Granted Patent B2

US 8,090,905 · App. 12/413,307 · Granted Jan 3, 2012

Abstract

Claims (50)

1. A method, comprising:

receiving logical block address de-allocation information in a first format associated with a first protocol;

converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol; and

determining whether one of user data or protection data associated with the logical block address de-allocation information can be de-allocated independently.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first protocol includes a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) protocol and the second protocol includes an AT Attachment (ATA) protocol.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first protocol includes an ATA protocol and the second protocol includes an SCSI protocol.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical block address de-allocation information includes a de-allocation command.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the de-allocation command includes a command to de-allocate at least one of user data and protection information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the logical block address de-allocation information includes a de-allocation status.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising de-allocating one of the user data or the protection data independently, if it is determined that one of the user data or the protection data associated with the logical block address de-allocation information can be de-allocated independently.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving logical block address de-allocation information in a first format associated with a first protocol;

converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol; and

wherein converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to the second format includes converting an SCSI UNMAP command to an ATA data set management command.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving power loss information in the first format associated with the first protocol.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format associated with the second protocol.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format includes converting one of a power loss primitive or a power loss command to one of a primitive or command for hardening data.

12. The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving a command to write a pattern of data in the first format associated with the first protocol.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising converting the command to write a pattern of data in the first format to the second format associated with the second protocol.

14. A method, comprising:

receiving logical block address de-allocation information in a first format associated with a first protocol;

converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol;

receiving power loss information in the first format associated with the first protocol;

converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format associated with the second protocol; and

wherein converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format includes converting an SCSI power loss primitive to an ATA flush cache command.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving logical block address de-allocation information in a first format associated with a first protocol;

converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol;

receiving a command to write a pattern of data in the first format associated with the first protocol;

converting the command to write a pattern of data in the first format to the second format associated with the second protocol; and

wherein the command to write a pattern of data includes one of a WRITE SAME command or a FORMAT command.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein at least one of user data or protection data is de-allocated based on the converted command to write a pattern of data.

17. A method, comprising:

receiving logical block address de-allocation information in a first format associated with a first protocol;

converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol; and

wherein converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to the second format includes converting a SATA logical block address block alignment to an SCSI logical block address block alignment.

18. A computer program product embodied on a tangible computer readable medium, comprising:

computer code for receiving logical block address de-allocation information in a first format associated with a first protocol;

computer code for converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol; and

wherein converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to the second format includes converting an SCSI UNMAP command to an ATA data set management command.

19. The computer program product of claim 18 , further comprising:

computer code for receiving power loss information in a first format associated with a first protocol;

computer code for converting the power loss information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol; and

wherein converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format includes converting one of a power loss primitive or a power loss command to one of a primitive or command for hardening data.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a bridge for receiving logical block address de-allocation information in a first format associated with a first protocol and for converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol; and

wherein converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to the second format includes converting an SCSI UNMAP command to an ATA data set management command.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising:

wherein the bridge is further for receiving power loss information in a first format associated with a first protocol and for converting the power loss information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol; and

wherein converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format includes the bridge converting one of a power loss primitive or a power loss command to one of a primitive or command for hardening data.

Assignments (6)