Hitachi Assigned Nineteen Patents

Storage volume re-bind method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11688422) developed by Kurata, Naruki, San Jose, CA, for a “data storage volume re-bind method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Disclosed herein is a technique to automatically re-bind applications and storage volumes during recovery from planned outage or platform failure and disaster recovery. Such implementations can involve managing volume management information that maps volume claim information with a logical volume identifier associated with persistent volume information, and for receipt of a request for a new volume, referencing the volume management information to retrieve an associated logical volume identifier and the persistent volume information based on the volume claim information associated with the request, and providing the retrieved persistent volume information to a volume provisioning function.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-01-31 (17/589695).

File storage system and method for managing file storage
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11687239) developed by Nomura, Shimpei, Hayasaka, Mitsuo, and Takata, Masanori, Tokyo, Japan, for “file storage system and method for managing file storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A file storage system configured to use a second storage system includes a first file system provided to an application, a first storage system in which a file is stored by the first file system, a processor, state management information storing a state of the file, a state information management unit that manages the state management information, and a file virtualization unit that manages files stored in the first storage system and the second storage system. The processor performs a calling process of the first file system based on an operation request of the file from the application. The first file system processes the operation request of the file. The state information management unit performs a state management information update process of the file based on input information with respect to the first file system related to the operation request, or an operation content.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-03-24 (17/703883).

Determining data copy resources
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11687269) developed by Martinez Lerin, Pablo, Waltham, MA, for “determining data copy resources.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “In some examples, a computing device may determine an amount of pending data to copy over a network from a first storage system to a second storage system. Further, the computing device may determine an ingest speed based on a quantity of data received by the first storage system and a copy speed associated with one or more first computing resources associated with the first storage system. The computing device may determine an estimated time to copy at least a portion of the pending data to the second storage system to meet a data copy requirement. For instance, the estimated time may be based at least in part on the copy speed, the amount of pending data, and the ingest speed. In addition, at least one action may be performed based on the estimated time.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-08-23 (17/408545).

Remote copy of compressed journal data and corresponding metadata
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11675523) developed by Deguchi, Akira, Yokoi, Nobuhiro, and Ihara, Hiroka, Tokyo, Japan, for “remote copy of compressed journal data and corresponding metadata.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A primary storage system reads a plurality of journal data, and performs collective compression that is compression of data that is at least a part of the plurality of pieces of journal data in the plurality of journals and is larger than a size of one journal data. The collectively compressed data, which is a plurality of pieces of journal data subjected to collective compression, is a transfer target from the primary storage system to the secondary storage system. The journal is journal data and metadata including a write order of the journal data and associated with the journal data. The journal data is a copy of data written in the primary volume. The secondary storage system acquires a plurality of pieces of journal data by decompressing one or more pieces of collectively compressed data, and writes the plurality of pieces of journal data to the secondary volume.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-10 (17/471575).

Distributed storage system and control method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11675545) developed by Ogawa, Shugo, Yamamoto, Akira, Ohira, Yoshinori, Tatsumi, Ryosuke, Ogawa, Junji, and Ebara, Hiroto, Tokyo, Japan, for “distributed storage system and storage control method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “One or a plurality of physical storage devices that provide a physical storage area are connected to first and second computers. The computer updates metadata indicating the address correspondence relationship between the logical address of the volume and the physical address of the physical storage area in the write processing performed based on a write request designating the volume. The first computer copies the metadata to the second computer while receiving the write request. When the address correspondence relationship indicated by the copied metadata portion is changed during copying of the metadata, the first computer updates the metadata portion and copies the metadata portion to the second computer.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-14 (17/474562).

Storage system and cryptographic operation method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11669252) developed by Morita, Shumpei, Kamazuka, Tomoyuki, Monji, Hideaki, and Kiyota, Yuusaku, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and cryptographic operation method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage system that can achieve a cryptographic operation circuit that supports multiple types of cryptographic operation formats. The cryptographic operation circuit is provided that encrypts data according to the format determined by the processor based on a request by the host terminal for writing the data into the storage device, and decrypts the encrypted data on the data stored in the storage device according to the format determined by the processor based on a request by the host terminal for reading the data from the storage device.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-09-07 (17/939024).

Data compression/decompression system, and method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11662953) developed by Sato, Katsuto, Akutsu, Hiroaki, Suzuki, Akifumi, and Naruko, Takahiro, Tokyo, Japan, for “data compression/decompression system, and data compression/decompression method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “To provide a data compression/decompression system that can appropriately decompress compressed data. A first computer generates first identification information that can identify a first execution environment, and stores the first identification information on a storage device in association with compressed data of data. A second computer generates second identification information that can identify a second execution environment, and determines whether or not the first identification information, and the second identification information match. In a case that it is determined that the first identification information, and the second identification information do not match, the second computer requests a third computer that is capable of decompression of the compressed data to decompress the compressed data, the third computer decompresses the compressed data, and transmits decompressed data to the second computer, and the second computer completes the decompression of the compressed data by receiving the decompressed data from the third computer.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-21 (17/481130).

Data recovery of distributed data using redundant codes
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11640337) developed by Mizukami, Kazuki, and Miyata, Hiroaki, Tokyo, Japan, for “data recovery of distributed data using redundant codes.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “User data and redundant codes are stored in a distributed manner, and data is read while suppressing performance degradation due to the occurrence of a failure. If a first node in a distributed storage system receives a read request from a host to read the user data when a storage device of its own node is blocked, the first node executes a first collection read request which requests recovery of data from the secondary redundant code corresponding to target data of the read request, and if at least part of the target data has failed to be recovered according to the first collection read request, regarding insufficient data among a plurality of pieces of data which are necessary to recover the target data by using the primary redundant code, the first node executes a second collection read request which requests recovery of the insufficient data from the secondary redundant code.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-10 (17/471332).

Storage environment selection based on characteristic of data and characteristic of storage environments
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11635921) developed by Matsui, Iku, Arakawa, Hiroshi, and Tabuchi, Hideo, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage environment selection based on characteristic of data and characteristic of storage environments.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data-storage-destination environment-determination module set determines any of a plurality of storage environments as a storage destination environment for storing data, based on a used-data table set about the characteristics of data and the storage environments. The data migration module transmits the data to the storage destination environment.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-15 (17/475834).

Scale-out storage system and control method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11630734) developed by Ebara, Hiroto, Yamamoto, Akira, Ohira, Yoshinori, Yamamoto, Takahiro, Agetsuma, Masakuni, and Hirai, Tatsuya, Tokyo, Japan, for “scale-out storage system and storage control method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A scale-out storage system includes a plurality of computer nodes each of which has a memory and a processor, and a storage apparatus. The computer nodes have one or more redundancy groups each of which is a group for metadata protection. Each of the one or more redundancy groups includes two or more of the computer nodes including a primary node being a primary computer node and a secondary node being a secondary computer node, and a failover is performed from the primary node to the secondary node. The memory of the primary node has stored therein metadata related to the redundancy group and to be accessed for control. The metadata is redundantly stored in the memory of the primary node and the memory of the secondary node.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-14 (17/474395).

Storage system and storage control method including storing log related to stored data
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11609698) developed by Ito, Shintaro, Ohira, Yoshinori, and Ebara, Hiroto, Tokyo, Japan, for “data storage system and storage control method including storing a log related to the stored data.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage system having high performance and high reliability includes a non-volatile storage device, a storage controller configured to control data to be read and written from and to the storage device using a storage function, and a volatile memory. In the reading and writing, the storage controller generates a log and stores the log in a log memory, writes the log stored in the memory to the storage device, and collects a capacity of the storage area of the memory storing the log written to the storage device. In collecting a free area of the memory, the storage controller executes a base image saving method of writing in the storage device in units of storage areas having a plurality of logs and collecting a free area, and a garbage collection method of writing in the storage device in units of logs and collecting a free area.”

The patent application was filed on 2022-09-07 (17/939112).

Storage apparatus, maintenance support method, and program
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11599297) developed by Koseki, Hideyuki, Fujii, Hiroki, Deguchi, Akira, and Yamamoto, Akira, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage apparatus, maintenance support method, and maintenance support program.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The efficiency of the maintenance of a storage apparatus including a plurality of flash drives can be enhanced. In a storage apparatus including a plurality of SSDs and a CPU, the CPU specifies, based on lifetimes of the SSDs depending on amounts of data written to the SSDs, the SSD to be replaced on a scheduled maintenance date, gives notice of the SSD specified to be replaced, and copies data in the SSD to be replaced to another SSD by the scheduled maintenance date on which the replacement is to be performed.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-16 (17/477308).

Storage system and load distribution method for storage
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11599292) developed by Ogawa, Naoki, Sakai, Nobuyoshi, and Saito, Hibiki, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and load distribution method for storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Scale-out of a controller and application migration consider the application status, laws and rules of a scale-out destination, and a resource usage status. If an operation status exceeds a threshold value, an administrative server for a computer system of a storage system calculates a first index for each execution target, including an application, a virtual machine, or a container operating in the computer system, based on information about cost, credibility, or performance when the execution target is migrated to, and caused to operate in, another computer system, and indexing information indicating laws or rules applied to the computer system using indexes. A second index indicating, as a dimensionless quantity, the selection degree of another computer system as a migration destination of the execution target is acquired. A migration destination of the execution target is decided from among other computer systems based on the first index and/or the second index.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-13 (17/473449).

Storage system
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11593182) developed by Yamamoto, Takahiro, Sakashita, Yuki, Ito, Shintaro, and Agetsuma, Masakuni, Tokyo, Japan, for a “storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage system including a processor performs a process for providing a volume including a plurality of areas to one or more hosts. One or more storage devices are connected to the processor and store data of the volume, in which each of a plurality of nodes monitors a load of the volume provided by an own node and loads of areas obtained by dividing an area of the volume into a plurality of the areas, and a first node determining that the load of the one volume being monitored is equal to or more than a threshold value migrates a portion of the area included in the one volume to a volume of a second node different from the first node according to the load of the areas obtained by dividing the area of the one volume into the plurality of areas and a policy of load sharing.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-10 (17/471255).

Storage system, device, and management method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11586516) developed by Hironaka, Kazuei, Deguchi, Akira, and Shibayama, Tsukasa, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system, storage device, and storage device management method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An object of the present invention is to realize a proper storage operation in accordance with the state of a storage devices which constructed remote copy pair via a network. A first storage device for providing a first volume and a second storage device for providing a second volume as a remote copy destination of the first volume, includes: a storing unit for policy sets that is a regulation group relating to the service quality of the second volume, and a policy selection unit for selecting a policy set to be used from the plurality of policy sets in accordance with the states of the first volume and the second storage device. According to such a configuration and operation, it is possible to properly operate the storage device by selecting a policy set before and after the failover or according to the presence or absence of degeneration.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-10 (17/472416).

Storage system and control method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11580196) developed by Naruko, Takahiro, Akutsu, Hiroaki, and Suzuki, Akifumi, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and storage control method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage system that performs irreversible compression on time-series data using a compressor/decompressor based on machine learning calculates a statistical amount value of each of one or more kinds of statistical amounts based on one or more parameters in relation to original data (time-series data input to a compressor/decompressor) and calculates a statistical amount value of each of the one or more kinds of statistical amounts based on the one or more kinds of parameters in relation to decompressed data (time-series data output from the compressor/decompressor) corresponding to the original data. The machine learning of the compressor/decompressor is performed based on the statistical amount value calculated for each of the one or more kinds of statistical amounts in relation to the original data and the statistical amount value calculated for each of the one or more kinds of statistical amounts in relation to the decompressed data.”

The patent application was filed on 2020-03-18 (16/822982).

Storage system and data processing method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11579793) developed by Masuda, Naoyuki, Ito, Ryusuke, Oyamada, Kenichi, Hiraiwa, Yuri, Kazama, Goro, Sun, Yunde, and Kodaira, Ryosuke, Tokyo, Japan, for “storage system and data processing method.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The functions of a mainframe environment are expanded by leveraging the functions of an open environment. A second storage of an open system externally connected to a first storage of a mainframe system comprises a second main volume of an open environment generated in association with a main logical device of the second storage, and a second sub volume of an open environment generated in association with a sub logical device of the second storage, the first storage comprises a first main volume of a mainframe environment generated in association with the main logical device of the second storage, and a first sub volume of a mainframe environment generated in association with the sub logical device of the second storage, when the first storage receives a data processing request from a host, the first storage reflects the processing request in the second storage and completes the processing, and when the first storage receives an execution request of a prescribed function, the first storage causes the second storage to execute the function.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-03-19 (17/207308).

Volume remote copy based on application priority
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11579780) developed by Tsuchiya, Akiyoshi, San Jose, CA, and Kawaguchi, Tomohiro, Santa Clara, CA, for a “volume remote copy based on application priority.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Example implementations described herein involve systems and methods which automatically determine volumes to be replicated for disaster recovery based on the execution priority of an application which uses the volumes. Such example implementations can involve systems and methods involving creating a volume in a first storage system for each of one or more containers newly launched on one or more servers managing a container orchestrator, and establishing replication of the volume for the each of the newly launched one or more containers to a second storage system in order from highest container priority to lowest container priority.”

The patent application was filed on 2021-08-27 (17/459841).

Data replication system and method
Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, has been assigned a patent (11561721) developed by Hosogi, Koji, Deguchi, Akira, and Matsushita, Takaki, Tokyo, Japan, for a “data replication system and data replication method.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A first storage system compresses data relating to read and write by a primary site and stores the data in a first physical volume. A second storage system compresses data relating to read and write by a secondary site and stores the data in a second physical volume. When performing replication for transferring the data stored in the first physical volume of the first storage system to the second storage system and storing the data in the second physical volume, the first storage system and the second storage system determine, based on a compression scheme executable by the first storage system and a compression scheme executable by the second storage system, a compression scheme to be applied to transfer target data and transfer the transfer target data compressed by the determined compression scheme”

The patent application was filed on 2021-09-14 (17/474500).