IBM Assigned Three Patents

Automatic selection of storage volumes in storage system

IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,281,091) developed by Anastasia Braginsky, Haifa, Israel, and Shachar Fienblit, Ein Ayala, Israel, for an "automatic selection of storage volumes in a data storage system."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A method of selecting a target volume in a storage system is provided. The method comprises defining one or more parameters for a plurality of storage volumes in the storage system according to user preference; dynamically collecting information related to the parameters while the storage volumes are used; receiving a request to backup a first source volume in the storage system; and selecting or creating the target volume based on the collected information."

The patent application was filed on March 3, 2009 (12/396,572).

Periodic rotational vibration check
for storage devices to compensate for varying loads

IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,271,140) developed by four co-inventors for a "periodic rotational vibration check for storage devices to compensate for varying loads."

The co-inventors are Brian James Cagno, Tucson, AZ, Kenton Coleman Green, Cary, NC, Carl Evan Jones, Tucson, AZ, and Michael Desmond O’Connell, Rochester, MN.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A periodic rotational vibration check for storage devices to compensate for varying loads is disclosed. A variable representing rotational vibration status is maintained in a rotational vibration log. The variable is processed to determine whether a storage device exhibits a rotational vibration issue. Workload analysis is performed to identify a change to the workloads run on physically separate hardware to resolve the rotational vibration issue and thus eliminate the need for more expensive hardware."

The patent application was filed on Aug. 25, 2005 (11/467,417).

Extended logical WORM data integrity protection
with unique WORM identifier in header and database

IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., has been assigned a patent (8,280,855) developed by four co-inventors for an "extended logical WORM data integrity protection with unique WORM identifier in header and database."

The co-inventors are Thomas William Bish, Tucson, AZ, Jonathan Wayne Peake, Mark Albert Reid, and Joseph M. Swingler, Tucson, AZ.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A data storage system stores logical data object(s), each identified by a logical identifier. A control is configured to assign a unique WORM (Write Once Read Many) identifier to the logical data object, and stores the unique WORM identifier as associated with the logical identifier, in a database maintained by the control so as to be persistent. Data storage is configured to write the logical data object with a header with the unique WORM identifier. The control, in order to allow the logical data object to be accessed externally to the control, requires matching the unique WORM identifier in the header of a logical data object to the unique WORM identifier of the persistent database for the logical object. The unique WORM identifier is formed of a checksum hash value related to nonce fields comprising at least the logical identifier of the logical data object, an incrementing token, and a time stamp."

The patent application was filed on Nov. 4, 2009 (12/612,435)