EMC Assigned Twelve Patents

Managing access to data in storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, and VMware, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, have been assigned a patent (8,732,702) developed by five co-inventors for methods and apparatus “for managing access to data in a storage system.“

The co-inventors are Lei Chang, Ziye Yang, Wenbo Mao, Beijing, China, Ying He, Palo Alto, CA, and Junping Du, Beijing, China.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods and apparatus are disclosed for managing access to data in a data storage system. For example, an apparatus comprises at least one processing platform associated with a distributed virtual infrastructure. The processing platform comprises at least one processing device having a processor coupled to a memory. The processing platform is operative to instantiate a meta data management process that is configured to provide at least one client process with information to allow the client process to perform one or more operations in accordance with one or more data storage devices through a storage area network. The information provided to the client process may comprise one or more data block descriptors. Each of the one or more data block descriptors may comprise path information for at least one of the data storage devices and an offset address in the at least one data storage device. The one or more data block descriptors may correspond to one or more data blocks of a given data file that is stored or storable across the one or more data storage devices.”

The patent application was filed on March 28, 2011 (13/073,461).

Transfer of storage device features
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,732,364) developed by three co-inventors for the “transfer of storage device features.“

The co-inventors are Douglas E. LeCrone, Hopkinton, MA, Paul A. Linstead, Shrewsbury, MA, and Denis J. Burt, Plymouth, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Transferring storage device functionality includes providing a device coupled to the storage device, where the device is separate from the storage device, having the device handle I/O requests between an application and the storage device, and, in response to the application issuing an I/O request, having the device determine if the request corresponds to functionality being transferred and, if so, having the device provide the functionality. The device may be a host computer. The application may run on the host computer. A driver on the host computer may provide the functionality. The functionality may include read only functionality, data compression, data encryption, mirroring, and/or status reporting.”

The patent application was filed on Oct. 28, 2010 (12/925,709).

System storing encrypted compressed data comprises processor and memory
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,731,190) developed by Christopher R. Lumb, Mountain View, CA for a system “for storing encrypted compressed data comprises a processor and a memory.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system for storing encrypted compressed data comprises a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to determine whether an encrypted compressed segment has been previously stored. The encrypted compressed segment was determined by breaking a data stream, a data block, or a data file into one or more segments and compressing and then encrypting each of the one or more segments. The processor is further configured to store the encrypted compressed segment in the event that the encrypted compressed segment has not been previously stored. The memory is coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.”

The patent application was filed on June 9, 2009 (12/455,956).

Controlling prioritization of tiering and spin down features in storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,745,327) developed by two co-inventors for methods, systems and computer readable medium “for controlling prioritization of tiering and spin down features in a storage system.”

The co-inventors are Dean D. Throop, Efland, NC, and Dennis Duprey, Raleigh, NC.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for controlling prioritization of tiering and spin down features in a data storage system. The method is performed at a data storage array comprising a plurality of physical data storage disks for storing data and includes identifying data that is infrequently accessed. The infrequently accessed data is relocated to a subset of the physical data storage disks designated for storing infrequently accessed data and the spin rate of the subset of the disks is reduced.“

The patent application was filed on June 24, 2011 (13/168,329).

Synchronization of storage using comparisons of fingerprints of blocks
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,745,003) developed by R. Hugo Patterson, Los Altos, CA, for the “synchronization of storage using comparisons of fingerprints of blocks.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system for processing data comprises a deduplicating system, an interface, and a processor. The deduplicating system stores a copy of data stored in a data storage system by storing a set of segments that is able to reconstruct the data stored in the data storage system. The interface receives an indication to revert data stored in the data storage system to a state of data at a snapshot time stored in the deduplicating system. The processor is configured to determine a subset of the data stored in the data storage system that has changed between the data stored in the data storage system and the state of data at the snapshot time stored in the deduplicating system using a first list of fingerprints associated with the data stored on the data storage system and a second list of fingerprints associated with the state of data at the snapshot time stored in the deduplicating system.”

The patent application was filed on May 13, 2011 (13/107,769).

Cryptographic correlation between higher level semantic units
and lower level components in secure storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,751,831) developed by two co-inventors for “achieving strong cryptographic correlation between higher level semantic units and lower level components in a secure storage system.”

The co-inventors are Roger F. Osmond, Littleton, MA, and Gil Goren, Ashland, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage architecture for networked access by clients includes a file server capable of communication with the clients via the network, physical storage organized as a plurality of logical volumes, and an encryption device in communication with both the file server and the physical storage. The encryption device is operable in response to signaling from the file server, including an indication of a range of blocks of data, to cause encryption of the range of blocks with an encryption key that is unique within the physical storage. The encryption device includes nested tables mapping block ranges to encryption keys. Consequently, undesirable key sharing across files, file systems, and other units can be avoided down to the block level.”

The patent application was filed on April 20, 2012 (13/451,878).

Storage drive carrier
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,749,966) developed by eight co-inventors for a “storage drive carrier.“

The co-inventors are Maida Boudreau, Brimfield, MA, Ilhan C. Gundogan, Lexington, MA, Albert F. Beinor Jr., Sutton, MA, Joseph P. King Jr., Sterling, MA, Joseph L. Brigham Jr., North Attleborough, MA, Keith C. Johnson, Medway, MA, Qingqiang Guo, Shanghai, China, and Brian Cunningham, Westborough, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage drive carrier configured for insertion into 2U or 3U slots not an electrocal chassis. The carrier has opposing side members and front and back members. A first side member is fixedly attached to the front member to form a rigid L-shaped portion of the carrier; and a second side member and the back member are pivotally attached to the L-shaped portion. The second one of side members and the back member are pivotally attached to the L-shaped portion at first ends and second ends thereof are attached to together to form a closed frame after receiving therein the drive. A light pipe is disposed within a groove formed in one of the side members, one end of the pipe being disposed adjacent to a light source of a rearward interposer to receive optical signal emitted by the source and an opposite end disposed adjacent a front end of the carrier. “

The patent application was filed on Dec. 22, 2009 (12/644,033).

Capacity forecasting for de-dupe storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,751,463) developed by Mark Chamness, Menlo Park, CA, for a system “for managing a storage system comprises a processor and a memory.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system for managing a storage system comprises a processor and a memory. The processor is configured to receive storage system information from a deduplicating storage system. The processor is further configured to determine a capacity forecast based at least in part on the storage system information. The processor is further configured to provide a compression forecast. The memory is coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.”

The patent application was filed on June 30, 2011

Performance optimization of storage allocation to virtual logical units
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,751,740) developed by seven co-inventors for systems, methods and computer readable media “for performance optimization of storage allocation to virtual logical units.”

The co-inventors are Miles de Forest, Bahama, NC, Chetan Rameshchandra Vaidya, Morrisville, NC, David Haase, Fuquay-Varina, v, Paul T. McGrath, Raleigh, NC, Robert F. Goudreau Jr., Cary, NC, Charles Christopher Bailey, Cary, NC, and Prabu Surendra, Vellore, India.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A system for performance optimization of storage allocation to virtual logical units includes a storage entity having data storage space divided into slices for storing data. A slice allocation table stores slice allocation status. A memory stores statistics regarding the allocation of slices to logical units. A management database stores information regarding the allocation of slices to logical units. An allocation module performs an allocation process in response to receiving an I/O write request. A management module performs scheduled post-I/O management processes asynchronously with allocation processes, including updating the management database to reflect the allocation of the selected slice, and updating the status of the selected slice in the slice allocation table to indicate that the post-I/O management process for the selected slice has been performed.”

The patent application was filed on March 31, 2010 (12/751,707).

Efficiently searching data in storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,756,249) developed by three co-inventors for a method and apparatus “for efficiently searching data in a storage system.”

The co-inventors are Frederick Douglis, Basking Ridge, NJ, Grant Wallace, Pennington, NJ, and Philip N. Shilane, Yardley, PA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Techniques for searching data in a storage system are described herein. In one embodiment, in response to a request for searching target data in a storage system, first representative data for the target data being searched are generated by applying a predetermined algorithm to at least a portion of the target data. The first representative data are searched and compared with second representative data representing one or more data sets stored in the storage system. It is indicated a likelihood that the target data or similar content has been found in the storage system based on the search and comparison.”

The patent application was filed on Aug. 23, 2011 (13/216,013).

Storage system having global cache memory
distributed among non-volatile memories within system disk drives
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,762,636) developed by two co-inventors for a “data storage system having a global cache memory distributed among non-volatile memories within system disk drives.”

The co-inventors are Adi Ofer, Framingham, MA, and Gilad Sade, Newton, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A data storage system having a host computer/server coupled to a bank of disk drives through an interface. The bank of disk drives has a plurality of disk units, each one of such disk drive units having a magnetic storage media. The interface includes: a plurality of front-end directors coupled to the host computer/server; a plurality of back end directors coupled to the disk drive units; and, a global cache memory available for caching user data for the plurality of disk drives. The global cache memory comprises a plurality of non-volatile memory global cache memory sections distributed among disk drive units within the bank of disk drive units. The non-volatile memory global cache memory sections are connected to the back-end directors. Each one of the non-volatile memory global cache memory sections caches user data for the magnetic storage media of the plurality of disk drive units independent of the one of the disk drive units having such one of the non-volatile memory global cache memory sections.”

The patent application was filed on Dec. 14, 2006 (11/610,745).

Application aware intelligent storage system
EMC Corp., Hopkinton, MA, has been assigned a patent (8,762,583) developed by three co-inventors for an “application aware intelligent storage system.”

The co-inventors are Philippe Armangau, Acton, MA, Sorin Faibish, Newton, MA, and Christopher Seibel, Walpole, MA.

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “This invention is a system and a method for operating a storage server that provides read or write access to a data in a data network using a new architecture. The method of processing I/Os in response to a request by a client of the storage server executes one or more services communicated by a policy engine. The I/Os received from the application are tagged and catalogued to create co-related I/O patterns. The policy engine is then updated with the results of processing the I/Os after executing services on those I/Os.”

The patent application was filed on March 26, 2013 (13/850,727).