Composite DMA disk controller for efficient hardware-assisted data transfer operations

A method for operating a direct memory access (DMA) disk controller, the method comprising:

• receiving a command to transfer data between a set of source locations and a set of destination locations, wherein at least one set of the set of source locations and the set of destination locations includes a combination of one or more distinct disk locations and one or more memory locations;
• and
• executing the command by collecting data from the set of source locations and distributing the collected data to the set of destination locations.

A device to operate as a direct memory access (DMA) disk controller, the device comprising:

• command receiving logic to receive a data transfer command identifying one or more locations in memory and a set of distinct regions on at least one disk accessible to the DMA disk controller;
• and
• data manipulation logic to transfer data between the one or more locations in memory and the set of distinct regions on at least one disk according to the data transfer command.

A device to operate as a direct memory access (DMA) disk controller, the device comprising:

• command receiving logic to receive a command to transfer data between a set of source locations and a set of destination locations, wherein at least one set of the set of source locations and the set of destination locations includes a combination of one or more distinct disk locations and one or more memory locations;
• and
• data manipulation logic to execute the command by collecting data from the set of source locations and distributing the collected data to the set of destination locations.

A device to operate as a direct memory access (DMA) disk controller, the device comprising:

• a processing system;
• and
• a memory, coupled to the processing system, to store instructions, which when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform the operations of (a) receiving a data transfer command identifying one or more locations in memory and a set of distinct regions on at least one disk accessible to the DMA disk controller, and (b) transferring data between the one or more locations in memory and the set of distinct regions on at least one disk according to the data transfer command.

A device to operate as a direct memory access (DMA) disk controller, the device comprising:

• a processing system;
• and
• a memory, coupled to the processing system, to store instructions, which when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform the operations of (a) receiving a command to transfer data between a set of source locations and a set of destination locations, wherein at least one set of the set of source locations and the set of destination locations includes a combination of one or more distinct disk locations and one or more memory locations, and (b) executing the command by collecting data from the set of source locations and distributing the collected data to the set of destination locations.

A device to operate as a disk array controller, the device comprising:

• a processing system;
• and
• a memory, coupled to the processing system, to store instructions, which when executed by the processing system, cause the processing system to perform the operations of (a) identifying one or more locations in memory and a set of distinct regions on at least one disk accessible to a direct memory access (DMA) disk controller, (b) generating a command to perform a data transfer between the one or more locations in memory and the set of distinct regions on at least one disk, and (c) sending the command to the DMA disk controller.

A machine-readable medium containing executable instructions which, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

• receiving a data transfer command identifying one or more locations in memory and a set of distinct regions on at least one disk accessible to the DMA disk controller;
• and
• transferring data between the one or more locations in memory and the set of distinct regions on at least one disk according to the data transfer command.

A machine-readable medium containing executable instructions which, when executed by a processing system, cause the processing system to perform a method, the method comprising:

• receiving a command to transfer data between a set of source locations and a set of destination locations, wherein at least one set of the set of source locations and the set of destination locations includes a combination of one or more distinct disk locations and one or more memory locations;
• and executing the command by collecting data from the set of source locations and distributing the collected data to the set of destination locations.

An apparatus to operate a direct memory access (DMA) disk controller, the apparatus comprising:

• means for receiving a data transfer command identifying one or more locations in memory and a set of distinct regions on at least one disk accessible to the DMA disk controller;
• and
• means for transferring data between the one or more locations in memory and the set of distinct regions on at least one disk according to the data transfer command.

An apparatus to operate a direct memory access (DMA) disk controller, the apparatus comprising:

• means for receiving a command to transfer data between a set of source locations and a set of destination locations, wherein at least one set of the set of source locations and the set of destination locations includes a combination of one or more distinct disk locations and one or more memory locations;
• and
• means for executing the command by collecting data from the set of source locations and distributing the collected data to the set of destination locations.