VIRTUAL DEVICES AND VIRTUAL BUS TUNNELS, MODULES AND METHODS
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Modules and methods that provide virtual device communication via information packets addressed to the virtual devices. Virtual devices aggregate capabilities of target devices and represent the aggregate as an operational device to remote systems. Physical device elements and virtual devices contained within modules are able to communicate and cooperate over extended distances in a peer-to-peer fashion via a virtual bus tunnel offering addressing and data transport functionality. Such modules and methods can be combined with disk drives to form RAID-like storage structures.
-
Citations
45 Claims
-
1-20. -20. (canceled)
-
21. A method comprising:
-
assigning, by a packet processor, a first host address to a first virtual object, the first virtual object representing an aggregation of operational capabilities of a plurality of physical device elements; assigning, by the packet processor, a second host address to a second virtual object, wherein the first and second host addresses are different network routable addresses that are both associated with a common frame address that corresponds to a network interface that communicatively couples the packet processor to a network; receiving, by the packet processor, an information packet from the network interface, the information packet having a control portion including the first host address; and issuing, by the first virtual object, a device-level request to a first physical device element of the plurality of physical device elements based on the information packet. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. A transform module comprising:
-
a network interface having a frame address and configured to communicatively couple the transform module to a network; a packet processor coupled with the network interface and configured to assign a first host address to a first virtual object, the first virtual object to represent an aggregation of operational capabilities of a plurality of physical device elements, to assign a second host address to a second virtual object, wherein the first and second host addresses are different network routable addresses; to receive an information packet via the network interface, the information packet to have a control portion that includes the first host address; and to provide via the first virtual object a device-level request to a first physical device element of the plurality of physical device elements based on the information packet. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. A computing system comprising:
-
an operating system configured to be communicatively coupled with an application, to receive a plurality of calls from the application, and to issue, based at least in part on the plurality of calls, a plurality of device-level requests having device formats; and a transform module coupled with the operating system and configured to receive the plurality of device-level requests and to generate a first information packet, which includes a first host address, and a second information packet, which includes a second host address, wherein the first and second host addresses are distinct, network-routable addresses that are respectively assigned to first and second virtual objects of a networked device; and to transmit the first and second information packets to the networked device through a virtual bus tunnel. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42)
-
-
43. An apparatus comprising:
-
means for assigning a first host address to a first virtual object, the first virtual object representing an aggregation of operational capabilities of a plurality of physical device elements; means for assigning a second host address to a second virtual object, wherein the first and second host addresses are different network routable addresses that are both associated with a common frame address that corresponds to a network interface that communicatively couples the packet processor to a network; means for receiving an information packet from the network interface, the information packet having a control portion including the first host address; and means for issuing a device-level request to a first physical device element of the plurality of physical device elements based on the information packet. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45)
-
Specification