IBM Assigned 21 Patents

Facilitating data compression during replication
using compressible configuration bit
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,468,315) developed by four co-inventors for a "facilitating data compression during replication using a compressible configuration bit."

The co-inventors are Michael E. Browne, Staatsburg, NY, Nancy J. Finn, Stormville, NY, Christina Lara, Tucson, AZ, and Maria R. Ward, Pflugerville, TX.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Computer program product, system and method are provided for facilitating data replication in a storage system. A logical volume of a first storage array of a replicated pair is preconfigured with one or more logical volume attributes, which include a compressible configuration bit that indicates whether data blocks to be stored to that logical volume are compressible during replication. Subsequently, with receipt of a data block at the first storage array to be stored to the logical volume, a check of the compressible configuration bit is made to determine whether the data block is compressible during replication, and if so, the data block is compressed for replication. The compressible configuration bit is placed into the payload region of the data packet being replicated to the second storage array. At the second storage array, the compressible configuration bit is used to determine whether to uncompress the replicated data block."

The patent application was filed on Oct. 28, 2009 (12/607,118).

Managing redundant immutable files
using deduplication in storage clouds
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,468,138) developed by five co-inventors for "managing redundant immutable files using deduplication in storage clouds."

The co-inventors are Gaurav Chhaunker, Ap, India, Bhushan P. Jain, Maharashtra, India, Sandeep R. Patil, Elmsford, NY, Sri Ramanathan, Lutz, FL, and Matthew B. Trevathan, Kennesaw, GA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method includes receiving a request to save a first file as immutable. The method also includes searching for a second file that is saved and is redundant to the first file. The method further includes determining the second file is one of mutable and immutable. When the second file is mutable, the method includes saving the first file as a master copy, and replacing the second file with a soft link pointing to the master copy. When the second file is immutable, the method includes determining which of the first and second files has a later expiration date and an earlier expiration date, saving the one of the first and second files with the later expiration date as a master copy, and replacing the one of the first and second files with the earlier expiration date with a soft link pointing to the master copy."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 2, 2011  

Apparatus and method for backup
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,468,316) developed by four co-inventors for an "apparatus and method for backup."

The co-inventors are Christopher B.E. Beeken, Eastleigh, UK, Carlos F. Fuente, Portsmouth, UK, Colin R. Jewell, Chandlers Ford, UK, and William J. Scales, Portchester, UK.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A backup control apparatus for periodic backup, in a virtualized storage system having a point-in-time copy function operable to copy first data into a cascade, comprises a storage targeting component for selecting a target virtual disk for one of a full copy or an incremental copy of the first data; a periodic backup component for triggering a periodic point-in-time copy of the first data to a virtual disk in the cascade; a testing component for testing a status of the full copy, the incremental copy and the periodic point-in-time copy; and a cascade splitting component responsive to the status for splitting the cascade to remove a dependency relationship of at least one of the full copy, the incremental copy and the periodic point-in-time copy on the first data."

The patent application was filed on April 19, 2010 (12/763,108).

Virtualized storage performance controller
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,468,299) developed by four co-inventors for a "virtualized storage performance controller."

The co-inventors are Nicholas M. O’Rourke, Hants, UK, Lee J. Sanders, William J. Scales, and Barry D. Whyte, Hampshire, UK.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An apparatus for real-time performance management of a virtualized storage system operable in a network having managed physical storage and virtual storage presented by an in-band virtualization controller comprises: a monitoring component operable in communication with the network for acquiring performance data from the managed physical storage and the virtual storage; and a cache controller component responsive to the monitoring component for adjusting cache parameters for the virtual storage. The apparatus may further comprise a queue controller component responsive to the monitoring component for adjusting queue parameters for the managed physical storage. The monitoring component, the cache controller component and the queue controller component may be configured to operate periodically during operation of the virtualized storage system."

The patent application was filed on April 29, 2008 (12/600,883).

Extended storage system
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,468,176) developed by Said Abdullah Ahmad, and Shawn Owen Brume, Tucson, AZ, for an "extended storage system."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "In one embodiment, an extended storage system employs a first storage and an extended storage. A first level of metadata is established with respect to data from the using entity, the first level of metadata is provided in the first storage. The data from the using entity is stored in the extended storage. A second level of metadata at least describing the data as stored in the extended storage is also established, wherein the second level of metadata associated with the first level of metadata for the stored data. The first level of metadata is made accessible to the using entity at the first storage; and the second level of metadata is made unavailable to the using entity. Thus, the data is stored in the extended storage and a small amount of metadata is stored in the first storage."

The patent application was filed on May 22, 2012 (13/478,032).

Storage adapter performance optimization
with enhanced hardware and software interface
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,516,164) developed by eleven co-inventors for "implementing storage adapter performance optimization with enhanced hardware and software interface."

The co-inventors are Brian E. Bakke, Brian L. Bowles, Michael J. Carnevale, Robert E. Galbraith II, Adrian C. Gerhard, Murali N. Iyer, Daniel F. Moertl, Rochester, MN, Mark J. Moran, Minneapolis, Gowrisankar Radhakrishnan, Rochester, MN, Rick A. Weckwerth, Oronoco, MN, and Donald J. Ziebarth, Rochester, MN.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method and controller for implementing storage adapter performance optimization with chained hardware operations and an enhanced hardware (HW) and firmware (FW) interface minimizing hardware and firmware interactions, and a design structure on which the subject controller circuit resides are provided. The controller includes a plurality of hardware engines; and a processor. A data store is configured to store a plurality of control blocks. A global work queue includes a plurality of the control blocks selectively arranged in a predefined chain to define sequences of hardware operations. The global work queue includes a queue input coupled to the processor and the hardware engines and an output coupled to the hardware engines. The control blocks are arranged in respective engine work queues designed to control hardware operations of the respective hardware engines and respective control blocks are arranged in an event queue to provide completion results to the processor."

The patent application was filed on May 24, 2011 (13/114,390).

Providing versioning in storage device
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,473,700) developed by Lawrence Y. Chiu, San Jose, CA, and Yu-Cheng Hsu, Tucson, AZ, for "providing versioning in a storage device."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Provided are a computer program product, system and method for managing Input/Output (I/O) requests to a storage device. A first entry is located in a volume control table for the logical address to write indicating a version number and a first physical location. The write data is written to a second physical location in the storage device. A second entry is added to the volume control table for the logical address in response to preserve mode being enabled. In response to determining that the preserve mode is enabled, the volume control table is updated to have one of the first and second entry for the logical address point to the second physical location and indicate a current version and to have the first or second entry not indicating the current version to indicate the first physical location and a previous version."

The patent application was filed on March 29, 2010 (12/749,186).

Storage system cache with flash memory
in RAID configuration that commits writes as full stripes
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,484,408) developed by Steven Robert Hetzler, Los Altos, CA, and Daniel Felix Smith, Felton, CA, for a "storage system cache with flash memory in a raid configuration that commits writes as full stripes."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Embodiments of the invention relate to a storage system cache with flash memory units organized in a RAID configuration. An aspect of the invention includes a storage system with a storage cache that includes flash memory units organized in an array configuration. The storage system further includes an array controller that manages data access and data operations for the flash memory units and organizes data as full array stripes. The storage system also includes a storage cache controller, that includes a block line manager that buffers write data to be cached for a write operation until the storage cache controller has accumulated an array band, and commits write data to the array controller as full array stripes. The storage cache controller determines whether to store write data for a write in the storage cache and/or in the primary storage device and whether to access read data from the storage cache or from the primary storage device."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 29, 2010 (12/981,288).

Dynamic management of destage tasks
in storage controller
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,478,945) developed by Kevin John Ash, and Lokesh Mohan Gupta, Tucson, AZ, for a "dynamic management of destage tasks in a storage controller."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Method, system, and computer program product embodiments for facilitating data transfer from a write cache and NVS via a device adapter to a pool of storage devices by a processor or processors are provided. The processor(s) adaptively varies the destage rate based on the current occupancy of the NVS for a particular storage device and stage activity related to that storage device. The stage activity includes one or more of the storage device stage activity, device adapter stage activity, device adapter utilized bandwidth and the R/W speed of the storage device. These factors are generally associated with read response time in the event of a cache miss and not ordinarily associated with dynamic management of the destage rate. This combination maintains the desired overall occupancy of the NVS while improving response time performance."

The patent application was filed on Feb. 1, 2010 (12/697,385).

Backing up storage volumes in storage system
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,484,419) developed by five co-inventors for "systems and methods for backing up storage volumes in a storage system."

The co-inventors are Norie Iwasaki, Fujisawa, Japan, Katsuyoshi Katori, Hiroyuki Miyoshi, Kawasaki, Japan, Takeshi Nohta, Odawara, Japan, and Eiji Tosaka, Tokyo, Japan.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Systems and methods for backing up storage volumes are provided. One system includes a primary side, a secondary side, and a network coupling the primary and secondary sides. The secondary side includes first and second VTS including a cache and storage tape. The first VTS is configured to store a first portion of a group of storage volumes in its cache and migrate the remaining portion to its storage tape. The second VTS is configured to store the remaining portion of the storage volumes in its cache and migrate the first portion to its storage tape. One method includes receiving multiple storage volumes from a primary side, storing the storage volumes in the cache of the first and second VTS, migrating a portion of the storage volumes from the cache to storage tape in the first VTS, and migrating a remaining portion of the storage volumes from the cache to storage tape in the second VTS."

The patent application was filed on Nov. 24, 2010 (12/953,984).
 
Evenly distributing workload and providing
predictable failover scenario in replication system
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,479,210) developed by eight co-inventors for an "evenly distributing workload and providing a predictable failover scenario in a data replication system."

The co-inventors are Paul Anthony Jennas, Jason Lee Peipelman, Joshua Marshall Rhoades, David Montgomery, Philip Matthew Doatmas,Michael Robert Groseclose, Larry Juarez, and Todd Charles Sorenson, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method for more effectively distributing the I/O workload in a data replication system is disclosed herein. In selected embodiments, such a method may include generating an I/O request and identifying a storage resource group associated with the I/O request. In the event the I/O request is associated with a first storage resource group, the I/O request may be directed to a first storage device and a copy of the I/O request may be mirrored from the first storage device to a second storage device. Alternatively, in the event the I/O request is associated with a second storage resource group, the I/O request may be directed to a second storage device and a copy of the I/O request may be mirrored from the second storage device to the first storage device. A corresponding system, apparatus, and computer program product are also disclosed and claimed herein."

The patent application was filed on Oct. 20, 2009 (12/582,502).

Audit portable cassettes removeably disposed
in storage library comprising pass-through accessor
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, , has been assigned a patent (8,483,868) developed by four co-inventors for a "method to audit portable cassettes removeably disposed in a storage library comprising a pass-through accessor."

The co-inventors are Matthew C. Compton, Louis D. Echevarria, Stefan Lehmann, and Richard A. Welp, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method to audit portable cassettes removeably disposed in a storage library comprising a plurality of storage slots, a plurality of portable cassettes removeably disposed in one or more of said plurality of storage slots, and a pass-through accessor comprising a moveable fixturing apparatus, wherein the pass-through accessor is moveably disposed in said storage library. The method disposes the pass-through accessor adjacent a first one of said plurality of storage slots, removes a first portable cassette from the first storage slot, and attaches the first portable cassette to a first fixturing assembly disposed on the fixturing apparatus. The method then removes a second portable cassette from the first storage slot, and attaches the second portable cassette to a second fixturing assembly disposed on the fixturing apparatus."

The patent application was filed on April 30, 2012 (13/460,664).

High density storage medium, method and device
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,488,436) developed by 11 co-inventors for a "high density storage medium, method and device."

The co-inventors are Richard Anthony DiPietro, Campbell, CA, Urs T. Duerig, Rueschlikon, Switzerland, Jane Elizabeth Frommer, San Jose, CA, Bernd Walter Gotsmann, Horgen, Switzerland, Erik Christopher Hagberg, Evansville, IN, James Lupton Hedrick, Pleasanton, CA, Armin W. Knoll, Adliswil, Switzerland, Teddie Peregrino Magbitang, Robert Dennis Miller, San Jose, CA, Russell Clayton Pratt, Oakland, CA, and Charles-Gordon Wade, Los Gatos, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A composition of matter for the recording medium of nm scale thermo-mechanical information storage devices and a nm scale thermo-mechanical information storage device. The composition includes: one or more polyaryletherketone copolymers, each of the one or more polyaryletherketone copolymers comprising (a) a first monomer including an aryl ether ketone and (b) a second monomer including an aryl ether ketone and a first phenylethynyl moiety, each of the one or more polyaryletherketone copolymers having two terminal ends, each terminal end having a phenylethynyl moiety the same as or different from the first phenylethynyl moiety. The one or more polyaryletherketone copolymers are thermally cured and the resulting cross-linked polyaryletherketone resin used as the recording layer in an atomic force storage device."

The patent application was filed on Feb. 3, 2012 (13/365,408).

Optimizing data remanence over hybrid disk clusters
using various storage technologies
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,495,296) developed by four co-inventors for a "system and method for optimizing data remanence over hybrid disk clusters using various storage technologies."

The co-inventors are Abhinay R. Nagpal, Fursungi Village, India, Sandeep R. Patil, Somers, NY, Sri Ramanathan, Lutz, FL, and Matthew B. Trevathan, Kennesaw, GA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method is implemented in a computer infrastructure having computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable storage medium having programming instructions. The programming instructions are operable to optimize data remanence over hybrid disk clusters using various storage technologies. The programming instructions are operable to determine one or more storage technologies accessible by a file system. The programming instructions are operable to determine secure delete rules for each of the one or more storage technologies accessible by the file system. The secure delete rules include a number of overwrites required for data to be securely deleted from each of the one or more storage technologies. The programming instructions are operable to provide the secure delete rules to the file system upon a request for deletion of data for each of the one or more storage technologies a specific amount of times germane to secure delete data from the one or more storage technologies."

The patent application was filed on May 18, 2010 (12/782,027).

Solid-state storage system
with parallel access of multiple flash/PCM devices
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,495,471) developed by six co-inventors for a "solid-state storage system with parallel access of multiple flash/PCM devices."

The co-inventors are Theodore A. Antonakopoulos, Patras, Greece, Roy D. Cideciyan, Evangelos S. Eleftheriou, Robert Haas, Xiao-Yu Hu, and Ilias Iliadis, Rueschlikon, Switzerland.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Systems and methods are provided that confront the problem of failed storage ICs in a SSD by using a fault-tolerant architecture along with one ECC mechanism for random/burst error corrections and an L-fold interleaving mechanism. The systems and methods described herein keep the SSD operational when one or more integrated circuits fail and allow the recovery of previously stored data from failed integrated circuits and allow random/burst errors to be corrected in other operational integrated circuits. These systems and methods replace the failed integrated circuits with fully functional/operational integrated circuits treated herein as spare integrated circuits. Furthermore, these systems and methods improve I/O performance in terms of maximum achievable R/W data rate."

The patent application was filed on Nov. 30, 2009 (12/627,364).

Flash-based memory system with robust backup
and restart features and removable modules
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,495,423) developed by four co-inventors for a "flash-based memory system with robust backup and restart features and removable modules."

The co-inventors are Holloway H. Frost, Houston, TX, Don D. Davis, Katy, TX, Adrian P. Glover, and Lance W. Shelton, Houston, TX.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A flash-based memory system comprises a plurality of flash memory devices, a Flash controller communicating independently with each flash memory device to perform memory operations, a power circuit providing power the flash memory devices, and a CPU configured to perform a controlled powering down procedure upon detecting a power failure. In some embodiments, the flash-based memory system includes a backup power source having a charge storage device and charging circuitry, the CPU configured to perform one or more test procedures on the charge storage device to provide an indication of a charge storage capacity of the charge storage device. A plurality of flash-based memory systems may be mounted on a Flash-based memory card, and multiple such flash-based memory cards may be combined into a flash-based memory module. A number of flash-based memory modules may then be removably mounted in a rack-mountable housing to form unitary flash-based memory unit."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 30, 2010 (12/982,702).

Firehose dump of SRAM write cache data
to non-volatile memory using supercap
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,495,321) developed by five co-inventors for a "firehose dump of SRAM write cache data to non-volatile memory using a supercap."

The co-inventors are Michael L. Harper, Craig A. Klein, Gregg S. Lucas, Mary A.J. Marquez, and Robert E. Medlin, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A mechanism is provided for firehose dumping modified data in a static random access memory of a HDD drive to non-volatile memory of the HDD drive during a power event. Responsive an indication of a power event in the HDD drive, HDD drive command processing is suspended. A token is set in the non-volatile storage indicating that flash memory in the non-volatile memory contains modified data. A portion of a static random access memory cache table containing information on the modified data in the static random access memory is copied to the flash memory. The modified data from the static random access memory is then copied to the flash memory. Responsive to a determination that the power event that initiated the copy of the modified data in the static random access memory to the flash memory is still present, the HDD drive is shut down."

The patent application was filed on April 26, 2012 (13/456,896).

HDD availability following transient vibration
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,495,256) developed by six co-inventors for a "HDD drive availability following transient vibration."

The co-inventors are Eric T. Gamble, Raleigh, NC, Kenton C. Green, Cary, NC, Carl E. Jones, Tucson, AZ, Timothy J. M. Louie, Apex, NC, Robert D. Peavler, Cary, NC, and David A. Verburg, Mantorville, MN.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method and computer program product for sending a data request from a HBA logic processor to a HDD drive, setting a standard time out period for receiving a reply from the HDD drive, sensing vibration in the HDD drive, sending a vibration alert signal from the HDD drive to the HBA logic processor in response to the sensed vibration exceeding a predetermined amount of vibration, and, in response to receiving the vibration alert signal from the HDD drive, the HBA logic processor establishing an extended time out period for receiving the reply. The rotational vibration sensor used by the HDD drive for repositioning the R/W head may also be used to sense the vibration and form the basis for the vibration alert signal, such as a vibration error code. By extending the time out period during high vibration events, the HDD drive can ride out the event without being tagged as having failed. Accordingly, the HDD drive can then be available for use following the high vibration event."

The patent application was filed on Jan. 14, 2011 (13/006,470). 

Wear leveling of SSDs based on usage information of data
and parity received from RAID controller
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,510,595) developed by Andrew Dale Walls, San Jose, CA, and Daniel Frank Moertl, Rochester, MN, for a "wear leveling of SSDs based on usage information of data and parity received from a RAID controller."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A controller configures a plurality of solid state disks as a RAID, wherein the plurality of SSDs store a plurality of blocks, and wherein storage areas of the plurality of solid state disks corresponding to at least some blocks of the plurality of blocks have different amounts of estimated life expectancies. The controller includes in data structures associated with a block that is to be stored in the storage areas of the plurality of SSDs an indication that the block includes parity information corresponding to the RAID, wherein parity information comprises information corresponding to an error correction mechanism to protect against a disk failure. The controller sends the data structures to the plurality of SSDs, wherein the plurality of SSDs allocate a storage area that is estimated to have a relatively greater life expectancy in comparison to other storage areas to store the block that includes the parity information."

The patent application was filed on June 14, 2012 (13/523,756).

Transformation of logical data objects for storage
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,516,006) developed by Jonathan Amit, Omer, Israel, Chaim Koifman, and Rostislav Raikhman, Rishon Lezion, Israel, for a "transformation of logical data objects for storage."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Various embodiments for operating a transformation system, capable of transforming a logical data object (LO) to a transformed logical data object (TLO), are provided. In one such embodiment, an open LO request to a certain LO and addressed by the at least one client to the at least one storage device, is intercepted. An identifier (ID) in a header of a TLO corresponding to the requested LO and stored in the at least one storage device, is obtained. The obtained ID is used to characterize the TLO and the LO. A determination is made whether the transformation system handles at least one open LO characterized by an ID with a same value as the obtained ID. The requested LO is opened if at least one open LO is not found. An instance corresponding to the intercepted open LO request is generated. The instance is associated to the obtained ID."

The patent application was filed on Aug. 12, 2011 (13/209,281).

Storage media to storage drive centric security
IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,473,701) developed by Nils Haustein, Soergenloch, Germany, Craig A. Klein, and Daniel J. Winarski, Tucson, AZ, for a "storage media to storage drive centric security."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A secure data system employs a storage media and a storage drive. A storage media identification key is embedded in a non-user modifiable area of the storage media and associated with data recorded on the storage media. The storage drive includes a memory having a storage drive identification key embedded therein. In operation, the storage drive allows access to the data recorded on the storage media based on a validation by the storage drive of the storage drive identification key as a function of the storage media identification key."

The patent application was filed on Oct. 11, 2006 (11/548,612).