Hitachi Assigned Twenty Patents

Storage device and management
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,175,857) developed by Koseki, Hideyuki, and Ogawa, Shugo, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage device and storage management method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “To provide a storage device by which distribution of data to an added memory device may be carried out in a short period of time. In a case where any new SSD is added to the storage device, a storage controller carries out first data distribution processing moving any piece of user data in a parity group from existing SSDs to the added SSD and second data distribution processing increasing the number of pieces of the user data configuring the parity group from a first number to a second number after the first data distribution processing and storing the user data in a plurality of memory devices SSDs.”

The patent application was filed on March 2, 2020 (16/805,934).

Storage and data restoration
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,175,830) developed by Moriyasu, Kengo, and Saga, Tamami, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and data restoration method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage system is connected to a computer and includes a controller that processes an IO request from the computer and a storage device that reads or writes data in response to the IO request, and the controller configures a volume constituted by the storage device, manages a time at which data is stored at a virtual address of the volume from the computer, calculates a standard deviation indicating a variation in the write time to the virtual address of the volume, and outputs a timing at which a value of the standard deviation starts to decrease as a restoration time.”

The patent application was filed on February 20, 2020 (16/795,777).

Storage system
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,169,879) developed by Yamamoto, Takahiro, Ebara, Hiroto, Chiba, Takeru, and Agetsuma, Masakuni, Tokyo, Japan, for a “storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided is a storage system that performs inter-node movement of parity and reconfiguration of a stripe when a node configuration is changed. The storage system includes a plurality of nodes and a management unit, in which the nodes are targets for data write and read requests, form a stripe by a plurality of data stored in different nodes and parity generated based on the plurality of data, and store the parity of the stripe to which the data under the write request belongs in a node different from the plurality of nodes that store the plurality of data so as to perform redundancy, and the management unit transmits, to the node, an arrangement change request to perform the inter-node movement of the parity and the reconfiguration of the stripe when the node configuration is changed.”

The patent application was filed on August 28, 2019 (16/553,360).

Storage and method of storing data in nodes
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,165,850) developed by Mimata, Yoshifumi, Eguchi, Yoshiaki, and Hattori, Naoya, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and method of storing data in nodes.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided is a storage system capable of avoiding the increase in communication between nodes in the coordination of the file service and the block service. This is a storage system in which a plurality of nodes, which provide a file service for performing I/O in file units and a block service for performing I/O in block units, are connected via a network, and the storage system comprises a management unit which manages the first file processing unit and the second file processing unit as a pair, sets the first file processing unit to be operable, manages the first block processing unit and the second block processing unit as a pair, and sets the first block processing unit to be operable.”

The patent application was filed on September 30, 2020 (17/037,841).

Data management
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,163,469) developed by Mizuno, Kazuhiko, Tanaka, Tsuyoshi, and Ishii, Yohsuke, Tokyo, Japan, for “data management system and data management method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided is a data management system capable of properly managing data to undergo masking processing in the secondary use of data. This data storage management system is equipped with a storage unit which stores masked data of real data at a first point in time, and a data control unit which extracts data of a storage area that has not been masked from update data based on first information representing a masked storage area in the masked data and second information representing a masked storage area in the masked data of update data, which is data obtained by updating the real data from the first point in time to a second point in time, extracts data of the masked storage area, from which the same masked data has been removed, from the masked data of the update data, and generates the extracted data as difference data.”

The patent application was filed on September 10, 2019 (16/566,278).

Automatic analysis
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,161,118) developed by Fujita, Hiroki, Suzuki, Toshiharu, Okusa, Takenori, Sasaki, Shunsuke, Yamashita, Yoshihiro, and Imai, Kenta, Tokyo, Japan, for an “automatic analysis device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The mixing of reagents with each other in the reagent storage flow paths of an automatic analyzer is suppressed before and after exchange of the reagents, which are capable of being replenished without stopping analysis. An exchangeable reagent container that accommodates a reagent is connected to a reagent storage flow path that stores a portion of the reagent. The reagent storage flow path has first and second flow paths in which the second flow path is branched from the first flow path. A reagent syringe applies a negative or a positive pressure to the first and second flow paths, and a valve controls the flow path through which the reagent is sent. As a result, the reagent supplied to a measurement portion at a predetermined timing is switched from the reagent container to the reagent storage flow path wherein the reagent can be supplied without stopping analysis.”

The patent application was filed on February 15, 2018 (16/477,535).

Distributed storage and data management
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,151,045) developed by Ohira, Yoshinori, Agetsuma, Masakuni, Chiba, Takeru, Yamamoto, Takahiro, Ebara, Hiroto, and Saito, Hideo, Tokyo, Japan, for “distributed storage system, data management method, and data management program.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided is a distributed storage system which can reduce a load on a network between storage apparatuses when an access request is received and improve responsiveness. In the distributed storage system, the storage device includes a data area and a cache area, a node becomes an owner node when receiving a transfer of charge of an LU from another node in a non-storage state where LU data is not stored in a data area, the processor of the owner node receives a read request for an LU that is in charge, obtains data of a target area based on data of the storage device of another node when the data of the target area is not stored in the data area or the cache area of the owner node, and transmits the data to a request source and stores it in a cache area.”

The patent application was filed on September 19, 2019 (16/575,551).

Storage and data control
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,150,829) developed by Ohira, Yamamoto, Takahiro, Fujimoto, Kazuhisa, and Akutsu, Hiroaki, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and data control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage system and data control method capable of extending the service lifes of storage devices of the same type and with different properties and reducing operation management cost are proposed. The storage system includes: a first storage device, a second storage device with a smaller upper limit number of writes and a larger storage capacity per unit area than those of the first storage device, and a processor that allocates storage areas from the first storage device and the second storage device to a virtual volume to be provided to a host, wherein the processor relocates data which is stored in a storage area with higher write frequency from the host than a predetermined write threshold, from among the storage areas allocated from the second storage device to the virtual volume, from the storage area of the second storage device to a storage area of the first storage device.”

The patent application was filed on October 7, 2019 (16/594,762).

Storage and management
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,150,820) developed by Fujii, Hiroki, Ohira, Yoshinori, Chiba, Takeru, and Deguchi, Yoshiaki, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and storage management method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided is a storage system and a storage management method, aiming at reducing data movement amount necessary for using an expanded capacity in a distributed RAID. When only A (A is a positive integer) physical storage drives are added, a storage controller selects virtual parcels that are mapped to different physical storage drives among N physical storage drives and are included in different virtual chunks, changes an arrangement of the selected virtual parcels to the added A physical storage drives, and constitutes a new chunk based on unallocated virtual parcels selected from different physical storage drives among the (N+A) physical storage drives.”

The patent application was filed on September 16, 2020 (17/022,810).

Storage and control software deployment
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,144,415) developed by Agetsuma, Masakuni, Matsui, Yuko, Ito, Shintaro, and Saito, Hideo, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and control software deployment method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage system includes a plurality of storage nodes. The storage node includes: one or more storage devices which respectively provide a storage area, and one or more control software which read/write requested data from/into the corresponding storage device according to a request from a higher-level device, wherein each of the control software retains predetermined configuration information required for reading/writing requested data from/into the corresponding storage device according to a request from the higher-level device, wherein a plurality of the control software are managed as a redundancy group, and the configuration information retained in each of the control software belonging to the same redundancy group is synchronously updated, and wherein the plurality of control software configuring the redundancy group are each deployed in respectively different storage nodes so as to distribute a load of each of the storage nodes.”

The patent application was filed on March 24, 2020 (16/827,914).

Distributed storage
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,144,242) developed by Nogi, Erina, Miyashita, Jun, and Shikano, Akihiro, Tokyo, Japan, for a “distributed storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Each node constituting a distributed storage system includes one or more controllers. Each controller includes an actual queue group for each drive physically coupled to the controller, and a virtual queue group for each of a plurality of drives. A Drive-IO issued by any controller and received is accumulated in the actual queue group corresponding to an issue destination drive of the Drive-IO after accumulated in the virtual queue group corresponding to the issue destination drive.”

The patent application was filed on September 20, 2019 (16/577,569).

Storage and control method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,137,940) developed by Ito, Shintaro, Matsui, Yuko, Agetsuma, Masakuni, Saito, Hideo, Chiba, Takeru, and Yamamoto, Takahiro, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and control method thereof.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A capacity control module which manages a physical storage area provided by each of storage devices in a cluster by dividing the physical storage area into a physical storage area having a predetermined size, in a plurality of storage nodes configuring a storage system, and, a storage control module which receives an I/O request from a higher-level device are provided, two storage control modules, which are arranged in different storage nodes and configure a redundancy configuration, are managed as a storage control module pair, the capacity control module preferentially allocates each of the physical storage areas in the vicinity of an arrangement destination of each of the storage control modules configuring the storage control module pair, to the storage control module pair, and storage data is read from or is written on the physical storage area, according to a command applied from the storage control module.”

The patent application was filed on April 8, 2019 (16/377,372).

Storage with plurality of storage controllers communicatively coupled for determination of storage controller indentifiers
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,137,935) developed by Izawa, Shinsuke, and Sugimoto, Sadahiro, Tokyo, Japan, for a “storage system with plurality of storage controllers communicatively coupled for determination of storage controller indentifiers.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Provided is a storage system in which a plurality of storage controllers communicate with each other and an identifier of each storage controller is determined. The storage system includes a plurality of controllers that receive and process an input and output request specifying any of a plurality of volumes from an external device, and a plurality of switches each having a plurality of ports. The plurality of controllers are connected in parallel to the plurality of switches and communicate with each other via the plurality of switches. Each of the plurality of controllers acquires a plurality of port identifiers identifying a plurality of connected ports from the connected switches, and determines a controller identifier in the storage system based on the acquired plurality of port identifiers.”

The patent application was filed on March 9, 2020 (16/812,586).

Storage device and data management program
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,112,971) developed by Satoyama, Ai, Kawaguchi, Tomohiro, and Yoshii, Yoshihiro, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage device, data management method, and data management program.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage device includes one or more FMPKs including a FM chip capable of storing data and a storage controller that controls storing of write data of a predetermined write request for the FMPK. The FMPK includes a compression/decompression circuit that compresses data according to a second compression algorithm different from a first compression algorithm. The storage controller compresses data using the first compression algorithm, and determines whether the write data will be compressed using the storage controller or the compression/decompression circuit based on a predetermined condition. The write data is compressed by the determined storage controller or compression/decompression circuit and is stored in the FMPK.”

The patent application was filed on August 14, 2018 (16/103,577).

Computer, file storage controller, and data sharing
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,106,635) developed by Takata, Masanori, Tsuchiya, Akiyoshi, Kamei, Hitoshi, Arai, Hitoshi, and Nakatani, Yoji, Tokyo, Japan, for “computer system, file storage controller, and data sharing method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Each file storage apparatus of a plurality of file storage apparatuses stores a file system, and associates and stores paths of elements in the file system and archive destinations of the elements in an archive storage apparatus. When the file system is operated, each file storage apparatus transmits archive data of an element as an operation target, and operation information including operation details to the archive storage apparatus. The archive storage apparatus receives the archive data and the operation information, stores the archive data, and stores consistency information including the operation information and archive versions indicating a reception order of the operation information. A first file storage apparatus executes a synchronization process of acquiring the consistency information from the archive storage apparatus, correcting inconsistency between the acquired consistency information and consistency information including archive versions earlier than the acquired consistency information, and reflecting the file system on the consistency information.”

The patent application was filed on January 30, 2015 (15/541,588).

I/O path reservation with out of band management
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,106,371) developed by Tsuchiya, Akiyoshi, San Jose, CA, and Kawaguchi, Tomohiro, Santa Clara, CA, for an “I/O path reservation with out of band management.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Example implementations described herein are directed to Input/Output (I/O) path reservation with out of band management. In example implementations, for failure of a storage orchestrator to delete the path between the container and the first volume, the example implementations described herein are directed to deleting a path between the first volume and a quorum volume, and establishing an I/O path between the new container and the second volume.”

The patent application was filed on June 12, 2020 (16/900,449).

Storage apparatus
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,102,908) developed by Komori, Shunsuke, Hori, Masanori, Tabuchi, Toshihisa, Wada, Naoki, and Ishida, Yosuke, Tokyo, Japan, for a “storage apparatus.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage apparatus mounted in a rack includes: a battery that is placed on a front surface side of a power supply and supplies power during a backup operation, a drive mounting unit that is placed in front of the battery and has drives mounted thereon, a midplane that is placed between the battery and the drive mounting unit and relays signals and power, and a sub-midplane that is placed between the midplane and the battery and relays signals and power from the power supply and the battery, wherein the midplane and the sub-midplane are coupled to each other by a bus bar for supplying the power from the power supply, and an air passage that is capable of supplying cooling air from an intake port, formed on the front surface, to the battery without allowing the cooling air to pass around a periphery of the drives is provided.”

The patent application was filed on March 12, 2021 (17/200,511).

Storage device, management, and program in tiered storage
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,093,134) developed by Matsugami, Kazuki, Yoshihara, Tomohiro, and Tatsumi, Ryosuke, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage device, management method, and program in tiered storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “To combine and apply a data volume reduction technique and an automatic tier management function, the invention provides a storage system that includes a processor and a storage medium and manages and stores data in tiers. The storage system includes a first storage tier that includes a storage area for storing data, and a second storage tier that includes a storage area for storing the data which is stored in the storage area of the first storage tier and whose storage area is changed. The processor calculates an I/O volume of the data in the first storage tier, determines the tier where data is stored based on the I/O volume, and physically stores data which is stored in the second storage tier in a storage medium corresponding to the determined tier.”

The patent application was filed on September 4, 2019 (16/559,866).

Computer system having data amount reduction function and storage control
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,086,562) developed by Tatsumi, Ryosuke, and Yoshihara, Tomohiro, Tokyo, Japan, for “computer system having data amount reduction function and storage control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In a case where updated data using a first logical address as a write destination and existing data using a second logical address as a write destination duplicate with each other, a computer system writes predetermined data instead of updated data to a memory segment associated with a first physical address, and dynamically maps the first logical address to a second physical address. The computer system transmits a write command of the predetermined data or an unmapping command that designates a virtual address that complies with the first physical address, to a storage device that corresponds to the first physical address. The first and second logical addresses are logical addresses that belong to a logical address range which is at least a part of a logical address space. The first physical address is a physical address that belongs to a physical address range which is at least a part of a physical address space, and is a physical address statically mapped to the first logical address.”

The patent application was filed on September 13, 2016 (16/086,292).

Storage and control method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11,080,192) developed by Tatsumi, Ryosuke, Ito, Shintaro, and Agetsuma, Masakuni, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and storage control method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The storage system includes a first partition which is associated with a first processor and in which the first processor temporarily stores data relating to I/O requests processed by the first processor, and a second partition which is associated with a second processor and in which the second processor temporarily stores data relating to I/O requests processed by the second processor. Each processor independently controls the size of the first partition of the first cache memory and the size of the first partition of the second cache memory, and also independently controls the size of the second partition of the first cache memory and the size of the second partition of the second cache memory.”

The patent application was filed on May 14, 2015 (15/552,512).