Virtual disks constructed from unused distributed storage
US8775734B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 15, 2011 |
| Grant date | Jul 8, 2014 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 21, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F3/0665
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A virtual disk is comprised of segments of unused capacity of physical computer-readable storage media co-located with computing devices that are communicationally coupled to one another through network communications. The computing devices execute one or more of a client process, a storage process and a controller process. The controller processes manage the metadata of the virtual disk, including a virtual disk topology that defines the relationships between certain ones of the physical computer-readable storage media and a particular virtual disk. The client process provide data for storage to certain ones of the computing devices executing the storage processes, as defined by a virtual disk topology, and also read data from storage from those computing devices. The client process additionally expose the virtual disk in the same manner as any other computer-readable medium.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.