Cisco Technology Assigned Seven Patents

Improving file system write bandwidth through hard disk track management
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,782,888) developed by Okelberry, Ryan Michael, Provo, UT, Henriksen, Dana, Lindon, UT, Oyler, Mel J., Pleasant Grove, UT, Chou, Hoi-Tauw Jozef, Dublin, CA, and Kingdon, Kevin Wayne, Hayward, CA, for “method and device for improving file system write bandwidth through hard disk track management.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Various implementations of hard disk track management method, device, and system disclosed herein enable improvements of file system write bandwidth. In various implementations, a method is performed at a disk storage including a file controller controlling a disk drive with a disk platter that is divided into multiple regions including a fast region. In various implementations, the method includes receiving a write request associated with data to be written to the disk drive and in response, determining a disk utilization of the disk drive. In various implementations, the method further includes placing the disk drive in a surge mode to write the data to the fast region upon determining that the disk utilization is above a first threshold, and placing the disk drive in a non-surge mode to write the data to other regions of the multiple regions upon determining that the disk utilization is below a second threshold.”

The patent application was filed on June 25, 2018 (16/017,697).

Bid/ask protocol in scale-out NVMe storage
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,778,765) developed by Metz, J. Michel, San Jose, CA, and Pelissier, Joseph E., Hillsboro, OR, for a “bid/ask protocol in scale-out NVMe storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving by first network device a request for storage resources from a second network device, evaluating a willingness of the first network device to provide the requested storage resources and assigning a willingness score based on the evaluating, determining whether the willingness score is greater than a minimum value, and if the willingness score is greater than the minimum value, providing a response to the request from the first network device to the second network device, wherein the response comprises a bid by the first network device to provide the requested storage resources to the second network device.”

The patent application was filed on April 12, 2016 (15/097,126).

Network-based real-time distributed data compliance broker
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,778,693) developed by Akireddy, Ravi, San Jose, CA, and Estes, Robert S., Santa Clara, CA, for a “network-based real-time distributed data compliance broker.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In an embodiment, a data processing system comprises: one or more processors, one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing sequences of instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the processor to perform: in a local data service, receiving a request for processing data, identifying one or more local policies applicable to the request, based, at least in part, on the one or more local policies, determining whether the request may be processed locally, in response to determining that the request may not be processed locally, transmitting the request to one or more remote brokers to cause the one or more remote brokers to determine a remote data service configured to process the request.”

The patent application was filed on August 30, 2018 (16/117,371).

Efficient distribution of peer zone database in Fibre Channel fabric
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,757,040) developed by Subramani, Karthik, Tummala, Venu Gopal, and Uppunda, Kishan Kumar Kotari, Karnataka, India, for an “efficient distribution of peer zone database in Fibre Channel fabric.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Provided are techniques for the efficient distribution of peer zone databases in a FC Fabric. In an example, a switch instantiates a peer zone definition defining a peer zone in which two or more initiator host devices are each permitted to communicate with one or more target storage devices via the switched FC fabric and the two or more initiator host devices are prevented from communicating with each other. The switch stores the peer zone definition in a peer zone database at the FC switch, and distributes the peer zone definition to other FC switches of the switched FC fabric without performing a Fabric lock operation.”

The patent application was filed on July 11, 2017 (15/646,800).

Managing virtual port channel switch peers from software-defined network controller
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,749,742) developed by Dasu, Santa, Palo Alto, CA, Mahajan, Mehak, San Jose, CA, Subramaniam, Sandeep, Pleasanton, CA, and Basavanakattimatha, Sanjay, Santa Clara, CA, for “managing virtual port channel switch peers from software-defined network controller.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media for configuring a virtual port channel (VPC) domain. The disclosed technology involves determining that a first switch and a second switch are connected in a VPC domain, determining that the first switch is in a primary role, and determining a unique identifier for the first switch, a VPC portchannel number for the first switch, and an orphan port number for the first switch. Also, the first switch receives a unique identifier, a VPC portchannel number, and an orphan port number for the second switch. The first switch can associate the VPC portchannel number for the second switch and the VPC portchannel number for the first switch with a unified VPC portchannel number and create a first unique orphan port number for the first switch and a second unique orphan port number for the second switch.”

The patent application was filed on January 28, 2019 (16/259,916).

Fine granularity authorization control in FC-NVMe storage area network
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,708,309) developed by Bharadwaj, Harsha, Bangalore, India, and Metz, J Michel, Burnet, TX, for a “fine granularity authorization control in FC-NVMe storage area network.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method is performed at a Fibre Channel (FC) switch of an FC switch fabric through which servers connected to the FC switch fabric access logical partitions of a storage array connected to the FC switch fabric. The FC switch receives from the storage array information indicative of port zoning rules and logical partition masking that collectively define which server ports are permitted access to which storage array ports and to which logical partitions of the storage array. The FC switch generates from the information authorization rules for enforcing the port zoning rules and the logical partition masking, and programs the authorization rules into memory. The FC switch receives FC frames from the server ports. The FC frames convey respective input-output (IO) operations destined for the logical partitions. The FC switch authorizes each IO operation based on a lookup of the programmed authorization.”

The patent application was filed on January 10, 2018 (15/867,109).

Secure encryption proxy in content centric network
Cisco Technology, Inc., San Jose, CA, has been assigned a patent (10,693,852) developed by Wood, Christopher A., San Francisco, CA, and Mosko, Marc E., Santa Cruz, CA, for a “system for a secure encryption proxy in a content centric network.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A router between a content consuming device and a content storage device obtains an interest corresponding to a content object. The interest includes a name identifying the content storage device, signaling information, an authentication token, and an inner interest identifying an actual content object stored at the content storage device. The inner interest is encrypted with an encryption key shared between the content storage device and the content consuming device, but not shared with the router. The router authenticates the interest by verifying the authentication token using an authentication key shared with the content consuming device. The router then provides the interest to the content storage device. The router obtains the content object, which includes at least a portion of the actual content object encrypted with the encryption key, from the content storage device. The router provides the content object to the content consuming device.”

The patent application was filed on August 1, 2018 (16/051,897).