STORAGE SYSTEM HAVING FIFO STORAGE AND RESERVED STORAGE

1 . An apparatus comprising:

memory circuitry having first-in-first-out storage and reserved storage, the first-in-first-out storage and the reserved storage including an array of data elements having contiguous addresses across the first-in-first-out storage and the reserved storage, the memory circuitry including a first-in-first-out pointer configured to reference an index corresponding to at least one data element of the array of data elements of the first-in-first-out storage to be read, the memory circuitry including a read pointer mapped to the first-in-first-out pointer and configured to reference a memory location of the data element to be read,

wherein the read pointer is mapped such that the read pointer does not reference a plurality of data elements stored in the reserved storage.

2 . The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a barrel shifter communicatively connected to the memory circuitry for receiving a data block from the first-in-first-out storage during a read operation.

3 . The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the read pointer identifies a row address of a next row to be read from the memory circuitry.

4 . The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the data element to be read stores a data block.

5 . The apparatus as recited in claim 4 , wherein the data block comprises a data block of a fixed-width.

6 . The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the memory circuitry is implemented as an integrated circuit.

7 . The apparatus as recited in claim 1 , wherein the memory circuitry is incorporated in a storage device.

8 . The apparatus as recited in claim 7 , wherein the storage device comprises a redundant array of independent disks.

9 . A system comprising:

memory circuitry having first-in-first-out storage and reserved storage, the first-in-first-out storage and the reserved storage including an array of data elements having contiguous addresses across the first-in-first-out storage and the reserved storage, the memory circuitry including a first-in-first-out pointer configured to reference an index corresponding to at least one data element of the array of data elements of the first-in-first-out storage to be read; and

an index updating module configured to receive the first-in-first-out pointer and generate a read pointer, the read pointer mapped to the first-in-first-out pointer and configured to reference a memory location of the data element to be read, wherein the read pointer is mapped such that the read pointer does not reference a plurality of data elements stored in the reserved storage.

10 . The system as recited in claim 9 , further comprising a barrel shifter communicatively connected to the memory circuitry for receiving a data block from the first-in-first-out storage during a read operation.

11 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the read pointer identifies a row address of a next row to be read from the memory circuitry.

12 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the data element to be read stores a data block.

13 . The system as recited in claim 12 , wherein the data block comprises a data block of a fixed-width.

14 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the memory circuitry is implemented as an integrated circuit.

15 . The system as recited in claim 9 , wherein the memory circuitry is incorporated in a storage device.

16 . The system as recited in claim 15 , wherein the storage device comprises a redundant array of independent disks.

17 . A method comprising:

receiving a command to initiate a read operation at a storage device, the storage device including first-in-first-out storage and reserved storage, the first-in-first-out storage and the reserved storage including an array of data elements having contiguous addresses across the first-in-first-out storage and the reserved storage, the array of data elements for storing data blocks;

furnishing a data block referenced by a read pointer to a barrel shifter, the data block stored in the first-in-first-out storage;

updating a first-in-first-out pointer based upon the read operation, the first-in-first-out pointer for referencing an index corresponding to at least one data element of the array of data elements of the first-in-first-out storage to be read; and

mapping a read pointer to the first-in-first-out pointer such that the read pointer does not reference a plurality of data elements stored in the reserved storage.

18 . The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the read pointer identifies a row address of a next row to be read from the memory circuitry.

19 . The method as recited in claim 17 , wherein the data element to be read stores a data block.

20 . The method as recited in claim 19 , wherein the data block comprises a data block of a fixed-width.