Intelligent data storage and processing using FPGA devices

A data processing system of comprising:

• a data storage medium, wherein the data storage medium comprises a disk drive system for magnetically storing data, the disk drive system comprising:
• a rotatable disk upon which data is magnetically stored in a plurality of discontiguous arcs, wherein each arc possesses a substantially constant curvature, the plurality of discontiguous arcs together defining a generally helical pattern about a central origin;
• a device for rotating the disk when data is to be read therefrom;
• a read head positioned for reading the data stored on the disk as the disk rotates;
• and
• a positioning system configured to position the read head over the disk such that, as the disk rotates, the read head follows the generally helical pattern of the discontiguous arcs;
• a processing device in communication with the data storage medium;
• and
• a computer system having a system bus, wherein the computer system is configured to communicate with the processing device over the system bus;
• wherein the processing device comprises a programmable logic device configured to process data, as the data passes between the data storage medium and the computer system, through a plurality of stages implemented on the programmable logic device as a processing pipeline, each processing stage being dedicated to a different processing operation;
• and
• wherein the processing operations comprise at least two selected from the group consisting of a search operation, a data reduction operation, a data classification operation, an encryption operation, a decryption operation, a compression operation, and a decompression operation.

A data processing system comprising:

• a data storage medium, wherein a plurality of data files are stored in the data storage medium, each data file being stored as a sequence of segments, each segment having a size that is a power of 2;
• a processing device in communication with the data storage medium;
• and
• a computer system having a system bus, wherein the computer system is configured to communicate with the processing device over the system bus;
• wherein the processing device comprises a programmable logic device configured to process data, as the data passes between the data storage medium and the computer system, through a plurality of stages implemented on the programmable logic device as a processing pipeline, each processing stage being dedicated to a different processing operation;
• and
• wherein the processing operations comprise at least two selected from the group consisting of a search operation, a data reduction operation, a data classification operation, an encryption operation, a decryption operation, a compression operation, and a decompression operation.

A data processing system comprising:

• a processing card for communication with a processor and a data source via a bus;
• and
• wherein the processing card comprises a re-configurable logic device, the re-configurable logic device comprising a multi-functional pipeline for processing streaming data received by the data processing card from the data source, the pipeline comprising a plurality of different pipelined data processing engines;
• wherein each of the pipelined data processing engines in the pipeline is configured to (1) be selectively activated and deactivated in response to control instructions to define a function for the pipeline, and (2) perform a processing operation on the streaming data in response to being activated, the pipeline function being the combined functionality of the activated pipelined data processing engines in the pipeline such that the pipeline is changeable to another function of a plurality of functions in response to control instructions that change which of the pipelined data processing engines in the pipeline are activated and deactivated.

A data processing method comprising:

• within a computer system comprising a processor and a reconfigurable logic device operating under control of the processor, streaming data through the reconfigurable logic device for processing thereby, the reconfigurable logic device comprising a multi-functional pipeline, the multi-functional pipeline comprising a control processor and a plurality of pipelined data processing engines, each of the pipelined data processing engines in the pipeline being configured to (1) receive streaming data and (2) perform a data processing operation on the received streaming data;
• the control processor selectively activating and deactivating the pipelined data processing engines in the pipeline to achieve a desired pipeline function, the pipeline function being the combined functionality of the activated pipelined data processing engines in the pipeline;
• and
• the activated pipelined data processing engines in the pipeline performing their data processing operations on the streaming data at hardware speeds.