, for “triggering power loss protection on solid-state storage devices.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An information handling system may implement techniques for triggering power loss protection on solid-state storage devices (SSDs) based on PSU pre-warning signals, such as de-asserted POK or VIN_GOOD signals) indicating that power loss is imminent. The pre-warning signals may be provided directly to SSDs over a dedicated connection or may be passed through other components of the information handling system, such as power loss warning logic, a platform controller hub, (or a CPU) to a storage controller. The pre-warning signal may be provided to the storage controller as a power loss warning interrupt. This interrupt may cause the storage system controller to issue an in-band message/command to the SSDs or to provide a signal on a dedicated connection to the SSDs in order to trigger power loss protection actions on the SSDs, including switching their power sources and flushing write queues before available hold-up energy is depleted.”

The patent application was filed on July 28, 2016 (15/222,756).

Production server management using storage array
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,587,678) developed by Schmidt, David Thomas, Round Rock, TX, Jreij, Elie Antoun, Pflugerville, TX, and Don, Arieh, Newton, MA, for a “production server management using a storage array.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods for managing a production server using a storage array. In an illustrative, non-limiting embodiment, a storage array may include a memory coupled to a processor, the memory having program instructions configured to cause and/or enable the storage array to: receive hardware information from a multipath input/output (MPIO) module of each of a plurality of production servers in communication with the storage array, provide the hardware information to a management server in communication with the storage array, receive a command from the management server targeting a selected production server, and transmit the command to a selected MPIO module of the selected production server.”

The patent application was filed on January 30, 2018 (15/883,343).

Mapping physical memory with mixed storage class memories
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,579,392) developed by Sankaranarayanan, Vadhiraj, Berke, Stuart Allen, and Guo, Jeffrey, Austin, TX, for “system and method for mapping physical memory with mixed storage class memories.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An information handling system includes a plurality of storage class memory (SCM) devices and a processor. Each SCM device is configured to determine a health indication of the SCM device. The processor is configured to execute code to provide a basic input/output system (BIOS). The BIOS receives the health indications, ranks the SCMs based upon the health indications, determines that a first BIOS function has a first quality of service level, and allocates the first BIOS function to a first SCM based upon the first quality of service level, wherein the first SCM has a highest rank of the SCMs.”

The patent application was filed on January 22, 2018 (15/876,855).

Storage device and method for controlling rotation speed of fan of storage
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,575,435) developed by Zhai, Haifang, Wu, Hendry Xiaoping, Zhou, Yujie, and Dong, David, Shanghai, China, for “storage device and method for controlling rotation speed of fan of storage device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”The present disclosure relates to a storage device and a method of controlling a rotation speed of a fan of the storage device. The storage device comprises: a housing comprising an opening, a fan arranged at an end of the housing opposed to the opening, a tray comprising a plurality of partitions arranged in rows and being operable to be drawn out of or inserted into the housing via the opening in a longitudinal direction of the housing, a plurality of tray position detectors respectively arranged on the plurality of partitions and configured to detect a relative position of the tray with respect to the housing, and a controller adapted to adjust a rotation speed of the fan according to the relative position detected by the tray position detector. The storage device according to the present disclosure can effectively reduce the negative pressure formed in the housing, avoid or reduce the recesses of the housing, and enable the tray to be smoothly inserted into the housing, thereby avoiding damage to the disks therein.”

The patent application was filed on January 15, 2019 (16/248,378).

Software defined networking FCoE initialization protocol snooping bridge system
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,574,596) developed by Kutty, Ajan Daniel, and Nagalla, Srinivasa Rao, Austin, TX, for a “software defined networking FCoE initialization protocol snooping bridge system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An FSB-enabled SDN system includes an FC storage device coupled to an FSB device by an FCF device. An SDN FSB device couples a server device to the FCF device, and is also coupled to an SDN controller device. The SDN FSB device prevents first FCoE data traffic while allowing FIP data traffic between the server device and the FCF device based on SDN communications from the SDN controller device. The SDN FSB device then forwards FC login communications included in the FIP data traffic to the SDN controller device. If the FSB device then receives a third SDN communication from the SDN controller device that includes an FC source identifier for the server device, it may allow second FCoE data traffic between the server device and the FC storage device if that second FCoE data traffic is associated with the FC source identifier.”

The patent application was filed on May 23, 2017 (15/603,214).

Write-back cache for storage controller using persistent system memory
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,565,108) developed by Sreedhar M, Deepu Syam, Calicut, India, Berke, Stuart A., Austin, TX, Agarwal, Sandeep, and Singh, Amit Pratap, Bangalore, India, for a “write-back cache for storage controller using persistent system memory.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods provide a storage controller with write-back caching capabilities that may be used during scenarios where the storage controller is required to provide write-through caching, and thus unable to utilize internal cache memory for write-back caching. The storage controller utilizes an allocation of persistent memory that is made available by the host IHS, Information Handling System, to which the storage controller is coupled. In scenarios where the storage controller is required to provide write-through caching, the storage controller may be configured to route received write data to the allocated host memory. In this manner, the data integrity provided by write-through operations is maintained, while also providing the host IHS with the speed of write-back operations. When ready to store the write data, the storage controller may request the flushing of write data from the allocated host memory.”

The patent application was filed on May 23, 2017 (15/602,104).

Live migration of remote desktop session host sessions without data loss
Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX, has been assigned a patent (10,560,535) developed by Khosrowpour, Farzad, Pflugerville, TX, and Baladhandayutham, Senthil Kumaran, Austin, TX, for “system and method for live migration of remote desktop session host sessions without data loss.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A remote desktop session host system includes a first terminal server including a first data collector, a second terminal server including a second data collector, and a data storage device. The first terminal server hosts a first terminal session. In response to determining that the first terminal server is underutilized, the first data collector creates a snapshot of the first terminal session, stores the snapshot on the data storage device, and logs off the first terminal session. The snapshot includes a context for the first terminal session. A second terminal session is launched on the second terminal server, and the second data collector retrieves the snapshot and provides the snapshot to the second terminal session to restore the context to the second session.”

The patent application was filed on May 21, 2015 (14/718,724).