EMC Assigned Twelve Patents

Configuration utility for storage system
using file mapping protocol for access
to distributed file systems
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,510,265) developed by four co-inventors for a "configuration utility for a storage system using a file mapping protocol for access to distributed file systems."

The co-inventors are David Boone, Cary, NC, Michael S. Traudt, Bellingham, MA, Karl M. Connolly, Westborough, MA, and Nagaraj Chidambarathanupillai, Tamil Nadu, India.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Environmental information required for configuring a storage system for using a file mapping protocol is collected and qualified via a spreadsheet used as an input file to a configuration program. The configuration program provides a comparison of the present configuration to the new configuration specified in the spreadsheet, and provides to a system administrator an option of applying or skipping the new configuration for each of multiple classes of configuration objects including iSCSI targets on storage array controllers, file server interfaces for host access to file mapping information, file systems, and iSCSI clients on the host processors. Once the system administrator approves the selected configuration changes, the configuration utility produces a series of control commands for execution by a control command interpreter of a file server in order to change configuration settings in the file server and in the storage array controllers."

The patent application was filed on March 31, 2010 (12/751,934).

Control of storage system
management application activation
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,504,684) developed by five co-inventors for a "control of storage system management application activation."

The co-inventors are Robert A. Ballantyne, Mansfield, MA, Xue Ming, Acton, MA, Kendra Marchant, Arlington, MA, Felix Rieper, Cambridge, MA, and Peter Chen, Charlton, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method for managing storage system management applications includes executing, by a client device, a first storage system management application, receiving, by the client device, an execution instruction for execution of a second storage system management application, and detecting, by the client device, an installation of a second storage system management application as part of the client device, the second storage system management application being distinct from the first storage system management application. If the second storage system management application is installed on the client device, executing the second storage system management application, otherwise retrieving the second storage system management application from a server device and executing the second storage system management application."

The patent application was filed on June 23, 2010 (12/821,695).

Automation of coordination of encryption keys
in SAN-based environment where an encryption engine,
device management, and key management
are not co-located
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,498,417) developed by five co-inventors for an "automation of coordination of encryption keys in a SAN based environment where an encryption engine, device management, and key management are not co-located."

The co-inventors are John S. Harwood, Paxton, MA, Joshua A. Rosenthol, Westford, MA, Robert W. Griffin, Hollis, N.H., John T. Fitzgerald, Mansfield, MA, and Thomas E. Linnell, Northborough, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A key management server in a SAN (SAN) provides encryption keys for source and destination storage objects and also associates destination storage objects with source storage objects. When a source object is to be replicated, a replication facility in a storage system of a new destination object requests the key management server to associate the destination object with the source object and assign the data encryption key of the source object or a new data encryption key to the destination object. For recovery of the source object, a replication facility in the storage system of the source object obtains information from the key management server about the replica associated with the source object for replicating data from the destination object back to the source object."

The patent application was filed on March 6, 2008 (12/043,898).

Managing and archiving performance information
relating to storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,498,968) developed by four co-inventors for a "method and apparatus for managing and archiving performance information relating to storage system."

The co-inventors are William Zahavi, Westborough, MA, Lee W. Sapiro, Hudson, MA, Saymai Thammavong, Marlborough, MA, and Ron Arnan, Brookline, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A data management and archive method and apparatus, for implementation in an automated system to monitor and manage status, performance and configuration data for networked storage components. Analysis and cross-correlation of data related to the storage components can be done individually, collectively and/or comparatively. A collection manager component of a workload analyzer is implemented to start and stop data collection. The collection manager includes a command and control module that coordinates requests of data from at least one collection agent configured on at least one host connected to the storage component(s). The collection manager manages collection of data and effects file transfer of collected data according to a user specified policy, and maintains status of the data collected. The user specified policy allows the user to specify data collection ‘shifts’ (i.e. periodicity)."

The patent application was filed on Oct. 28, 2011 (13/284,075).

Efficient search for migration and purge candidates
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,484,172) developed by Mark Saake, Dublin, CA, Richard Ruef, Livermore, CA, and Kurt Everson, Missouri City, TX, for an "efficient search for migration and purge candidates."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A computer system configured to store a plurality of files, and a data file, which includes inode and migration or purge information associated with the files. The computer system searches the data file to identify files that are candidates for migration or purge. A plurality of pathnames associated with the files is stored in the data file or a separate data file, and the computer system obtains the pathnames of candidate files from the data file (or separate data file). When candidate files are identified, their inodes are used to look up their pathnames in the plurality of pathnames. The data file may include information about whether a file has been modified and its time of last access. To determine whether a file is a candidate for migration, its entry in the data file is checked to determine whether it has been modified. If it has, it is identified as a migration candidate. A file is determined to be a purge candidate if it has not been modified and its time of last access is older than a predetermined value."

The patent application was filed on Sept. 26, 2002 (10/468,185).

Allocating storage unit for backup
in storage system with load balancing
EMC, Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,484,356) developed by Frederick Douglis, Basking Ridge, NJ, R. Hugo Patterson, Los Altos, CA, and Philip N. Shilane, Yardley, PA, for a "system and method for allocating a storage unit for backup in a storage system with load balancing."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A request for allocating a storage unit of a storage system is received to backup data of one or more clients. The storage system includes multiple storage units and each storage unit storing data that is deduplicated within each storage unit. In response to the request, one or more of the storage units are selected based on an amount of deduplicated data that would be stored in each of the storage units after storing the data of the one or more clients. The selected one or more storage units are allocated to the one or more clients to backup the data of the one or more clients."

The patent application was filed on June 29, 2011 (13/172,687).

Unified installation for heterogeneous storage systems
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,484,635) developed by Ping He and Hwai-Yeng Chan, Cary, NC, for an "unified installation for heterogeneous storage systems."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A unified scribed image for installing software on different storage system platforms and configurations is described. The scribed image is produced by installing on a reference storage system reference system software including reference system core components usable by all storage systems, and reference system unique components used only by the reference storage system. Reference system software representing shared components used by pairs of storage systems is added. The reference system software related to the reference system unique components is then removed. The remaining core components and shared components to are scribed to media to produce the unified scribed image. Methods of using the unified scribed image to install storage system software in various storage systems are also described."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 29, 2010 (12/981,050).

Spin down of storage resources
in object addressable storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,478,936) developed by Stephen J. Todd, Shrewsbury, MA, and Mark O’Connell, Westborough, MA, for a "spin down of storage resources in an object addressable storage system."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Aspects of the invention relate to spin down of storage devices on an object addressable storage (OAS) system. One or more of the storage devices in object addressable storage system may be spun down to achieve a power savings, while other storage devices in the OAS system remain in an active state."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 29, 2009 (12/649,113).

Determining current location of storage system
EMC, Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,478,303) developed by Scott E. Joyce, Foxboro, MA, and Bruce R. Rabe, Dedham, MA, for "determining a current location of a storage system."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method and system for use in determining a current location of a storage system is disclosed. A current location of a mobile portable device is determined in response to the device being positioned local to the storage system. The mobile portable device comprises a position determining module for determining the current location of the device. The determined current location of the device is associated with the storage system local thereto. The determined current location is stored in connection with the storage system."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 7, 2011 (13/313,070).

Managing compression in storage systems
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,478,731) developed by Dean D. Throop, Efland, NC, Dennis T. Duprey, Raleigh, NC, and Karl M. Owen, Chapel Hill, NC, for "managing compression in storage systems."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method is used in managing compression in storage systems. A data temperature is determined for a set of data in a block-based storage system. Based on the data temperature, data compression is applied to the set of data."

The patent application was filed on March 31, 2010 (12/751,455).

Managing user interface characteristics
in displaying storage systems information
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,473,905) developed by four co-inventors for "managing user interface characteristics in displaying storage systems information."

The co-inventors are Anirudh Takkallapally, Natick, MA, Scott E. Joyce, Foxborough, MA, Munish Desai, Shrewsbury, MA, and Sreenath Rajagopal, Natick, MA

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Managing user interface characteristics in displaying storage system information. New functionality may be provided that can effect look-and-feel skinning for OEM and client customization. Extensions to conventional Java Synth Look-and-Feel technology for support of OEM and client customization may be enabled. Multiple Synth XML files can be merged, e.g., on the fly, and form one Synth XML file. One primary Synth XML file may be provided and any Style elements defined in secondary XML files may override corresponding Style elements in the primary XML file. For example, an OEM customer can define one Button Style in a secondary (customer’s) XML file, and this definition can be detected at runtime and overrides a primary XML file’s Button Style, resulting in the OEM look and feel."

The patent application was filed on Sept. 30, 2009 (12/570,716).

Porting storage metadata
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,468,180) developed by eight co-inventors for "porting storage metadata."

The co-inventors are David Meiri, Cambridge, MA, Dan Arnon, Somerville, MA, Arieh Don, Newton, MA, Ian Wigmore, Westborough, MA, Patrick Brian Riordan, West Newton, MA, John T. Fitzgerald, Mansfield, MA, Alex Veprinsky, Brookline, MA, and John Sopka, Groton, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Migrating data from an old storage device to a new storage device includes creating new paths to the new storage device, freezing old paths to the old storage device, transferring metadata corresponding to the old storage device to the new storage device, where state information is transferred from the old storage device to the new storage device, and thawing the new paths. Migrating data from an old storage device to a new storage device may also include creating new volumes on the new storage device and transferring data from the old storage device to the new storage device. Migrating data from an old storage device to a new storage device may also include dismantling the old paths."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 31, 2010 (12/930,251).