STORAGE DEVICE FOR USE IN A SHARED COMMUNITY STORAGE NETWORK

• US 20100023722A1
• Filed: 07/24/2008
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quantum Corporation (Chi Ko Investment Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Symform, Inc. (Chi Ko Investment Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Tabbara, Bassam, Garg, Praerit
• Granted Patent: US 8,108,502 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/170
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5003 Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/06 Generation of reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/067 using time frame reporting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity

Abstract

A storage device configured to join a shared community storage network. All or a portion of the storage device is registered with the community storage network as a storage node. Once registered with the network, third party data may be stored on the storage node and remotely accessed by third parties. In addition, data stored on the storage device by a user may be stored in the shared community storage network by encrypting the data, adding redundancy, and distributing it to other storage nodes within the storage network. Data that is stored in the storage network is accessible to the user even if their storage device is inaccessible or fails. The user may receive economic or non-economic incentives for allowing the storage device to join the shared community storage network.

Claims

16. A method of joining a storage device to a network-accessible storage service comprised of a plurality of unaffiliated storage nodes, the method comprising:

connecting a storage device to a wide area network (WAN), the storage device including a storage medium for electronically storing data;

transmitting a registration request across the WAN to a storage service management node, the registration request offering to associate at least a portion of the storage medium in the storage device with a network-accessible storage service under terms that have no service level guarantee;

receiving a confirmation from the storage service management node when the offer to associate at least a portion of the storage medium is accepted by the storage service management node;

after receiving the confirmation from the storage service management node, receiving data across the WAN from a client device that utilizes the network-accessible storage service; and

storing the received data in the storage medium, the received data being encrypted prior to receipt so that the received data is not readily accessible to a host of the storage device.

1. A storage device configured to join a network-accessible storage service comprised of a plurality of unaffiliated storage nodes, the storage device comprising:

a storage medium for electronically storing data;

a network communication component for detecting a connection with a wide area network (WAN) and sending and receiving data via the WAN;

a registration component coupled to the network communication component and configured to transmit a registration request across the WAN to a storage service management node, the registration request offering to associate at least a portion of the storage medium with a network-accessible storage service under terms that have no service level guarantee, the registration component receiving a confirmation from the storage service management node when the offer to associate at least a portion of the storage medium is accepted by the storage service management node; and

an access manager coupled to the network communication component and configured to, after the registration component receives the confirmation from the storage service management node, receive data across the WAN from a client device that utilizes the network-accessible storage service, the access manager storing the received data in the storage medium, wherein the received data is encrypted prior to receipt so that the received data is not readily accessible to the host of the storage device.

2. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the registration request is automatically transmitted by the registration component when the network communication component detects a connection with a WAN.

3. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the registration request is transmitted by the registration component as a result of a registration process undertaken by the host of the storage device.

4. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the registration request offers to associate all of the storage medium with the network-accessible storage service.

5. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the access manager is further configured to, after the registration component receives the confirmation from the storage service management node, transmit data across the WAN to a client device that utilizes the network-accessible storage service, the transmitted data being previously stored in the storage medium in encrypted form and being transmitted in response to a read request from the client device.

6. The storage device of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the storage medium is used to store data that is accessible to the host of the storage device.

7. The storage device of claim 6, wherein the access manager is further configured to, after the registration component receives the confirmation from the storage service management node, transmit data across the WAN to two or more of a plurality of unaffiliated storage nodes that enable the network-accessible storage service, the transmitted data being previously stored in the storage medium by the host and wherein the data is being transmitted for purposes of backing-up the data.

8. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the service level guarantee is availability.

9. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the service level guarantee is performance.

10. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the access manager further monitors a size of received data that is stored in the storage medium and periodically transmits the size to the storage service management node.

11. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the access manager further monitors a bandwidth consumed by receiving data that is stored in the storage medium, and periodically transmits the bandwidth consumed to the storage service management node.

12. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the received data represents only a portion of a data object and the other portions of the data object are stored on other unaffiliated storage nodes.

13. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the registration request further includes an identifier associated with the storage device.

14. The storage device of claim 1, wherein the registration request further includes an indication of a characteristic of the storage device.

15. The storage device of claim 14, wherein the characteristic is selected from a set consisting of processing capability, storage capability, input/output capability, connection bandwidth, and geographic location.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the registration request is automatically transmitted when the storage device is connected to the WAN.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the registration request is transmitted as a result of a registration process undertaken by the host of the storage device.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the registration request offers to associate all of the storage medium with the network-accessible storage service.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising transmitting data across the WAN to a client device that utilizes the network-accessible storage service, the transmitted data being previously stored in the storage medium in encrypted form and being transmitted in response to a read request from the client device.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein at least a portion of the storage medium is used to store data that is accessible to the host.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising transmitting data across the WAN to two or more of a plurality of unaffiliated storage nodes that enable the network-accessible storage service, the transmitted data being previously stored in the storage medium by the host and wherein the data is being transmitted for purposes of backing-up the data.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein the service level guarantee is availability.

25. The method of claim 16, further comprising monitoring a size of received data that is stored in the storage medium and periodically transmitting the size to the storage service management node.

26. The method of claim 16, further comprising monitoring a bandwidth consumed by receiving data that is stored in the storage medium, and periodically transmitting the bandwidth consumed to the storage service management node.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein the received data represents only a portion of a data object and the other portions of the data object are stored on other unaffiliated storage nodes.

28. The method of claim 16, wherein the registration request further includes an identifier associated with the storage device.

29. The method of claim 16, wherein the registration request further includes an indication of a characteristic of the storage device.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the characteristic is selected from a set consisting of processing capability, storage capability, input/output capability, connection bandwidth, and geographic location.

24-1. The method of claim 16, wherein the service level guarantee is performance.