3com Corporation

Retrevo Inc.

Peter S S Wang

David C Lee

Anne G O'Connell

Vipin Kumar Jain

Jiang Wu

Aditya Vailaya

Robert Lincoln Lewis, Jr

A method for performing an action based on user interaction with a graphical presentation, according to one embodiment. In use, output data is generated corresponding to a multidimensional presentation of graphical representations of two or more consumer products in relation to each other. Additionally, positions of the graphical representations of the consumer products relative to each other are based on multiple attributes of the products. Further, none of the dimensions correlates to a side by side ordering of the consumer products. Further still, a user selection of one or more of the consumer products is received. Also, a transaction is performed based on additional input received from the user. Additional embodiments are also presented.

Methods, systems, and program products for generating multidimensional comparisons

The present invention relates to transparent access to a redundant array of inexpensive devices. In particular, it provides a method and device for connecting redundant disk drives to a controller, preferably an intelligent switch, via a network. The disks are controlled by commands transported across the network. Commands may be SCSI, IDE/ATA or other commands. The network may comprise ethernet, fiber channel or other physical layer protocol. Commands can be encapsulated in IP packets and transmitted using either a reliable or unreliable transport protocol. Multicasting of packets from the controller to the multiple disk drives is part of the present invention.

RAID method and device with network protocol between controller and storage devices

The present invention relates to transparent access to network attached storage devices, configured to any of several protocols, such as SCSI over IP, NAS or NASD. In particular, the present invention provides for using a switch to transparently aggregate storage devices. The switch appears as a virtual storage device. It responds to requests to initiate file sessions and selects one of a plurality of storage devices to participate in the file session. A file session can be handed off to a different storage device. Both the setup and handoff are transparent to the client and its TCP/IP client. The present invention may be practiced either as a method or device. It may provide a virtual storage device or it may aggregate storage devices already attached to a network.

Virtually addressing storage devices through a switch

The present invention relates to transparent access to network attached devices, such as network attached storage devices, Web servers or database servers. In particular, the present invention provides hand-off protocols that are transparent to a network client, with the advantage that physical devices can be added to, replaced on or removed from a network without reconfiguring network clients or applications running applications at levels above the network clients. One aspect the present invention is a method for handing off TCP sessions in a system including a client in communication with a switch and to or more devices. This method includes determining in the first device that a handoff should take place, identifying a second device to take over the session, sending handoff messages to and receiving an acknowledgment from the second device, and reporting the handoff to and receiving an acknowledgment from the switch. The devices applying this method may be disk drives, Web servers, database servers or any other device that benefits from being clustered. A device according to the present invention may comprise: a switch including logic for routing messages among a client and a plurality of devices and logic responsive to an instruction to reprogram its routing messages and to confirm the road reprogramming is complete; a first device including logic to determine when a TCP session should be handed off to another device, logic to instruct a second device to accept a handoff, and logic to instruct a switch to reprogram its routing of messages; wherein the second device is in communication with the switch and includes logic responsive to an instruction to accept a handoff and to confirm acceptance of the handoff. The first and second devices may be disk drives, Web servers, database servers or any other device that benefits from being clustered. Logic may be included to determine when to handoff a TCP session and to identify a second device to receive the handoff, consistent with the method of present invention.

Growing community of inventors

Cupertino, CA, United States of America

Peter S S Wang