IBM Assigned Sixteen Patents

Emulating FICON over IP
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,382,590) developed by Ben-Amos, Eitan, Pardes Hanna-Karkur, Israel, Ben-Dayan, Maor, and Weiss, Gary, Tel Aviv, Israel, for an “emulating FICON over IP.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A Fiber Connection, (FICON) information unit is received by a host processor executing a host internet protocol, (IP) software library. The FICON information unit is written to a transport layer. Data including the FICON information unit is then transmitted to a storage control unit over an IP network.”

The patent application was filed on August 29, 2011 (13/220,375).

Zone storage-resilient and efficient storage transactions
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,382,553) developed by Baptist, Andrew D., Mt. Pleasant, WI, Dhuse, Greg R., Chicago, IL, Khadiwala, Ravi V., Bartlett, IL, Motwani, Manish, Viraraghavan, Praveen, and Volvovski, Ilya, Chicago, IL, for “zone storage-resilient and efficient storage transactions.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A distributed storage network, (DSN) includes a DSN memory and a distributed storage, (DS) processing unit. The DS processing unit determines a particular revision of source data for persistence, and generates a protocol message associated with the particular revision of source data. The protocol message is generated based on a balance between durability and persistence associated with the particular revision. The protocol message is transmitted from the DS processing unit to the DSN memory, and indicates to the DSN memory a particular persistence protocol. The DSN memory process data slices corresponding to the particular revision of source data in accordance with the particular persistence protocol.”

The patent application was filed on February 20, 2017 (15/437,048).

Establishing reverse paths between servers in copy environment
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,382,544) developed by Hatfield, Brian D., Tucson, AZ, for “establishing reverse paths between servers in a copy environment.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Provided are a computer program product, system, and method for establishing reverse paths between servers in a copy environment. A path establish request operation is initiated to establish paths between a first system and a second system for a copy relationship to copy data from a first storage to a second storage managed by the second system. In response to the path establish request, a pair of ports is established at the first system and the second system to use for a first path from the first system to the second system. The first system sends a reverse path establish request to establish a second path from the second system to the first system, wherein the second system sends messages to the first system on the second path for the copy relationship.”

The patent application was filed on April 8, 2016 (15/094,051).

Automated data storage library drone accessor
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,381,038) developed by Goodman, Brian G., Haberman, Tom, McIntosh, Michael P., Nave, Shawn M., Qiu, Kenny Nian Gan, Tucson, AZ, and Zamora, George G., Vail, AZ, for an “automated data storage library drone accessor.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage system that moves and transfers components utilizing drones is disclosed. The data storage system comprises a data storage library for reading and writing of data on a plurality of data storage cartridges, at least one drone vehicle, a processing device, and a non-transitory, computer-readable memory containing programming instructions. The programming instructions are configured to cause the processing device to: receive a request to transfer a data storage component to a destination location in the data storage library, in response to receiving the request, instruct a drone vehicle to perform at least part of the transfer of the data storage component to the destination location, and perform at least part of the transfer of the data storage component to the destination location by the drone vehicle.”

The patent application was filed on December 1, 2017 (15/828,807).

Unified file and object storage architecture for clustered file
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,380,364) developed by Eda, Sasikanth, Pune, India, Hildebrand, Dean, Bellingham, WA, Mate, Ashutosh V., Pune, India, Mittal, Varun, Zirakpur, India, Owen, William W., Tucson, AZ, Patil, Sandeep R., and Raut, Smita J., Pune, India, for “unified file and object storage architecture for clustered file systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A processor may identify a first directory in the UFO storage system. The first directory may include one or more subdirectories in one or more levels under the first directory. The one or more subdirectories may include a second directory that has includes one or more objects. The first directory may be associated with a first inode, and the second directory may be associated with a second inode. The processor may perform a stat call on the second directory to determine metadata attributes for the one or more objects that are stored in the second directory. The metadata attributes for the one or more objects may be stored in the second inode. The processor may add the metadata attributes for the one or more objects to the first inode.”

The patent application was filed on March 30, 2016 (15/085,367).

Transformation of logical data objects for storage
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,380,071) developed by Koifman, Chaim, Rishon-Lezion, Israel, and Zohar, Avi, Rosh Haain, Israel, for “systems and methods for transformation of logical data objects for storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods for transforming a logical data object for storage in a storage device operable with at least one storage protocol, creating, reading, writing, optimization and restoring thereof. Transforming the logical data object comprises creating in the storage device a transformed logical data object comprising and one or more allocated storage sections with a predefined size, processing one or more sequentially obtained chunks corresponding to the transforming logical data object, wherein at least one of said processed data chunks comprises transformed data resulting from said processing, sequentially storing the processed data chunks into said storage sections in accordance with an order the chunks received. The method further includes reading a data range from the transformed logical object in response to a read request specifying desired point in time to be read.”

The patent application was filed on December 22, 2015 (14/977,718).

Integrating resources at backup site
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,379,964) developed by Butterworth, Henry E., Gao, Yi Zhi, and Lan, Long Wen, Shanghai, China, for “integrating resources at a backup site .“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems, computer program products, and methods that can integrate resources at a disaster recovery site are provided. One method includes generating, on a primary site, a set of storage snapshots based on combining another set of storage snapshots and incremental changes to mirrored data on a backup site in which the storage snapshots include a second snapshot format utilized on the backup site. The method further includes converting the set of storage snapshots from the second snapshot format to a first snapshot format utilized on the primary site to generate a yet another set of storage snapshots and converting, on the backup site, a set of storage snapshots including the incremental changes and the second snapshot format to the first snapshot format to generate still another set of eighth storage snapshots. The storage snapshots on both sites represent the same data in the same snapshot format without bulk data transfer.”

The patent application was filed on July 10, 2017 (15/645,540).

Management of foreground and background processes in storage controller
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,379,943) developed by Borlick, Matthew G., Gupta, Lokesh M., Nguyen, Trung N., and Nielsen, Karl A., Tucson, AZ, for a “management of foreground and background processes in a storage controller.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A background process is configured to periodically scrub a boot storage of a storage controller to ensure operational correctness of the boot storage. One or more foreground processes store a system configuration data of the storage controller in the boot storage of the storage controller. The background process and the one or more foreground processes are executed to meet predetermined performance requirements for the background process and the one or more foreground processes.”

The patent application was filed on December 6, 2016 (15/370,511).

Transfer of objects between containers on same vault
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,379,942) developed by Hegde, Harsha, Hawthorn Woods, IL, Kala, Lakshmi Krishna Priya, Hyderabad, India, Leggette, Wesley B., Motwani, Manish, Resch, Jason K., Scholl, Daniel J., Shah, Rohan P., and Vedpathak, Yogesh R., Chicago, IL, for an “efficient transfer of objects between containers on the same vault.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method includes determining to transfer a data object from a first container of a vault to a second container of the vault. The method further includes determining first and second storage parameters for the first and second containers, respectively. When the first storage parameters substantially match the second storage parameters, the method further includes retrieving metadata of the data object from a first container structure associated with the first container. The method further includes modifying the metadata regarding the transferring of the data object from the first container to the second container to produce modified metadata. The method further includes adding the modified metadata to a second container structure associated with the second container such that the data object is accessible via the second container.”

The patent application was filed on September 27, 2017 (15/717,626).

Data storage allocation utilizing virtual machine resource allocation
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,379,912) developed by Mithal, Akshat, and Roy, Subhojit, Pune, India, for a “data storage allocation utilizing virtual machine resource allocation.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A mechanism is provided for allocating data storage utilizing virtual machine resource allocation. Information pertaining to resource allocation to a set of partitions in a logically partitioned data processing system is gathered and analyzed to generate resource allocation based storage information for each partition in the set of partitions in the logically partitioned data processing system. For each partition in the set of partitions in the logically partitioned data processing system, a storage partition is generated in one or more faster storage tiers at a ratio according to the resource allocation based storage information associated with that partition. For each partition in the set of partitions in the logically partitioned data processing system, data is migrated between one or more slower storage tiers and the one or more faster storage tiers utilizing associated storage partitions in the one or more fastest storage tiers.”

The patent application was filed on April 11, 2017 (15/484,254).

Managing customizing of appliances
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,379,876) developed by Chao, Chih-Wen, Taipei, Taiwan, Galloway, Gregory L., Cumming, GA, Lee, Cheng-Ta, Wu, Ming-Hsun, and Wu, Rick M. F., Taipei, Taiwan, for a “managing the customizing of appliances.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Disclosed is a method of customizing an appliance. The method includes steps of pre-storing a public key in the appliance, connecting the appliance to an external storage device, and booting up the appliance to automatically proceed with the following customization process: obtaining a customization file from the external storage device, authenticating the customization file with the public key, and executing customization with the customization file if the authentication succeeds.”

The patent application was filed on November 16, 2015 (14/941,864).

Write management for increasing non-volatile memory reliability
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,379,784) developed by Sethuraman, Saravanan, Bangalore, India, Tavva, Venkata K., Hyderabad, India, McPadden, Adam J., Essex Junction, VT, and Hunter, Hillery, Chappaqua, NY, for a “write management for increasing non-volatile memory reliability.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A computer-implemented method, according to one embodiment, includes: receiving a write request, determining an intended storage location in memory for data in the received write request, determining a current temperature associated with the intended storage location, determining a percentage of first logical states included in a binary representation of the data in the received write request, selecting a write management operation in response to determining that the current temperature associated with the intended storage location is outside a predetermined range, and sending one or more instructions to perform the write management operation. Moreover, the write management operation corresponds to the determined percentage of first logical states included in the binary representation. Other systems, methods, and computer program products are described in additional embodiments.”

The patent application was filed on May 3, 2018 (15/970,734).

Using master encryption key to sanitize dispersed storage network memory
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,379,778) developed by Frazier, Alan M., Palatine, IL, Horan, Scott M., Clarendon, IL, Rai, Shibhani, Schaumburg, IL, Resch, Jason K., Chicago, IL, and Seaborn, Mark D., Algonquin, IL, for an “using a master encryption key to sanitize a dispersed storage network memory.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method for execution by one or more processing modules of one or more computing devices of a dispersed storage network, (DSN), the method begins by identifying, for data stored within a DSN memory, one or more encryption keys used to encrypt data stored within the DSN memory. The method continues by identifying, for data stored within a portion of the DSN memory requiring sanitization, a master key of the one or more encryption keys that encrypts all of the data stored within the portion to be sanitized. The method continues by determining, if the master key is not used to encrypt data stored outside of the portion to be sanitized. The method continues, if the master key is not used to encrypt data stored outside of the portion to be sanitized, by sanitizing the data stored within a portion of the DSN memory by erasing the master key.”

The patent application was filed on August 18, 2016 (15/240,189).

Enhanced application performance in multi-tier storage environments
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,379,774) developed by Jain, Abhishek, Baraut, India, Patel, Kushal S., Patel, Sarvesh S., and Roy, Subhojit, Pune, India, for an “enhanced application performance in multi-tier storage environments.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A computer program product, according to one embodiment, includes a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith. The computer readable storage medium is not a transitory signal per se. Moreover, the program instructions readable and/or executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method which includes: maintaining a heat map monitoring table on a per volume basis for a plurality of volumes which includes a heat count for each data block in the respective volume. A request to delete a first volume is received, and the data blocks in the first volume are depended on by one or more other volumes of the plurality of volumes are identified. The identified data blocks and corresponding heat counts are copied to the respective one or more other volumes, and a list which includes the identified data blocks and corresponding heat counts are sent to a controller.”

The patent application was filed on September 11, 2018 (16/127,953).

Storage unit for use in dispersed storage network
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,379,773) developed by Baptist, Andrew D., Mt. Pleasant, WI, Cilfone, Bart R., Dhuse, Greg R., Leggette, Wesley B., Lester, James L., Mark, Zachary J., Motwani, Manish, and Resch, Jason K., Chicago, IL, for a “storage unit for use in a dispersed storage network.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A storage unit for use within a dispersed storage network comprises an interface and a processing module operable to receive encoded data slices from a dispersed storage network client. The encoded data slices are associated with DSN logical addresses and the storage unit is allocated a range of DSN logical addresses in which the DSN logical addresses are found. The storage unit determines whether to store the encoded data slices in local memory of the storage unit or store them in remote memory. When the storage unit determines to store the encoded data slice to the remote memory it converts the DSN logical address into a local storage unit logical address and outputs the encoded data slices to the remote memory.”

The patent application was filed on August 29, 2016 (15/250,223).

Policy-based storage in dispersed storage network
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY, has been assigned a patent (10,372,686) developed by Grube, Gary W., Barrington Hills, IL, and Resch, Jason K., Chicago, IL, for a “policy-based storage in a dispersed storage network.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method for execution by a dispersed storage and task, (DST) processing unit operates to receive a write threshold number of slices of a data object and an access policy, determine a current timestamp that indicates a current time value, and store the write threshold number of slices, the access policy, and the timestamp in a plurality of storage units of a dispersed storage network, (DSN).”

The patent application was filed on July 28, 2016 (15/222,078).