The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 23, 1999
Filed:
Jul. 24, 1996
David John Craft, Austin, TX (US);
Richard Greenberg, Rochester, MN (US);
International Business Machiness Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A system and related architecture for providing random access cache storage between a processor accessing data at high speed and in small block units and a mass storage medium holding data in large transfer units. Lossless data compression is applied to large transfer units of data before storage in a DRAM. Cache address space is assigned in allocation units which are assigned without a prespecified pattern within the DRAM but linked through chains. The chain lengths are adjusted to match the compressibility characteristics of transfer units and include resources for scavenging residuals. Logical blocks materially smaller than the transfer units are accessed and decompressed during readout from the DRAM. The system architecture provides resources for accessing the individual logical blocks through an index. The invention is particularly suited for a disk drive cache system having a small cache DRAM in conjunction with a magnetic or optical disk mass storage system reading highly compressible data.