Using task description blocks to maintain information regarding operations
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorsBarry J. Oldfield, Robert A. Rust
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A disk controller includes memory that is accessible by both a microprocessor and an operation logic. Information needed by the operation logic to perform an operation is stored in a task description block in memory by the microprocessor, and a pointer to the task description block is added to a task description block queue. The operation logic is then able to access task description blocks, based on the pointers in the queue, at will and perform the corresponding operations.
Claims27
A disk controller that performs parity operations in a redundant data storage system, the disk controller comprising:
- memory to store a plurality of task description blocks, each block identifying information for a parity operation to be performed;
- and
- a parity operation logic, coupled to the memory, to access each of the plurality of task description blocks and perform a parity operation based on information identified in the task description block.
A method comprising:
- storing information for a parity operation in memory, wherein the parity operation is to either generate at least one parity segment for a stripe in a redundant data storage system or re-generate at least one data segment for the stripe;
- and
- making the information available to parity operation logic only after all of the information necessary for the parity operation is stored in the memory.
A method of making information available to a hardware operation logic to perform operations based on one or more data segments, the method comprising:
- storing each of the one or more data segments for an operation in a different location in a memory;
- storing, in a task description block corresponding to the operation, a pointer to each of the different locations in memory;
- storing, in the task description block, a pointer to a result location in memory where a result of the operation is to be stored;
- and
- storing, in a task description block queue, a pointer to the task description block.
A task description block to be used in a disk controller that performs a plurality of different types of parity operations in a redundant data storage system, the task description block comprising:
- a plurality of disk data fields that identify locations in a memory where disk data for a parity operation is stored;
- an output field that identifies a location in the memory where the results of the parity operation are to be stored;
- a coefficient field that identifies a plurality of coefficients that are to be used, in conjunction with the disk data, to generate the results;
- and
- an operation type identifier that identifies a type of the parity operation that is to be performed based on the disk data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.