Patent · US Expired

Using external memory devices to improve system performance

US7490197B2 · kind B2 · utility

30Cited by
7References
27Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateOct 21, 2004
Grant dateFeb 10, 2009
Priority date
Expiry dateDec 11, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F12/0866
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The invention is directed towards a system and method that utilizes external memory devices to cache sectors from a rotating storage device (e.g., a hard drive) to improve system performance. When an external memory device (EMD) is plugged into the computing device or onto a network in which the computing device is connected, the system recognizes the EMD and populates the EMD with disk sectors. The system routes I/O read requests directed to the disk sector to the EMD cache instead of the actual disk sector. The use of EMDs increases performance and productivity on the computing device systems for a fraction of the cost of adding memory to the computing device.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.