Parallel data storage system
View Patent ↗A parallel data storage system for storing data received from, or retrieving data to, a host system using multiple data storage devices. The system includes an interface for communicating with the host system and a buffer configured to store data sectors received from the host system via the interface. A switch is used to selectively connect the interface and the data storage devices to the buffer to facilitate the transfer of data into and out of the buffer. The data sectors are transferred by segmenting each sector into multiple smaller data cells and distributing these data cells among the data storage devices using an arbitrated distribution method.
1. A method for storing data in an array of data storage devices, comprising:
receiving data from a host;
segmenting the data into a plurality of data cells;
distributing the plurality of data cells among a plurality of data storage devices; and
storing the data cells in the respective data storage devices.
2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising storing the data received from the host in a buffer.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the step of receiving data from a host comprises transferring the data from the host to a host interface, and the step of storing data received from the host in a buffer comprises transferring the received data from the host interface to the buffer.
4. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the step of distributing the plurality of data cells comprises transferring the data cells from the buffer to storage interfaces in communication with respective ones of the plurality of data storage devices, and the step of storing the data cells in the respective data storage devices comprises transferring the data cells from the storage interfaces to the respective data storage devices.
5. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising allocating access to the buffer using an arbitration method.
6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the arbitration method is one of a round-robin method, a fixed priority method and a dynamic priority method.
7. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising reassembling the data cells distributed to each of the plurality of data storage devices prior to storing the data cells in the respective data storage devices.
8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the data cells are distributed among the plurality of data storage devices using a routing algorithm.
9. A data management system, comprising:
a host interface configured to communicate with a host;
a buffer configured to store data;
a plurality of storage interfaces configured to communicate with a respective plurality of data storage devices; and
a controller configured to transfer data received from the host between the host interface and the buffer, to segment the data stored in the buffer into a plurality of data cells, and to distribute the plurality of data cells among the plurality of storage interfaces for storing in the respective data storage devices.
10. The data management system according to claim 9 , further comprising a switch configured to selectively connect the host interface and the plurality of storage interfaces to the buffer.
11. The data management system according to claim 10 , wherein the controller is further configured to allocate access to the buffer via the switch using an arbitration method.
12. The data management system according to claim 11 , wherein the arbitration method is one of a round-robin method, a fixed priority method and a dynamic priority method.
13. The data management system according to claim 9 , wherein the plurality of storage interfaces are configured to reassemble the data cells distributed to each storage interface prior to storing the data in the respective data storage devices.
14. The data management system according to claim 9 , wherein the controller is further configured to distribute the data cells among the plurality of storage interfaces using a routing algorithm.
15. The data management system according to claim 9 , wherein the data transfer rate of the host interface is faster than the data transfer rates of the plurality of storage interfaces.
16. The data management system according to claim 9 , wherein the buffer is a multi-port random access memory.
17. The data management system according to claim 9 , wherein the host interface is one of an Advanced Technology Attachment interface, a Universal Serial Bus interface, and a CompactFlash interface.
18. The data management system according to claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of storage interfaces is one of an Advanced Technology Attachment interface, a Universal Serial Bus interface, and a CompactFlash interface.
19. The data management system according to claim 9 , wherein the data storage devices are solid-state data storage devices.
20. A data storage system, comprising:
a host interface configured to communicate with a host;
a buffer configured to store data;
a plurality of solid-state data storage devices;
a plurality of storage interfaces configured to communicate with respective ones of the plurality of solid-state data storage devices;
a switch configured to selective connect the host interface and the plurality of storage interfaces to the buffer; and
a controller configured to transfer data received from the host between the host interface and the buffer, to segment the data stored in the buffer into a plurality of data cells, to distribute the plurality of data cells among the plurality of storage interfaces for storing in the respective data storage devices, and to store the plurality of data cells in the respective data storage devices.