Random access memory (RAM)-based computer systems, devices, and methods

• US 10,572,186 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2018
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2017
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Formulus Black Corporation
• Original Assignee: Formulus Black Corporation
• Inventors: Sicola, Stephen J., Lu, Yaojie, Rooholamin, Seyedamin, Pagano, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Talukdar, Arvind
• Application Number:
  US16/222,543
• Publication Number:
  US 20190187934A1
• Time in Patent Office: 435 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/064 Management of blocks
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0673 Single storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G11C 7/1009 Data masking during input/output

Abstract

In some embodiments, systems, methods, and devices disclosed herein are directed to RAM-based computer systems, methods, and devices that offer improved performance over conventional computer systems. In some embodiments, the RAM-based computer systems, devices, and methods described herein can function without reliance on conventional storage devices and thus are not subject to the bottleneck in processing speed associated with conventional storage devices. Rather, in some embodiments, the RAM-based computer systems, devices, and methods described herein include and/or utilize a processor and RAM, wherein the RAM is used for mass data storage, without reliance on a conventional hard drive, solid state drive, or any other peripheral storage device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for writing data onto a random access memory of a computer system, the method comprising:

intercepting, by a data management module of the computer system, a request to write raw data onto a conventional storage device from a host operating on the computer system;

receiving, by the data management module of the computer system, the raw data of the request to write data onto the conventional storage device from the host operating on the computer system;

dividing, by the data management module of the computer system, the raw data into a plurality of blocks of divided raw data, wherein the plurality of blocks of divided raw data comprises a first block of divided raw data and a second block of divided raw data;

generating, by the data management module of the computer system, a plurality of bit markers corresponding to the plurality of blocks of divided raw data, wherein each of the plurality of bit markers are smaller in data size compared to each of the corresponding plurality of blocks of divided raw data, where the plurality of bit markers comprises a first bit marker corresponding to the first block of divided raw data and a second bit marker corresponding to the second block of divided raw data;

determining, by the data management module of the computer system, whether the first bit marker and the second bit marker is pre-stored on a random access memory storage of the computer system;

updating, by the data management module of the computer system, meta data of the first bit marker, wherein the first bit marker is determined to be pre-stored on the random access memory storage of the computer system;

storing, by the data management module of the computer system, the second bit marker and the second block of divided raw data in the random access memory storage of the computer system, wherein the second bit marker is determined not to be pre-stored on the random access memory storage of the computer system; and

generating, by the data management module of the computer system, a pointer comprising location data of where the second block of divided raw data is stored in the random access memory storage,

wherein the computer system comprises the processor, the random access memory storage, and the conventional storage device,

wherein the conventional storage device comprises a hard disk drive or a solid state drive, and

wherein the conventional storage device is used by the computer system only to store back-up data of data stored in the random access memory storage.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the host comprises a virtual machine operating on the computer system.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the data management module is configured to intercept the request to write raw data onto the conventional storage device from the host without knowledge of an operating system of the host.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the data management module is part of an operating system operating on the computing system.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the data management module is separate from an operating system operating on the computing system.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second bit marker and the second block of divided raw data are stored in a capacity efficient shared storage pool (CESSP) of the random access memory storage, wherein the CESSP comprises all unique blocks of divided raw data stored on the random access memory storage.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the second bit marker and the second block of divided raw data are stored in a table of the random access memory storage, wherein the table comprises mapping data of all bit markers and all corresponding unique blocks of divided raw data stored on the random access memory storage.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the pointer comprising location data of where the second block of divided raw data is stored in a logical extended memory (LEM) of the random access memory storage, wherein the LEM comprises a plurality of pointers representing a storage location of all unique blocks of divided raw data stored on the random access memory storage.

9. A computing system comprising:

a processor;

a random access memory storage;

a conventional storage device, wherein the conventional storage device is a hard disk drive or a solid state drive;

the processor electrically connected to the random access memory storage and the conventional storage device;

the processor configured to primarily store data in the random access memory storage using a plurality of bit markers stored in the random access memory storage;

the processor configured to process data by only reading and writing data from and to the random access memory storage;

the processor configured to only copy data from the random access memory storage to store as a backup in the conventional storage device,

the plurality of bit markers configured to enable storage of more data in the random access memory storage than storage of data in the random access memory storage without the use of the plurality of bit markers.

10. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the random access memory storage is further configured to store a plurality of unique blocks of data corresponding to the plurality of bit markers stored in the random access memory storage.

11. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the random access memory storage comprises a capacity efficient shared storage pool (CESSP) for storing the plurality of unique blocks of data corresponding to the plurality of bit markers stored in the random access memory storage.

12. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the random access memory storage comprises a table comprising mapping data of the plurality of unique blocks of data to the corresponding plurality of bit markers stored in the random access memory storage.

13. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the random access memory storage comprises a logical extended memory (LEM) comprising the plurality of bit markers and a plurality of pointers, wherein the plurality of pointers comprise location data of the plurality of unique blocks of data stored in the random access memory storage.

14. The computing system of claim 9, further comprising a data management module, wherein the data management module is configured to intercept and process read and write requests from the processor.

15. The computing system of claim 14, wherein the data management module is configured to divide raw data of a write request into a plurality of blocks of raw data and determine whether each of the plurality of blocks of raw data are pre-stored in the random access memory storage.

16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the data management module is further configured to store in the random access memory a first block of raw data that was determined not to be pre-stored in the random access memory and assign a first bit marker corresponding to the first block of raw data.

17. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the data management module is further configured to retrieve a second bit marker from the random access memory corresponding to a second block of raw data that was determined to be pre-stored in the random access memory, wherein the second bit marker corresponds to the second block of raw data.

18. The computing system of claim 14, wherein the data management module is configured to intercept and process read and write requests without knowledge of an operating system operating on the computing system.

19. The computing system of claim 14, wherein the data management module is part of an operating system operating on the computing system.

20. The computing system of claim 14, wherein the data management module is separate from an operating system operating on the computing system.