IP Library › Granted Patent US 10,318,474
Granted Patent B1
US 10,318,474 · App. 14/754,865 · Granted Jun 11, 2019

Data storage system with heterogenous parallel processors

Inventors: Jonathan Krasner (Coventry, RI); Steve Chalmer (Redwood City, CA); Bruce Ferjulian (Hudson, MA); Ian Wigmore (Westborough, MA)
Assignee: EMC IP Holding Company LLC
G06F15/17318G06F12/0811G06F13/1663G06F15/17331G06F2212/283
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 10,318,474
App. No.
14/754,865
Filed
Jun 30, 2015
Granted
Jun 11, 2019
Kind
B1
Art Unit
2136
USPC
711/120
Abstract

A storage node such as a storage array or storage server has storage controllers with heterogeneous parallel processors. The CPUs may be used to perform read and write operations. GPUs are used to produce transformed data from raw data. The GPUs may be used to perform various analytic calculations. The GPUs may be interconnected via dedicated communication links.

Claims (27)

1. An apparatus comprising:

at least one non-transitory data storage device; and

at least one storage controller adapted to present a logical storage device to a host device, maintain a mapping between the logical storage device and the at least one non-transitory data storage device; and provide the host device with access to the at least one non-transitory data storage device in response to a request which references the logical storage device, the at least one storage controller comprising a heterogeneous parallel processor comprising at least one central processing unit and at least one graphics processing unit.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 further comprising a shared memory cache, and wherein the at least one storage controller comprises at least one front end controller which has access to the shared memory cache and presents the logical storage device, and at least one back end controller which has access to the shared memory cache and the at least one non-transitory data storage device.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising a plurality of heterogeneous parallel processors comprising graphics processing units which are interconnected by at least one dedicated communication link.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one graphics processing unit is adapted to generate transformed data from raw data.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the raw data and the corresponding transformed data are stored on the at least one non-transitory data storage device.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 wherein the at least one central processing unit is adapted to provide extents of the transformed data stored on the at least one non-transitory data storage device to the host device.

7. The apparatus of claim 4 wherein the transformed data is provided to the host device by the at least one storage controller.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one graphics processing unit is adapted to perform analytic calculations to support an application running on the host device.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 wherein the analytic calculations comprise pattern matching.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one graphics processing unit is adapted to perform analytic calculations to support internal operations.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the at least one graphics processing unit is adapted to perform analytic calculations to support an unsupervised neural-net algorithm for storage tiering.

12. A method comprising:

storing data on at least one non-transitory data storage device;

with at least one storage controller:

presenting a logical storage device to a host device;

maintain a mapping between the logical storage device and the at least one non-transitory data storage device; and

providing the host device with access to the at least one non-transitory data storage device in response to a request which references the logical storage device, the at least one storage controller comprising a heterogeneous parallel processor with at least one central processing unit and at least one graphics processing unit; and

selectively performing calculations with ones of the at least one graphics processing unit.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising performing distributed calculations by multiple graphics processing units via at least one dedicated communication link.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising the at least one graphics processing unit generating transformed data from raw data.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising storing the raw data and the corresponding transformed data on the at least one non-transitory data storage device.

16. The method of claim 12 further comprising the at least one graphics processing unit performing analytic calculations to support an application running on the host device.

17. The method of claim 12 further comprising the at least one graphics processing unit performing pattern matching.

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising the at least one graphics processing unit performing analytic calculations to support internal operations.

19. The method of claim 12 further comprising the at least one graphics processing unit performing analytic calculations to support an unsupervised neural-net algorithm for storage tiering.

Assignments (10)
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (053546/0001) Recorded Jun 23, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 071642/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (045455/0001) Recorded May 20, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.); DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC CORPORATION (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MAGINATICS LLC); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MOZY, INC.); SCALEIO LLC
Reel/Frame 061753/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST IN PATENTS PREVIOUSLY RECORDED AT REEL/FRAME (040136/0001) Recorded Apr 26, 2022
From: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
To: DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.); DELL MARKETING L.P. (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.); DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL MARKETING CORPORATION (SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC. AND WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.); EMC CORPORATION (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MAGINATICS LLC); EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC (ON BEHALF OF ITSELF AND AS SUCCESSOR-IN-INTEREST TO MOZY, INC.); SCALEIO LLC
Reel/Frame 061324/0001 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Nov 3, 2021
From: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH
To: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL, L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
Reel/Frame 058216/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Apr 22, 2020
From: CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES INC.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A.
Reel/Frame 053546/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Mar 21, 2019
From: CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL USA L.P.; EMC CORPORATION; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A.
Reel/Frame 049452/0223 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 29, 2016
From: EMC CORPORATION
To: EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC
Reel/Frame 040203/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 21, 2016
From: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; SPANNING CLOUD APPS LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: THE BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON TRUST COMPANY, N.A., AS NOTES COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 040136/0001 →
SECURITY AGREEMENT Recorded Sep 21, 2016
From: ASAP SOFTWARE EXPRESS, INC.; AVENTAIL LLC; CREDANT TECHNOLOGIES, INC.; DELL USA L.P.; DELL INTERNATIONAL L.L.C.; DELL MARKETING L.P.; DELL PRODUCTS L.P.; DELL SOFTWARE INC.; DELL SYSTEMS CORPORATION; EMC CORPORATION; EMC IP HOLDING COMPANY LLC; FORCE10 NETWORKS, INC.; MAGINATICS LLC; MOZY, INC.; SCALEIO LLC; SPANNING CLOUD APPS LLC; WYSE TECHNOLOGY L.L.C.
To: CREDIT SUISSE AG, CAYMAN ISLANDS BRANCH, AS COLLATERAL AGENT
Reel/Frame 040134/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 13, 2015
From: KRASNER, JONATHAN; CHALMER, STEVE; FERJULIAN, BRUCE; WIGMORE, IAN
To: EMC CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 036069/0639 →
Cited By (2)
US 12,210,871 US 12,489,829