Agere Systems Inc.

Lsi Corporation

Richard Joseph Byrne

Silvester Tjandra

Eu Gene Goh

Nevin C Heintze

Ambalavanar Arulambalam

David S Masters

Xing Zhao

Qian Xu

Jesse Thilo

Zhi He

Michael R Betker

Yun Peng

Jun Zhao

Steven J Pollock

Michael James Hunter

Jeffrey L Timbs

Nigamanth Lakshminarayana

Nigamanth Lakshiminarayana

Thomas Klucsarits

Described embodiments provide a system having a bridge for connecting two different processor buses. The bridge receives a request from a first bus, the request having an identification field having a value. The request is then entered into one of a plurality of buffers having requests therein with the same identification field values. Which buffer receives the request may be based on a variety of techniques, such as random, least recently used, most full, prioritized, or sequential. Next, the buffered request is transmitted over a second bus. A response to the request is eventually received from the second bus, the response is transmitted over the first bus, and the request is then removed from the buffer. By entering the received request to the buffer with request with the same identification value, there is a reduced possibility of head-of-line request blocking when compared to a single buffer implementation.

Non-blocking processor bus bridge for network processors or the like

Described embodiments provide a server for transferring data packets of streaming data sessions between devices. A redundant array of inexpensive disks (RAID) array having one or more stripe sector units (SSU) stores media files corresponding to the one or more data sessions. The RAID control module receives a request to perform the write operation to the RAID array beginning at a starting data storage address (DSA) and pads the data of the write operation if the amount of data is less than a full SSU of data, such that the padded data of the write operation is a full SSU of data. The RAID control module stores the full SSU of data beginning at a starting data storage address (DSA) that is aligned with a second SSU boundary, without performing a read-modify-write operation.

Aligned data storage for network attached media streaming systems

Described embodiments provide a system having a bridge for connecting two different processor buses. The bridge receives a command from a first bus, the command having an identification field having a value. The command is then entered into a buffer in the bridge unless another command having the same identification field value exists in the buffer. Once the command with the same identification field value is removed from the buffer, the received command is entered into the buffer. Next, the buffered command is transmitted over a second bus. A response to the command is eventually received from the second bus, the response is transmitted over the first bus, and the command is then removed from the buffer. By not entering the received command until a similar command with the same identification value is removed from the buffer, command ordering is enforced even though multiple commands are pending in the buffer.

Processor bus bridge for network processors or the like

Described embodiments provide a system having a bridge for communicating information between two processor buses. The bridge receives a command from a first bus, the command having an identification field and an address field. As the command is entered into a buffer in the bridge, the address field is checked against one or more addresses. If there is a match, then control bits are checked to see if the command will be allowed or not depending on the identification field value. If the command is not transferred to the second bus, a flag is set in the buffer, and an error message is returned to the first bus, and an interrupt may be generated. The control bits allow commands access to specific addresses on the second bus or deny the access depending on the command identification field. Bit-wise masking provides a range of values for identification and address field matching.

Processor bus bridge security feature for network processors or the like

Described embodiments provide a system having a bridge for connecting two different processor buses. A process monitor within the bridge allows for measuring latency of commands issued on a first bus, passing through the bridge, and executed by clients coupled to the second bus. By using identification fields associated with the command, measuring the latency of each command begins with matching the identification field of the command to an integer. As the bridge passes acknowledgements back to the first bus, the monitoring of the command is stopped when an identification field associated with an acknowledgement matches the identification field of the command being monitored. Data collected include the minimum, maximum, total latency, and the number of commands monitored. From this data, the average latency can be easily calculated.

Transaction performance monitoring in a processor bus bridge

In one embodiment, a method for writing data to a storage-device array (i) including three or more storage devices and (ii) having a plurality of stripes, each stripe having two or more sector levels, each sector level containing one sector on each storage device in the array at corresponding addresses across the storage devices. The method includes: (a) calculating a parity index based on (i) an index value for a current stripe and (ii) the number of storage devices in the array, the parity index identifying a first storage device for parity data for the current stripe; and (b) at each sector level of the current stripe: (b1) writing parity data to the first storage device identified by the parity index; and (b2) writing information to the remaining storage devices.

Parity rotation in storage-device array

In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for repairing a defective storage device in a physical storage-device array having a plurality of storage devices. The method comprises the steps of identifying a disk error associated with the defective storage device; effecting an error recovery pause based on the disk error; processing one or more outstanding data storage or retrieval requests; and generating a new data storage request instructing the physical disk device array having the defective storage device to store valid data associated with the data storage or retrieval request corresponding to the disk device error, whereby the defective storage device is repaired.

Method and apparatus for repairing uncorrectable drive errors in an integrated network attached storage device

In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for accessing a physical storage-device array comprising a plurality of storage devices. The method includes (1) obtaining at least one parameter from a profile selected from two or more profiles concurrently defining two or more virtual arrays, each profile defining (i) a different virtual array associated with a corresponding set of storage devices and (ii) a parameter set of one or more parameters used for accessing the virtual array; and (2) generating an instruction, based on the at least one parameter, for accessing, or disallowing access to, information in the virtual array defined by the selected profile, wherein a parameter in each the parameter set defined by each profile indicates whether two or more storage devices in the corresponding virtual array are degraded.

Double degraded array protection in an integrated network attached storage device

An improved RAID storage system adapted to selectively and automatically store the same data 'in tandem' using two different storage profiles. In one embodiment, a first store operation occurs in accordance with first storage profile and, if a flag in the first storage profile is set, a second store operation automatically occurs in accordance with a second storage profile but with the same data as stored in the first store operation. The first and second storage profiles are stored sequentially in profile registers within a controller in the storage system. To speed the tandem operation, the data may be held in a re-readable FIFO buffer in the controller. The buffer is sized to hold the minimum size of data that can be stored to the physical disks in the storage system. Preferably, the size of the buffer is substantially equal to the minimum size.

RAID storage system with tandem operation using multiple virtual profiles

In one embodiment, a method for accessing a physical storage-device array comprising a plurality of storage devices. The method includes (1) obtaining at least one parameter from a profile selected from two or more profiles concurrently defining two or more virtual arrays, each profile defining (i) a different virtual array associated with a corresponding set of storage devices and (ii) a parameter set of one or more parameters used for accessing the virtual array; and (2) generating an instruction, based on the at least one parameter, for accessing information to the virtual array defined by the selected profile.

Virtual profiles for storage-device array encoding/decoding

In one embodiment, an apparatus for reading from a physical storage-device array including a plurality of storage devices. The physical storage-device array has a plurality of sector levels, each sector level containing one sector on each storage device in the array at corresponding addresses on across the storage devices. The apparatus includes: (1) a memory adapted to store two or more profiles, each profile defining (i) a virtual array associated with a selected set of the storage devices and (ii) one or more parameters used for accessing information from the virtual array; (2) a buffer (i) having a first portion and a second portion and (ii) coupled to receive data from the storage devices; and (3) a state machine (i) coupled to the buffer and the memory and (ii) adapted to generate two or more successive pairs of instructions. The first instruction of each pair of instructions (i) is based on one or more parameters of a first profile and (ii) is an instruction to read, into the first portion of the buffer, one sector of data from each storage device of a first virtual array; and the second instruction of each pair of instructions (i) is based on one or more parameters of a second profile and (ii) is an instruction to read, into the second portion of the buffer, one sector of data from each storage device of a second virtual array.

Ping-pong state machine for storage-device array

In one embodiment, a method for reading data from a storage-device array including three or more storage devices. The array has a plurality of sector levels, each sector level containing one sector on each storage device in the array at corresponding addresses across the storage devices. Each sector level includes (i) parity data stored on a first storage device and (ii) information stored on the two or more remaining storage devices. The parity data for a current sector level is generated from the information stored at the current sector level on the remaining storage devices. The method includes: (a) generating an instruction for reading (i) the parity data from the first storage device at the current sector level and (ii) the information from the remaining storage devices at the current sector level; (b) receiving an indicator indicating whether one of the remaining storage devices is a degraded storage device; (c) if the indicator does not indicate a degraded storage device, then providing as output the information read from the remaining storage devices at the current sector level; and (d) if the indicator does indicate a degraded storage device, then: (d1) reconstructing information previously stored on the degraded storage device at the current sector level based on (i) the parity data read from the first storage device at the current sector level, and (ii) the information read from each remaining non-degraded storage device at the current sector level; and (d2) providing as output (i) the information read from the one or more non-degraded storage devices at the current sector level and (ii) the reconstructed information.

Back-annotation in storage-device array

Various apparatus and methods for controlling data for a redundant array of inexpensive/independent disks (RAID) are presented. For example, in one illustrative embodiment, a controlling apparatus can include a translation device composed substantially entirely of gate-level electronic hardware, wherein the translation device includes a sector sequencer capable of arranging sector units of target data and parity data on a plurality of N disks as a function of block location.

High-speed redundant disk controller methods and systems

A method includes storing first and second sets of parameters in a register. Each set of parameters defines a storage transaction to store data to a computer readable medium or a retrieval transaction to retrieve data from the computer readable medium. The first storage or retrieval transaction is performed according to the first set of parameters. The second set of parameters is retrieved from the register automatically when the first storage or retrieval transaction is completed, without waiting for a further command from a control processor. The second storage or retrieval transaction is performed according to the retrieved second set of parameters. A system for performing the method and a computer readable medium containing pseudocode for generating an application specific integrated circuit that performs the method are provided.

Method and apparatus for disk address and transfer size management

Various apparatus and methods for controlling data for a redundant array of inexpensive/independent disks (RAID) are presented. For example, in one illustrative embodiment, a controlling apparatus can include a translation device capable of reading data from a plurality of N disks, wherein the data of the N disks has a format consisting of a sequence of block stripes with each block containing one or more sector stripes, and wherein each sector stripe is formatted such that N&#x2212;1 of the sectors contain contiguous target data and the remaining sector contains parity data for the other N&#x2212;1 target data sectors.

Growing community of inventors

Hillsborough, NJ, United States of America

Richard Joseph Byrne