High density hybrid storage system

{
  "publication_number": "US9263082B2",
  "country": "US",
  "kind": "B2",
  "title": "High density hybrid storage system",
  "abstract": "A system includes a linear storage media tier; a second storage tier having higher performance than the linear storage media tier; a data controller for moving data between the tiers; and a host interface responsive to disk and/or network storage commands. The linear storage media tier includes: a rest area for storing reels having linear media thereon, at least one linear media drive configured for reading and/or writing the linear media, and at least one robot for transporting the linear storage media between the rest area and the at least one linear media drive. The robot moves along a first surface via contact with the surface. A system according to another embodiment includes a linear storage media tier characterized by having a read access time to any block of data stored on any reel in the rest area in less than 10 seconds.",
  "claims": [
    "1. A system, comprising: a linear storage media tier; a second storage tier having higher performance than the linear storage media tier; a data controller for moving data between the tiers; and a host interface responsive to disk and/or network storage commands, wherein the linear storage media tier includes: a plurality of reels having linear media thereon, a rest area for storing the reels when the reels are not in use, at least one linear media drive configured for reading and/or writing the linear media, and at least one robot for transporting the linear storage media between the rest area and the at least one linear media drive, wherein the robot moves along a first surface via contact with the first surface, wherein the movement of the robot is not constrained to rails.",
    "2. The system of claim 1 wherein the rest area includes a horizontal surface where the reels are stored when the reels are not in use, and wherein at least one of the robot and the rest area comprise a mechanism for selectively moving the reels vertically for engagement with the robot.",
    "3. The system of claim 1 wherein a performance of the linear storage media tier is characterized by having a read access time to a block of data stored on a reel in the rest area in less than 10 seconds.",
    "4. The system of claim 1, wherein the host interface is configured to be responsive to disk and/or network storage commands from a disk and/or network storage interface in communication therewith, wherein access performance of the linear storage media tier is characterized by allowing data to be retrieved from anywhere in the system within an access time limit of the disk and/or network storage interface.",
    "5. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to receive random access input write data from a host and the data controller is configured to convert the random access input write data to sequential data when written to the linear media.",
    "6. The system of claim 5, wherein the random access input write data is associated with several random access write requests from the host, and wherein the random access input write data is accumulated in the second tier prior to being moved to the linear storage media tier.",
    "7. The system of claim 6, wherein the random access input write data accumulated in the second tier is written to the linear media such that at least an integer number of full wraps are written to the linear media in a single pass.",
    "8. The system of claim 1, wherein the linear storage media tier includes at least two drives, and wherein read operations are directed to drives not performing write operations.",
    "9. The system of claim 8, wherein a subset of the drives is optimized for writing.",
    "10. The system of claim 1, wherein at least two mobile robots move along the first surface, wherein the robots move along the first surface via contact with the first surface.",
    "11. The system of claim 1, wherein the first surface overlies the rest area.",
    "12. The system of claim 1, including a plurality of robots, wherein the system is configured for utilizing the plurality of robots in overlapping operations to increase a data throughput of the system.",
    "13. The system of claim 1, comprising a winding station for performing coarse locate operations and/or rewind operations on the reels prior to the reels being mounted to the at least one linear media drive.",
    "14. The system of claim 1, comprising a mapping module for maintaining a map of data on the linear media in the second tier such that a location of a block of data on the linear media can be determined without reading the linear media.",
    "15. A system, comprising: a linear storage media tier; and a host interface responsive to disk and/or network storage commands, wherein the linear storage media tier includes: a plurality of reels having linear media thereon, a rest area for storing the reels when the reels are not in use, at least one linear media drive configured for reading and/or writing the linear media, and at least one robot for transporting the linear storage media between the rest area and the at least one linear media drive, wherein the movement of the robot is not constrained to rails, and wherein a performance of the linear storage media tier is characterized by having a read access time to any block of data stored on any reel in the rest area in less than 10 seconds.",
    "16. The system of claim 15, comprising at least one unconstrained robot for transporting the linear storage media between the rest area and the at least one linear media drive, wherein the rest area includes a horizontal surface where the reels are stored when the reels are not in use, and wherein at least one of the robot and the rest area comprise a mechanism for selectively moving the reels vertically for engagement with the robot.",
    "17. The system of claim 15, wherein the host interface is configured to be responsive to disk and/or network storage commands from a disk and/or network storage interface in communication therewith, wherein access performance of the linear storage media tier is characterized by allowing data to be retrieved from anywhere in the system within an access time limit of the disk and/or network storage interface.",
    "18. The system of claim 15, wherein the system is configured to receive random access input write data from a host, the system being configured to convert the random access input write data to sequential data when written to the linear media.",
    "19. The system of claim 18, wherein the random access input write data is associated with several random access write requests from the host, wherein the random access input write data is accumulated in a second tier prior to being moved to the linear storage media tier, and wherein the random access input write data accumulated in the second tier is written to the linear media such that at least an integer number of full wraps are written to the linear media in a single pass.",
    "20. The system of claim 15, wherein the robot moves unconstrained along an upper surface that overlies the plurality of reels and is biased towards the upper surface.",
    "21. The system of claim 15, wherein the linear storage media tier includes at least two drives, and wherein read operations are directed to drives not performing write operations.",
    "22. The system of claim 15, including a plurality of mobile robots, wherein the system is configured for utilizing the plurality of mobile robots in overlapping operations to increase a data throughput of the system.",
    "23. The system of claim 15, comprising a winding station for performing coarse locate operations on the reels prior to the reels being mounted to the at least one linear media drive.",
    "24. The system of claim 15, comprising a mapping module configured to maintain a map of data on the linear media such that a location of a block of data on the linear media can be determined without reading the linear media."
  ],
  "description_excerpt": "The present invention relates to data storage systems, and more particularly, to hybrid storage systems having tiers of data storage.\n\nIn magnetic storage systems, data are read from, and written onto, a magnetic recording medium utilizing magnetic transducers. Data are written on the magnetic recording medium by moving a magnetic recording transducer to a position over the medium where the data are to be stored. The magnetic recording transducer then generates a magnetic field, which encodes the data into the magnetic medium. Data are read from the medium by similarly positioning the magnetic read transducer and then sensing the magnetic field of the magnetic medium. Read and write operations may be independently synchronized with the movement of the medium to ensure that the data can be read from, and written to, the desired location on the medium.\n\nIn a tape drive system, magnetic tape is moved over the surface of the tape head at high speed. Usually the tape head is designed to minimize the spacing between the head and the tape. The spacing between the magnetic head and the magnetic tape is crucial so that the recording gaps of the transducers, which are the source of the magnetic recording flux, are in near contact with the tape to effect writing sharp transitions. Also when the read element is in near contact with the tape, effective coupling of the magnetic field from the tape to the read element is possible.\n\nIn the near future, with the adoption of improved media, the cost of storing information (on a per byte basis) on tape is expected to decline by a factor of five or more with respect to magnetic disk.",
  "cpc": [
    "G11B 15/68",
    "B65G 1/137",
    "G11B 15/6835",
    "G11B 15/6895",
    "G11B 23/037"
  ],
  "ipc": [
    "G11B 15/68",
    "G11B 23/037"
  ],
  "assignees": [
    "International Business Machines Corp"
  ],
  "inventors": [
    "Steven R. Hetzler",
    "Gary M. McClelland",
    "Robert M. Rees"
  ],
  "filing_date": "2013-01-30",
  "publication_date": "2016-02-16",
  "grant_date": "2016-02-16",
  "priority_date": "2013-01-30",
  "application_number": "US-201313754714-A",
  "family_id": "51222827",
  "cited_by_count": 5,
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}