Encapsulating unbuffered file access for improved disk throughput
AssigneeDell Products L.P.
InventorCarlton A. Andrews
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and system for unbuffered file access to enhance hard disk drive throughput is provided. Special subclasses of common open, read, write, and close calls are provided that discern and utilize the sector size and sector boundaries of the hard disk in question, as well as the buffer size and other parameters to eliminate the need for much of the buffering at the system memory. Unlike prior art systems, where I/O processing requires CPU utilization for movement in RAM and four simultaneous access to RAM, the present invention requires no CPU utilization for movement in RAM and has only two simultaneous access to RAM, thereby increasing throughput to the hard disk significantly.
Claims28
A computer system having a memory, and at least one mass storage device operative with said memory, comprising:
- an open method, said open method constructed and arranged to open a file for unbuffered access, said file containing information;
- a read method, said read method constructed and arranged to copy said information from said file;
- a close method, said close method constructed and arranged to close said file;
- whereby said information from said file is read from said file and moved to a second mass storage device.
A computer system having a memory, and at least one mass storage device operative with said memory, said memory containing information, comprising:
- an open method, said open method constructed and arranged to open a file for unbuffered access;
- a write method, said write method constructed and arranged to place said information into said file;
- a close method, said close method constructed and arranged to close said file;
- whereby said information from said memory is written to said file.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.