IBM Assigned Four Patents

Automatic unthread and store of storage device medium

IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,363,345) developed by Arturo Avila Mojica, Tucson, AZ, for an "apparatus, system, and method for automatic unthread and store of data storage device medium."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "An apparatus, system, and method for automatic unthreading and storage of storage media helps prevent damage to the media, which can otherwise occur when the storage media is left threaded in a storage media drive over an extended period or under adverse conditions. A sensing device may generate a signal or a detector may receive a signal indicating that a predetermined period of time has lapsed or that some other criteria has been met indicating that the storage media should be removed from the storage media drive. An unthread module in the storage media drive receives the signal and automatically unthreads and stores the storage media. A location on the storage media can be marked by the unthread module prior to unthreading such that the media may be returned to the location upon rethreading."

The patent application was filed on Oct. 8, 2008 (12/247,967).

Limiting receipt of unsolicited events
by logical partition in storage system

IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,352,960) developed by Brian D. Clark, Juan A. Coronado, and Beth A. Peterson, Tucson, AZ, for "limiting receipt of unsolicited events by a logical partition in a data storage system."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A logical partition (LPAR) is managed in a data processing system by performing an initial program load (IPL), commencing execution of an application on the LPAR and selecting from a plurality of unsolicited events of which the application is to receive notice. A command is transmitted to a storage controller indicating the identity of the selected unsolicited events, wherein the storage controller will store the information in a data structure. Upon the later occurrence of an unsolicited event, the storage controller will transmit to the LPAR only notices of the selected unsolicited events."

The patent application was filed on Aug. 13, 2007 (11/837,901).

Caching scheme synergy for extent migration
between tiers of a storage system

IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,345,489) developed by David Montgomery, and Todd C. Sorenson, Tucson, AZ, for a "caching scheme synergy for extent migration between tiers of a storage system."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "A storage system according to one embodiment includes logic adapted for determining to move an extent from a source-tier in a storage system to a destination-tier in the storage system, wherein a set of tracks of the extent is presently being accessed; logic adapted for determining whether any track from the set of tracks is presently being written to; logic adapted for designating to a write-stack associated with the source-tier each track that is presently being written to and designating to a read-stack associated with the source-tier remaining tracks from the set of tracks; logic adapted for removing oldest tracks from the read-stack and the write-stack until the read-stack and the write-stack have been depleted of tracks; logic adapted for populating a destination-tier cache with the tracks as they are removed from the read-stack and the write-stack using a predetermined read-to-write ratio when a parameter of the extent exceeds a migration threshold; logic adapted for removing any tracks from a source-tier cache that were removed from the read-stack and the write-stack; and logic adapted for migrating the extent from the source-tier to the destination-tier."

The patent application was filed on Sept. 2, 2010 (12/875,031).

Achieving high throughput in storage cache application using SSD

IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (8,364,924) developed by Wendy A. Belluomini, San Jose, CA, Binny S. Gill, Auburn, MA, and Michael A. Ko, San Jose, CA, for "achieving a high throughput in a storage cache application using a flash solid state disk."

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: "According to one embodiment, a method for using flash memory in a storage cache comprises receiving data to be cached in flash memory of a storage cache, at least some of the received data being received from at least one of a host system and a storage medium, selecting a block of the flash memory for receiving the data, buffering the received data until sufficient data has been received to fill the block, and overwriting existing data in the selected block with the buffered data. According to another embodiment, a method comprises receiving data, at least some of the data being from a host system and/or a storage medium, and sequentially overwriting sequential blocks of the flash memory with the received data. Other devices and methods for working with flash memory in a storage cache according to various embodiments are included and described herein."

The patent application was filed on Oct. 21, 2009 (12/603,113)