System and method for retrieving and storing multimedia data

• US 20020157113A1
• Filed: 04/20/2001
• Published: 10/24/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Concurrent Computer Corporation
• Original Assignee: Concurrent Computer Corporation
• Inventors: Allegrezza, Fred
• Application Number:
  US09/839,581
• Publication Number:
  US 20020157113A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 13/1657 Access to multiple memories
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2182 involving memory arrays, e.g. RAID disk arrays RAID arrays per se G06F3/0689; use of parity to protect data in RAID systems G06F11/1008
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23103 using load balancing strategies, e.g. by placing or distributing content on different disks, different memories or different servers storage management G06F3/0604; allocation of resources considering the load in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/505; techniques for rebalancing the load in a distributed system G06F9/5083; access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. load balancing, in data networks H04L67/1001
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2312 Data placement on disk arrays data placement in general G06F3/0604
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2315 using interleaving
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2318 using striping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2323 using file mapping
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2326 Scheduling disk or memory reading operations
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2393 involving handling client requests scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests H04L67/60
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2405 Monitoring of the internal components or processes of the server, e.g. server load allocation of resources in multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/50; performance measurement of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17336 Handling of requests in head-ends

Abstract

Requests are received for retrieving and storing data from and to a plurality of storage devices. A processor is designated for handling each request, based, e.g., on the load of each processor. A request for retrieving data is forwarded directly from the designated processor to the storage device via a switch. Responses from the storage devices are routed directly to the designated processor via the switch. The switch independently routes the request for retrieving data and the responses between the storage devices and the processor, based on directory information obtained by the processor. Data provided by a designated processor is stored on the storage devices via a switch. The switch independently routes the data to be stored directly from the designated processor to the storage devices, based on directory information created by the processor. Requests and responses are exchanged between the switch and the storage devices via at least one high speed network connected to the storage devices.

Claims

1. A system for retrieving data distributed across a plurality of storage devices, the system comprising:

a plurality of processors, wherein upon receipt of a request for retrieving data, a processor is designated for handling the request; and

a switch arranged between the processors and the storage devices, wherein the switch independently routes a request for retrieving data from the designated processor directly to the storage devices containing the requested data and independently routes responses from the storage devices directly to the designated processor.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising a resource manager for designating a processor to handle a request, based on the load on each processor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the switch routes the request for retrieving data based on directory information obtained by the processor.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor obtains the directory information from the storage devices.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising at least one high speed network connected to the storage devices and arranged between the switch and the storage devices.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the switch accommodates a plurality of high speed networks and connected storage devices.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the high speed network is a fiber channel network, a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) network, or an Ethernet network.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the data is video stream data.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the storage devices are disk drives.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the data is stored in a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) format among the disk drives.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising a high speed network for delivering the retrieved data from the designated processor to a client device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the high speed network is an Ethernet network, an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network, a Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) 2 Transport network, a Quadrature Amplitude Modulated (QAM) cable television network, a Digital Subscriber Loop (DSL) network, a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) network, or a Digital Video Broadcasting-Asynchronous Serial Interface (DVB-ASI) network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of designating a processor includes performing load balancing on the processors and designating a processor based on the load balancing.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the switch routes the request for retrieving data based on directory information obtained by the processor.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the processor obtains the directory information from the storage devices.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the request is forwarded from the processor to the storage devices via at least one high speed network connected to the storage devices.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the switch accommodates a plurality of high speed networks and connected storage devices.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the high speed network is a fiber channel network, a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) network, or an Ethernet network.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the data is video stream data.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the storage devices are disk drives.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the data is stored in a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) format among the disk drives.

23. The method of claim 13, further comprising delivering the retrieved data from the designated processor to a client device via a high speed network.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the high speed network is an Ethernet network, an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) network, a Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) 2 Transport network, a Quadrature Amplitude Modulated (QAM) cable television network, a Digital Subscriber Loop (DSL) network, a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) network, or a Digital Video Broadcasting-Asynchronous Serial Interface (DVB-ASI) network.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising a content manager for loading data to be stored, designating a processor for handling the data storage, and forwarding the data to be stored to the designated processor.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the switch routes the data to the storage devices based on directory information created by the processor.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the processor creates the directory information depending on the length and amount of data to be stored on the storage devices.

29. The system of claim 25, further comprising at least one high speed network connected to the storage devices and arranged between the switch and the storage devices.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the switch accommodates a plurality of high speed networks and connected storage devices.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the high speed network is a fiber channel network, a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) network, or an Ethernet network.

32. The system of claim 25, wherein the data is video stream data.

33. The system of claim 25, wherein the storage devices are disk drives.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the data is stored in a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) format among the disk drives.

35. The system of claim 26, further comprising a high speed network for forwarding the loaded data from the content manager to the designated processor.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the high speed network is an Ethernet network.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising loading data to be stored on a content manager that designates a processor for handling the data storage and forwarding the data to be stored to the designated processor.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the switch routes the data to be stored based on directory information created by the processor.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the processor creates the directory information depending on the length and the amount of data to be stored.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein the request is forwarded from the processor to the storage devices via at least one high speed network connected to the storage devices.

42. The method of claim 41, wherein the switch accommodates a plurality of high speed networks and connected storage devices.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the high speed network is a fiber channel network, a Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) network, or an Ethernet network.

44. The method of claim 37, wherein the data is video stream data.

45. The method of claim 37, wherein the storage devices are disk drives.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the data is stored in a Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) format among the disk drives.

47. The method of claim 38, wherein the loaded data is forwarded from the content manager to the designated processor via a high speed network.

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the high speed network is an Ethernet network.

13. A method for retrieving data distributed across a plurality of storage devices, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for retrieving data;

designating a processor for handling the request;

forwarding the request directly from the designated processor to the storage devices containing the data via a switch; and

returning responses from the storage devices directly to the designated processor via the switch, wherein the switch independently routes the request for retrieving data and the responses between the storage devices and the processor.

25. A system for storing data across a plurality of storage devices, the system comprising:

a plurality of processors, wherein upon receipt of a request for storing data, a processor is designated for handling the request; and

a switch arranged between the processors and the storage devices, wherein the switch independently routes the data to be stored from the designated processor directly to the storage devices.

37. A method for storing data across a plurality of storage devices, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for storing data;

designating a processor for handling the request; and

storing data provided by the designated processor on the storage devices via a switch, wherein the switch independently routes the data to be stored directly from the designated processor to the storage devices.

49. A system for retrieving data distributed across a plurality of storage devices, the system comprising:

a plurality of processors, wherein upon receipt of a request for retrieving data, a processor is designated for handling the request; and

a switch arranged between the processors and the storage devices, wherein the switch independently routes a request for retrieving data from the designated processor directly to the storage devices containing the requested data, based on directory information obtained by the processor from the storage devices, and independently routes responses from the storage devices directly to the designated processor.

50. A method for retrieving data distributed across a plurality of storage devices, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for retrieving data;

designating a processor for handling the request;

forwarding the request directly from the designated processor to the storage devices containing the data via a switch, wherein the switch independently routes the request for retrieving data to the storage devices based on directory information obtained by the processor from the storage devices; and

returning responses from the storage devices directly to the designated processor via the switch, wherein the switch independently routes the responses from the storage devices to the processor.

51. A system for storing data across a plurality of storage devices, the system comprising:

a plurality of processors, wherein upon receipt of a request for storing data, a processor is designated for handling the request; and

a switch arranged between the processors and the storage devices, wherein the switch independently routes the data to be stored from the designated processor directly to the storage devices, based on directory information created by the processor depending on the data to be stored on the storage devices.

52. A method for storing data across a plurality of storage devices, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for storing data;

designating a processor for handling the request; and

storing data provided by the designated processor on the storage devices via a switch, wherein the switch independently routes the data to be stored directly from the designated processor to the storage devices based on directory information created by the processor depending on the data to be stored.