Microsoft Assigned Four Patents

Enhancing the lifetime and performance of flash-based storage
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (8,918,581), developed by Srinivasan KY, Redmond, WA, for a “enhancing the lifetime and performance of flash-based storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage management system decouples application write requests from write requests to a flash-based storage device. By placing a layer of software intelligence between application requests to write data and the storage device, the system can make more effective decisions about when and where to write data that reduce wear and increase performance of the storage device. An application has a set of performance characteristics and writes data with a frequency that is appropriate for the application, but not necessarily efficient for the hardware. By analyzing how data is being used by an application, the system can strategically place data in the storage device or even avoid using the storage device altogether for some operations to minimize wear. One technique for doing this is to create an in-memory cache that acts as a buffer between the application requests and the storage hardware.”

The patent application was filed on April 2, 2012 (13/437,006).

Erasure coded storage aggregation in data centers
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (8,918,478), developed by Ozzie Raymond E., Seattle, WA, Mehr John D., Kenmore, WA, Puri Siddhartha, Sammamish, WA, McKelvie Samuel J., Seattle, WA, Calder Bradley, Bellevue, WA, and Pope Matt, Seattle, WA, for a “erasure coded storage aggregation in data centers.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Embodiments of erasure coded storage aggregation are disclosed. The erasure coded storage aggregation includes storing a data file as erasure coded fragments in a plurality of nodes of one or more data centers. The erasure coded storage aggregation further includes monitoring an access frequency of the data file. Based on the comparison between the access frequency and a predetermined threshold, the data file is either reconstructed from the erasure coded fragments and stored in a storage node or retained as erasure coded fragments in the plurality of nodes of the one or more data centers.”

The patent application was filed on June 3, 2013 (13/908,132).

Replication processes in distributed storage environment
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (8,918,362), developed by Calder Bradley Gene, Bellevue, WA, Nilakantan Niranjan, Redmond, WA, Srivastav Shashwat, Seattle, WA, Wu Jiesheng, Redmond, WA, Abbasi Abdul Rafay, Redmond, WA, Mainali Shane, Duvall, WA, and Uddaraju Padmanabha Chakravarthy, Bellevue, WA, for a “replication processes in a distributed storage environment.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Embodiments of the present invention relate to systems, methods, and computer storage media for replicating data in a distributed computing environment utilizing a combination of replication methodologies. A full-object replication may be utilized to replicate a full state of an object from a primary data store to a secondary data store. A checkpoint created after initiating the full-object replication may be parsed to identify changes to the object that have been entered since initiating the full-object replication. This replication process is referred to as a delta-checkpoint replication methodology. Additionally, in an embodiment, a log-based replication methodology may be utilized. The log-based replication may communicate data from a log of the primary data store to the secondary data store. It is also contemplated in an exemplary embodiment that when the log-based replication fails to maintain a throughput threshold, one of the other replication methodologies may be initiated, at least temporarily.”

The patent application was filed on May 23, 2011 (13/113,718).

Trusted storage and display
Microsoft Corporation, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (8,914,901), developed by Steeves David, Seattle, WA, Carpenter Todd L., Monroe, WA, Abzarian David, Kirkland, WA, Hartrell Gregory, Sammamish, WA, Myers Mark, Fall City, WA, for a “trusted storage and display.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A storage token has a display and a keyboard, or other input device, that allows a user to view a request to access a memory location and enter a response to the request. The display allows presentation of details of the request, such as a pathname to a requested memory location, metadata describing a cryptographic key for use in a transaction confirmation, and/or transaction details which are awaiting verification by a credential stored on the token. The storage token may also include a cryptographic engine and a secure memory allowing signing data returned in response to the request.”

The patent application was filed on January 11, 2008 (11/972,620).