Methods and systems for a storage system
DCFirst Claim
Patent Images
1. A storage system, comprising:
- one or more memory sections, includingone or more memory devices having storage locations for storing data, anda memory section controller capable of detecting faults in the memory section and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected faults; and
one or more switches, includingone or more interfaces for connecting to one or more external devices; and
a switch fabric connected to one or more memory sections and the external device interfaces and interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces based on an algorithm; and
a management system capable of receiving fault messages from the memory section controllers and removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received, and wherein the management system is further capable of determining an algorithm for use by a switch fabric in interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces, and instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm,wherein an interface of the switch is connected to a non-volatile storage device, and wherein the management system is further capable of instructing the non-volatile storage device to load data into one or more of the memory sections via the switch.
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Abstract
A storage system that may include one or more memory sections, one or more switches, and a management system. The memory sections include memory devices and a section controller capable of detecting faults with the memory section and transmitting messages to the management system regarding detected faults. The storage system may include a management system capable of receiving fault messages from the section controllers and removing from, service the faulty memory sections. Additionally, the management system may determine routing algorithms for the one or more switches.
135 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A storage system, comprising:
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one or more memory sections, including one or more memory devices having storage locations for storing data, and a memory section controller capable of detecting faults in the memory section and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected faults; and
one or more switches, includingone or more interfaces for connecting to one or more external devices; and a switch fabric connected to one or more memory sections and the external device interfaces and interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces based on an algorithm; and a management system capable of receiving fault messages from the memory section controllers and removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received, and wherein the management system is further capable of determining an algorithm for use by a switch fabric in interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces, and instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm, wherein an interface of the switch is connected to a non-volatile storage device, and wherein the management system is further capable of instructing the non-volatile storage device to load data into one or more of the memory sections via the switch. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
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4. A storage system, comprising:
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one or more memory sections, including one or more memory devices having storage locations for storing data, and a memory section controller capable of detecting faults in the memory section and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected faults; and
one or more switches, includingone or more interfaces for connecting to one or more external devices; and a switch fabric connected to one or more memory sections and the external device interfaces and interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces based on an algorithm; a management system capable of receiving fault messages from the memory section controllers and removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received, and wherein the management system is further capable of determining an algorithm for use by a switch fabric in interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces, and instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm; and an interface for connecting to an external management system such that configuration management may be performed through the external management system.
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5. A storage system, comprising:
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one or more memory sections, including one or more memory devices having storage locations for storing data, and a memory section controller capable of detecting faults in the memory section and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected faults; and one or more switches, including one or more interfaces for connecting to one or more external devices; and a switch fabric connected to one or more memory sections and the external device interfaces and interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces based on an algorithm; a management system capable of receiving fault messages from the memory section controllers and removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received, and wherein the management system is further capable of determining an algorithm for use by a switch fabric in interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces, and instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm; and one or more pipeline shift registers, including one or more shift registers for receiving data stored in a memory device and outputting the data in response to receiving one or more clock signals.
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6. A storage system, comprising:
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one or more memory sections, including one or more memory devices having storage locations for storing data, and a memory section controller capable of detecting faults in the memory section and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected faults; and
one or more switches, includingone or more interfaces for connecting to one or more external devices; and a switch fabric connected to one or more memory sections and the external device interfaces and interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces based on an algorithm; and a management system capable of receiving fault messages from the memory section controllers and removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received, and wherein the management system is further capable of determining an algorithm for use by a switch fabric in interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces, and instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm, wherein one or more memory sections includes a memory interface device for receiving, in response to the memory section receiving a data request, data from a memory device, and the memory interface device combines the requested data and an identifier for use in forwarding the requested data, the address being received by the memory interface device from the memory section controller. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A storage system, comprising:
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one or more memory sections, including one or more memory devices having storage locations for storing data, and a memory section controller capable of detecting faults in the memory section and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected faults; and one or more switches, including one or more interfaces for connecting to one or more external devices; and a switch fabric connected to one or more memory sections and the external device interfaces and interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces based on an algorithm; and a management system capable of receiving fault messages from the memory section controllers and removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received, and wherein the management system is further capable of determining an algorithm for use by a switch fabric in interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces, and instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm, wherein the management system includes; one or more control processors for determining and providing the algorithm to the switch; and one or more administration processors for collecting statistical data from the one or more switches and the one or more memory sections.
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13. A storage system, comprising:
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one or more memory sections, including one or more memory devices having storage locations for storing data, and a memory section controller capable of detecting faults in the memory section and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected faults; and one or more switches, including one or more interfaces for connecting to one or more external devices; and a switch fabric connected to one or more memory sections and the external device interfaces and interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces based on an algorithm; and a management system capable of receiving fault messages from the memory section controllers and removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received, and wherein the management system is further capable of determining an algorithm for use by a switch fabric in interconnecting the memory sections and the external device interfaces, and instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm, wherein at least one memory section further includes a temporary storage device for storing data to be written to a memory device; and a temporary storage interface device for storing data in and retrieving data from the temporary storage device; wherein at least one of the switches is capable of, in response to receiving data to be stored in the memory section, forwarding the data to the temporary storage interface device, and wherein the temporary storage interface stores the data in the temporary storage device if a memory device to which the data is to be written is busy, and wherein the temporary storage interface device retrieves the data from the temporary storage device when the memory device is no longer busy and forwards the data to the memory device such that the memory device stores the data.
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14. A method for use in a storage system, comprising:
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storing data in storage locations in a memory device, the memory device included in a memory section; a management system determining an algorithm for use by a switch in connecting the memory section and an external device interface; the management system instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm; the switch connecting the memory section to the external device interfaces based on the algorithm; detecting by a memory section controller a fault in regard to the data stored in the memory device and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected fault to the management system; receiving the fault message at the management system; the management system removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received; the management system instructing a non-volatile storage device to load data into a memory section via the switch; and storing the data from the non-volatile storage device in a memory device in the memory section. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A method for use in a storage system, comprising:
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storing data in storage locations in a memory device, the memory device included in a memory section; a management system determining an algorithm for use by a switch in connecting the memory section and an external device interface; the management system instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm; the switch connecting the memory section to the external device interfaces based on the algorithm; detecting by a memory section controller a fault in regard to the data stored in the memory device and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected fault to the management system; receiving the fault message at the management system; the management system removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received; a memory interface device in the memory section receiving, in response to the memory section receiving a data request, data from a memory device; the memory interface device receiving from the memory section controller an identifier for use in forwarding the requested data; the memory interface device combining the requested data and the identifier, and the memory interface device forwarding the combined data and identifier to a destination device. - View Dependent Claims (18)
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19. A method for use in a storage system, comprising:
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storing data in storage locations in a memory device, the memory device included in a memory section; a management system determining an algorithm for use by a switch in connecting the memory section and an external device interface; the management system instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm; the switch connecting the memory section to the external device interfaces based on the algorithm; detecting by a memory section controller a fault in regard to the data stored in the memory device and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected fault to the management system; receiving the fault message at the management system; the management system removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received; a memory interface device in the memory section receiving, in response to the memory section receiving a data request, data from the memory device; shifting data in one or more shift registers in a set of shift registers interconnected in series from the shift register to a next one of the shift registers in the set on the basis of a clock signal having a shift frequency, wherein the shift registers are included in the memory interface device; loading data from the memory device into a corresponding shift register in the set; and shifting the data loaded into one or more of the shift registers to a next one of the shift registers in the set according to the shift frequency, wherein the shift registers maintains their shift frequency during the loading of the data from the memory devices into the shift registers.
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20. A method for use in a storage system, comprising:
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storing data in storage locations in a memory device, the memory device included in a memory section; a management system determining an algorithm for use by a switch in connecting the memory section and an external device interface; the management system instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm; the switch connecting the memory section to the external device interfaces based on the algorithm; detecting by a memory section controller a fault in regard to the data stored in the memory device and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected fault to the management system; receiving the fault message at the management system; the management system removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received; a memory interface device in the memory section receiving, in response to the memory section receiving a data request, data from the memory device; shifting data in one or more shift registers in a set of shift registers interconnected in series from the shift registers to a next one of the shift registers in the set on the basis of a clock signal having a shift frequency, the shift registers included in the memory interface device; loading data from one or more of the shift registers to the memory device; and shifting the data loaded from the one or more shift registers to a next one of the shift registers in the set according to the shift frequency after the data is loaded into the memory device, wherein the shift registers maintains their shift frequency during the loading of the data.
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21. A method for use in a storage system, comprising:
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storing data in storage locations in a memory device, the memory device included in a memory section; a management system determining an algorithm for use by a switch in connecting the memory section and an external device interface; the management system instructing the switch to execute the determined algorithm; the switch connecting the memory section to the external device interfaces based on the algorithm; detecting by a memory section controller a fault in regard to the data stored in the memory device and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected fault to the management system; receiving the fault message at the management system; the management system removing from service the memory section from which the fault message was received; receiving data to be stored in the memory device; forwarding the data to a temporary storage interface device; the temporary storage device storing data to be stored in a temporary storage device if the memory device to which the data is to be written is busy; the temporary storage interface device retrieving the data from the temporary storage device when the memory device to which the data is to be stored is no longer busy; and the memory device storing the data.
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Specification