Fusion-io Assigned Six Patents

Using MLC as reduced-level cell solid-state storage
Fusion-io, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, has been assigned a patent (8,527,841) developed by Robert Wood, Niwot, CO, and Jea Woong Hyun, South Jordan, UT, for an "apparatus, system, and method for using MLC solid-state storage as reduced-level cell solid-state storage."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A controller is used for an electronic memory device which has MLC (MLC) memory elements. The individual MLC memory elements are capable of storing at least two bits. The controller includes a physical interface to couple the controller to the electronic memory device. The controller also includes a processing unit coupled to the physical interface. The processing unit operates the electronic memory device using a restricted number of programming states for a single data bit. The restricted number of programming states includes first and second states used to represent a most significant bit (MSB) of the at least two bits of data of the designated programming states."

The patent application was filed on Sept. 11, 2012 (13/609,527).

Reconfiguring array of storage elements
Fusion-io, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, has been assigned a patent (8,495,460) developed by seven co-inventors for an "apparatus, system, and method for reconfiguring an array of storage elements."

The co-inventors are David Flynn, Sandy, UT, Jonathan Thatcher, Liberty Lake, WA, Joshua Aune, Draper, UT, Jeremy Fillingim, Salt Lake City, UT, Bill Inskeep, West Valley City, UT, John Strasser, Syracuse, UT, and Kevin Vigor, Salt Lake City, UT.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for reconfiguring an array of solid-state storage elements. The method includes determining that one or more storage elements are unavailable to store data. The storage elements are configured in an array of N storage elements that each store a portion of a first ECC chunk and P storage elements that store first parity data corresponding to the first ECC chunk. The method includes generating a second ECC chunk comprising at least a portion of the data of the first ECC chunk. The method includes storing the second ECC chunk and associated second parity data across (N+P)-Z storage elements where 1.ltoreq.Z.ltoreq.P."

The patent application was filed on Oct. 4, 2012 (13/645,353).

Retiring storage regions
Fusion-io, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, has been assigned a patent (8,516,343) developed by David Flynn, Sandy, UT, Jonathan Thatcher, Liberty Lake, WA, and Edward Shober, West Jordan, UT, for an "apparatus, system, and method for retiring storage regions."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "Apparatuses, systems, and methods are disclosed for retiring storage regions. A determination module (a) determines that data stored in an Error Correcting Code (ECC) chunk contains ECC correctable errors, and (b) determines a bit error count for the ECC chunk. The ECC chunk is read from non-volatile solid-state storage media. A threshold module determines if the bit error count satisfies an ECC chunk error threshold. A storage region error module determines if a storage region that contains at least a portion of the ECC chunk satisfies region retirement criteria. The storage region may include a first portion on a first solid-state storage die and a second portion on a second solid-state storage die. A retirement module retires the storage region, including the first portion and the second portion in parallel, in response to the storage region containing at least a portion of the ECC chunk and satisfying the region retirement criteria."

The patent application was filed on Nov. 10, 2009 (12/616,124).

In-server SAN
Fusion-io, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, has been assigned a patent (8,495,292) developed by four co-inventors for an "apparatus, system, and method for an in-server SAN."

The co-inventors are David Flynn, Sandy, UT, David Atkisson, Draper, UT, Bert Lagerstedt, Pleasant Grove, UT, John Strasser, Syracuse, UT, Jonathan Thatcher, Lehi, UT, and Michael Zappe, Wheat Ridge, CO.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An apparatus and system are disclosed for an in-server SAN. A first storage controller is included within a first server. The first storage controller controls at least one storage device. The first server includes a network interface shared by the first server and the first storage controller. A storage communication module is included that facilitates communication between the first storage controller and at least one device external to the first server, where the communication between the first storage controller and the external device is independent from the first server. An in-server SAN module is included that services a storage request using at least one of a network protocol and a bus protocol. The in-server SAN module services the storage request independent from the first server, the service request received from a client."

The patent application was filed on Dec. 6, 2007 (11/952,106).

Managing data in SSD
Fusion-io, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, has been assigned a patent (8,482,993) developed by seven co-inventors for an "apparatus, system, and method for managing data in a solid-state storage device."

The co-inventors are John Strasser, Syracuse, UT, Jonathan Thatcher, Liberty Lake, WA, Jeremy Fillingim, Salt Lake City, UT, David Flynn, Sandy, UT, Lance Smith, San Jose, CA, Robert Wood, Niwot, CO, and James Peterson, San Jose, CA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for improving performance in a non-volatile solid-state storage device. Non-volatile solid-state storage media includes a plurality of storage cells. An input module receives source data for storage in the plurality of storage cells of the non-volatile solid-state storage media. Some or all of the bits of the source data are transformed to take into account a voltage level of an empty state of the plurality of storage cells. A write module writes the transformed source data to the plurality of storage cells of the non-volatile solid-state storage media."

The patent application was filed on May 1, 2012 (13/461,628).

Bad block remapping
Fusion-io, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT, has been assigned a patent (8,484,522) developed by seven co-inventors for an "apparatus, system, and method for bad block remapping."

The co-inventors are David Flynn, Sandy, UT, John Strasser, Syracuse, UT, Jonathan Thatcher, Liberty Lake, WA, David Atkisson, Draper, UT, Michael Zappe, Arvada, CO, Joshua Aune, South Jordan, UT, and Kevin Vigor, Salt Lake City, UT.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for bad block remapping. A bad block identifier module identifies one or more data blocks on a solid-state storage element as bad blocks. A log update module writes at least a location of each bad block identified by the bad block identifier module into each of two or more redundant bad block logs. A bad block mapping module accesses at least one bad block log during a start-up operation to create in memory a bad block map. The bad block map includes a mapping between the bad block locations in the bad block log and a corresponding location of a replacement block for each bad block location. Data is stored in each replacement block instead of the corresponding bad block. The bad block mapping module creates the bad block map using one of a replacement block location and a bad block mapping algorithm."

The patent application was filed on Aug. 2, 2012 (13/565,190).