High density hybrid storage system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9858958-B2
Application number	US-201514855294-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 15, 2015
Priority date	Jan 30, 2013
Publication date	Jan 2, 2018
Grant date	Jan 2, 2018

Abstract

A computer-implemented method includes receiving a request for data; determining whether the data is stored in a linear storage media tier and/or in a second storage tier having higher performance than the linear storage media tier. The linear storage media tier includes: reels having linear media thereon, a rest area for storing the reels when not in use, linear media drive(s) configured for reading and/or writing the linear media, and mobile robot(s) for transporting the linear storage media between the rest area and the linear media drive(s). The method also includes instructing the mobile robot to transport one of the reels having the data thereon to one of the linear media drives in the linear storage media tier when the data is stored in the linear storage media tier; receiving the data from the one of the linear media drives; and sending the data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving a request for data;
determining whether the data is stored in a system comprising a linear storage media tier and/or in a second storage tier having higher performance than the linear storage media tier;
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 mobile robot for transporting the linear storage media between the rest area and the at least one linear media drive, wherein the robot moves unconstrained along a first surface and wherein the first surface is unpatterned;

instructing the mobile robot to transport one of the reels having the data thereon to one of the linear media drives in the linear storage media tier when it is determined that the data is stored in the linear storage media tier;
receiving the data from the one of the linear media drives; and
sending the data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the rest area includes a horizontal surface where the reels are stored when the reels are not in use, the rest area having a mechanism for selectively moving the reels vertically for engagement with the at least one mobile robot.

3. The method 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 method of claim 1 , wherein the request includes a disk storage command from a disk storage interface, 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 storage interface.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving random access input write data; and converting the random access input write data to sequential data when written to the linear media;
accumulating the write data prior to being moved to the linear storage media tier, wherein the accumulated write data are associated with several random access write requests in the second storage tier; and
wherein the accumulated write data in the second storage tier are 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.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first surface is a ceiling of the linear storage media tier, and wherein the rest area is positioned on a floor of the linear storage media tier opposite the first surface.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one mobile robot is magnetically coupled to the first surface.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the linear storage media tier includes at least two drives;
wherein a first subset of the at least two drives is optimized for writing;
wherein a second subset of the at least two drives is optimized for reading;
wherein at least one of the second subset of the at least two drives is a read-only drive; and
wherein read operations are directed to drives not performing write operations.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the linear storage media tier comprises multiple levels, each level comprising:
an upper surface along which the at least one mobile robot moves unconstrained; and
a lower surface comprising a rest area for storing the reels when the reels are not in use.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one mobile robot moves unconstrained along the first surface by hanging from an underside of the first surface and driving the at least one mobile robot using a plurality of wheels in contact with the underside of the first surface.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the linear storage media tier includes a plurality of mobile robots, and further comprising utilizing the plurality of robots in overlapping operations to increase a data throughput of the system.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing coarse locate operations on the reels at a winding station prior to the reels being mounted to the one or more linear media drives.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising maintaining in a mapping module a map of data on the linear media in the second storage tier such that a location of a block of data on the linear media can be determined without reading the linear media.

14. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
receiving a request to write data;
determining whether to store the data in a linear storage media tier and/or in a second storage tier having higher performance than the linear storage media tier;
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 for reading and/or writing the linear media;
a first surface;
a second surface vertically opposite and substantially parallel to the first surface, the second surface comprising the rest area; and
at least one mobile robot for transporting the linear storage media between the rest area and the at least one linear media drive, wherein the robot moves unconstrained along the first surface, and wherein the at least one mobile robot and the reels are located between the first surface and the second surface;

instructing the mobile robot to transport one of the reels to a selected linear media drive in the linear storage media tier when the determination is to store the data in the linear storage media tier; and
sending the data to the selected linear media drive for writing on the reel.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
receiving random access input write data; and converting the random access input write data to sequential data when written to the linear media;
accumulating the write data associated with several random access write requests in the second storage tier prior to being moved to the linear storage media tier; and
wherein the write data accumulated in the second storage tier are 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.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the at least one mobile robot hangs from an underside of the first surface while moving unconstrained along the first surface.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the at least one mobile robot is magnetically coupled to the first surface.

18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the linear storage media tier includes at least two drives, and wherein read operations are directed to drives not performing write operations.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first surface is unpatterned.

20. A computer program product for high density hybrid data storage, said computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage medium having stored thereon:
first program instructions executable by a computer to cause the computer to receive a request to write data;
second program instructions executable by the computer to cause the computer to determine whether to store the data in a linear storage media tier and/or in a second storage tier having higher performance than the linear storage media tier;
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

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Hetzler Steven R
• Mcclelland Gary M
• Rees Robert M

Classifications

• G11B15/6895

  Automatic tape changing arrangements · CPC title

• B65G1/137

  with arrangements or automatic control means for selecting which articles are to be removed · CPC title

• G11B23/037

  Single reels or spools · CPC title

• G11B15/68 Primary

  Automatic cassette changing arrangements; {automatic tape changing arrangements} · CPC title

• G11B15/6835

  the cassettes being transferred to a fixed recorder or player using a moving carriage · CPC title