# US 10,120,575 B2 · Dynamic storage tiering > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,120,575 B2 - Document ID: US10120575B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/672,889 - Filed: 2015-03-30 - Published: 2015-10-01 - Granted: 2018-11-06 - Earliest claimed: 2014-03-31 - Assignees: EMC IP Holding Company LLC - Applicants: EMC Corporation - Inventors: Bruce Chen Shen; Bob Biao Yan; Huijuan Fan; Su Yang; Jessica Jing Ye; Yu Wen - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10120575B2 ## CPC - G06F 3/0607: {by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device} - G06F 3/0605: {by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator} - G06F 3/0649: {Lifecycle management} - G06F 3/0653: {Monitoring storage devices or systems} - G06F 3/0665: {at area level, e.g. provisioning of virtual or logical volumes} - G06F 3/068: {Hybrid storage device} - G06F 3/0685: {Hybrid storage combining heterogeneous device types, e.g. hierarchical storage, hybrid arrays} - G06F 3/0689: {Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD} - G06F 3/0647: {Migration mechanisms} - G06F 3/0673: {Single storage device} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method and apparatus for dynamic storage tiering by calculating a density of data according to a temperature of the data, and making the density of data with a higher temperature smaller; obtaining density threshold of each of the tiers, wherein the density threshold of an upper tier is smaller than that of a lower tier; comparing the density of the data with the density threshold of each of the tiers to determine which tier the data should be moved to; and moving the data to the determined tier. Embodiments of the present invention may be used to provide a dynamic storage tiering scheme with higher flexibility and scalability. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for dynamic storage tiering comprising: computing a density of data according to a temperature associated with data, wherein a higher temperature of data indicates a smaller density of data; obtaining a density threshold of each of a plurality or tiers, wherein the density threshold of an upper tier is assigned to be smaller than the density threshold of a lower tier; comparing the density of data with the density threshold of each of the plurality of tiers to determine which tier amongst the plurality of tiers the data should be moved to; moving the data to the determined tier; wherein the density threshold of each of the plurality of tiers is enabled to be modified; performing detection as to whether the determined tier has a sufficient storage capacity for movement of the data to the determined tier: updating the density threshold of each of the plurality of tiers according to the remaining storage capacity of the determined tier if the determined tier does not have a sufficient storage capacity; comparing the density of data with an updated density threshold of each of the tiers to re-determine which tier the data should be moved to, wherein the density of data is calculated according to the equation ρ(data)=β(1/T), wherein ρdata is the density of data, T is the temperature of the data, and β is an adjustment factor; and moving the data to the re-determined tier. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method according to claim 1, wherein the temperature of the data is calculated according to the following equation T = T ′ · e - α · Δ ⁢ ⁢ t + Δ ⁢ ⁢ H · ( 1 - e - α · Δ ⁢ ⁢ t ) α · Δ ⁢ ⁢ t , wherein T represents the currently-calculated data temperature; Δt is a duration between a previous sampling time and a current sampling time; T′ is a previously-calculated data temperature before the Δt duration; α is an decay factor derived from a temperature exponential half-life decay period; ΔH is data I/O activity between a previous sampling time and a current sampling time; e is a base of the natural logarithm. ### Claim 3 A method for dynamic storage tiering comprising: a. computing a density of data according to a temperature associated with data, wherein a higher temperature of data indicates a smaller density of data wherein the density of each of the plurality of tiers is calculated according to the following equation: ρi=(β′Tyi+α′Ci)·ΔC′i, wherein ρi is the density of the ith tier; Tyi, represents the physical storage type of the ith tier, the value being dependent on the application environments; β′ is a storage type adjustment factor; Ci is the storage capacity of the ith tier; α′ is a capacity adjustment factor; and ΔC′i is the left capacity factor of the ith tier which changes along with the remaining capacity of the ith tier; b. obtaining a density threshold of each of a plurality of tiers, wherein: i. the density threshold of an upper tier is assigned to be smaller than the density threshold of a lower tier; ii. the density threshold of each of the plurality of tiers is read from a memory; iii. the density of each of the plurality of tiers is computed according to the type of physical storage device of each of the tiers, the storage capacity and the remaining storage capacity of each of the plurality of tiers; and iv. the density threshold of each of the plurality of tiers is computed according to the calculated density of each of the plurality of tiers, and the density threshold of each of the plurality of tiers is stored in the memory; c. comparing the density of data with the density threshold of each of the plurality of tiers to determine which tier amongst the plurality of tiers the data should be moved to; d. moving the data to the determined tier, wherein the density threshold of each of the plurality of tiers is enabled to be modified; e. performing detection as to whether the determined tier has a sufficient storage capacity for movement of the data to the determined tier; f. updating the density threshold of each of the plurality of tiers according to the remaining storage capacity of the determined tier if the determined tier does not have a sufficient storage capacity; g. comparing the density of data with an updated density threshold of each of the tiers to re-determine which tier the data should be moved to; and h. moving the data to the re-detemined tier. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method according to claim 3, wherein ΔC′i is determined in the following manner: when ΔCi≥θ, αC′i=1; when Δ ⁢ ⁢ C i < θ , Δ ⁢ ⁢ C i ′ = Δ ⁢ ⁢ C i θ , wherein ΔCi is the remaining storage capacity of the ith tier; θ is a threshold of ΔCi. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The method according to claim 3, wherein the density threshold of each of the plurality of tiers is calculated using the formula σi=ρi−1+ρi, wherein σi is the density threshold of the ith tier, and σ0=0, and σ0=0. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method according to claim 5, further comprises: determining that the data should be moved to the ith tier if σi−1<σdata<σi.