Thomas Lynn Noland

US Patent:

7073038, Jul 4, 2006

Filed:

May 22, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/155612

Inventors:

Charles A. Milligan - Golden CO, US
Thomas Nelson Noland - Louisville CO, US
Leslie K. Hodge - Westminster CO, US

Assignee:

Storage Technology Corporation - Louisville CO

International Classification:

G06F 12/00

US Classification:

711165, 711162, 711161, 711207, 707204

Abstract:

An apparatus and method for implementing structure level pointers in a data storage system are provided. With the apparatus and method, a compound pointer system is provided in which fixed level pointers are augmented with associated pointers to metadata describing lower level structures. The companion metadata describes these lower level structures in a manner independent of the actual data stored within the lower level structures. With such an enhanced compound pointer system, an instant copy mechanism can process the pointers to the underlying structures and take instant copies of much finer detail. This allows individual records of data to be represented by the pointer system without having the overhead of carrying a pointer to all the individual records. The instant copy mechanism not only copies the fixed level pointers, but resolves the companion pointers to individual subsets of a general granularity for the instances of the instant copy domains.

US Patent:

7080378, Jul 18, 2006

Filed:

May 17, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/150174

Inventors:

Thomas Nelson Noland - Louisville CO, US
Charles A. Milligan - Golden CO, US
Leslie K. Hodge - Westminster CO, US

Assignee:

Storage Technology Corporation - Louisville CO

International Classification:

G06F 9/46

US Classification:

718104, 718105, 709224, 709226

Abstract:

A method for scaling resources according to workload among virtual servers running on a mainframe computer is provided. The invention comprises monitoring the number of service requests received by a cluster of virtual servers and determining if the service requests exceed a specified service limit for the servers. If the number of service requests exceeds the specified service limit, a new virtual server is automatically deployed by a software solution. This additional virtual server performs identical services as the other virtual servers in the cluster. This process is repeated until there are a sufficient number of servers to handle the workload. Service requests are then allocated among the cluster of virtual servers, until the number of requests falls below a certain threshold, at which point the extra servers are automatically deactivated.

US Patent:

7107272, Sep 12, 2006

Filed:

Dec 2, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/307797

Inventors:

Charles A. Milligan - Golden CO, US
Thomas Nelson Noland - Louisville CO, US
Leslie K. Hodge - Westminster CO, US

Assignee:

Storage Technology Corporation - Louisville CO

International Classification:

G06F 17/30

US Classification:

707 10, 707100, 7071041, 707103 R

Abstract:

An independent distributed metadata system and method are provided. With the system and method, metadata, which is associated with data at one or more data source locations, may be distributed independently of the data and manipulated independently to generate various computing environments. For example, a user may obtain a copy of metadata and use this metadata, at a remote location from the data source location, to create a computing environment, such as a virtual server, web page or the like. The computing environment created by the user consists entirely of metadata and does not include the actual data to which the metadata is associated. In this way, different users may have independent copies of the metadata and use it to generate their own computing environments without having to have access to the actual data. When the computing environment is to be implemented in a computing device, such as a server or servers on a network, the metadata defining the computing environment may be uploaded to the computing device. The computing device may then perform a verification of the metadata with the original metadata source location and download the corresponding data from the data source location.

US Patent:

7293134, Nov 6, 2007

Filed:

Dec 30, 2004

Appl. No.:

11/026077

Inventors:

Thomas Nelson Noland - Boulder CO, US
Charles A. Milligan - Golden CO, US
Leslie K. Hodge - Westminster CO, US

Assignee:

Storage Technology Corporation - Louisville CO

International Classification:

G06F 12/00

US Classification:

711111, 711202, 707 10

Abstract:

A system and method are disclosed for providing an enhanced snapshot copy pointer. A data element is stored in a first storage subsystem in the data processing system. A first pointer is created in a pointer table in the first storage subsystem. The first pointer includes an address of the data element. A second pointer is created in the pointer table in the first storage subsystem. The second pointer includes an address of the first pointer.

US Patent:

20020184490, Dec 5, 2002

Filed:

Jun 5, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/874649

Inventors:

Steven McCown - Brighton CO, US
Stephen Selkirk - Broomfield CO, US
Thomas Noland - Louisville CO, US
Michael Leonhardt - Longmont CO, US
Charles Milligan - Golden CO, US

Assignee:

Storage Technology Corporation

International Classification:

H04L009/00

US Classification:

713/155000

Abstract:

A method, computer program product, and data storage device for directly downloading data (including audio or video data) from a server in a network to a network-connected storage device is disclosed. The invention prevents piracy of copyrighted data by bypassing any unencrypted transmission to a computer system. A computer sends a request to a server to download the particular data to a particular storage device. The server contacts the storage device directly through the network to initiate the transfer. The server and storage device communicate over an encrypted data channel so as to prevent any third party, including the aforementioned computer, from intercepting and storing the transmitted data.

US Patent:

20030051159, Mar 13, 2003

Filed:

Sep 11, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/951688

Inventors:

Steven McCown - Brighton CO, US
Stephen Selkirk - Broomfield CO, US
Thomas Noland - Louisville CO, US
Michael Leonhardt - Longmont CO, US
Charles Milligan - Golden CO, US

International Classification:

H04L009/32

US Classification:

713/201000

Abstract:

A method, computer program product, and data storage device for downloading data with variable quality (including audio or video data) from a server in a network to a computer or network-connected storage device is disclosed. A file is encrypted using multiple keys, such that possessing less than all of the keys allows only a portion of the data to be decrypted. The quality of level of the data read decrypted from the file is dependent upon which keys the downloading party holds. The file is downloaded to a computer or network-connected storage device.

US Patent:

20030051160, Mar 13, 2003

Filed:

Sep 11, 2001

Appl. No.:

09/951945

Inventors:

Stephen Selkirk - Broomfield CO, US
Thomas Noland - Louisville CO, US
Michael Leonhardt - Longmont CO, US
Charles Milligan - Golden CO, US

International Classification:

H04L009/32

US Classification:

713/201000

Abstract:

A method, computer program product, and firmware device for directly downloading data from a server in a network to a firmware device, bypassing any unencrypted transmission through computer system with which the firmware device may be associated, so that copies of the data are not as readily made is disclosed. A computer sends a request to a server to download the particular data to a particular firmware device. The server contacts the firmware device directly through the network to initiate the transfer. The server and firmware device communicate over an encrypted data channel so as to prevent any third party, including the aforementioned computer, from intercepting and storing the transmitted data.

US Patent:

20040128269, Jul 1, 2004

Filed:

Dec 27, 2002

Appl. No.:

10/330875

Inventors:

Charles Milligan - Golden CO, US
Thomas Noland - Louisville CO, US
Leslie Hodge - Westminster CO, US

International Classification:

G06F007/00

US Classification:

707/001000

Abstract:

A system and method for providing families of inter-related copies of metadata in which the copies of metadata are logically linked. With the system and method, a mapping table or portion of a mapping table used to manage instant copies of data, i.e. a metadata table, may have multiple identical copies of the metadata table that form a family of inter-related metadata tables. These copies of the metadata table are guaranteed, through the mechanisms of the system and method, to be consistent with each other. Changes to any metadata table in the family are propagated to all the other metadata tables in the family regardless of the physical location at which the metadata table is stored. Thus, the copies of the metadata table may be distributed to remote physical locations and be used to access the same set of data stored in one physical location, while remaining consistent with each other copy of the metadata table stored at other physical locations.