SYSTEM, METHOD, AND COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT FOR CONVERTING LOGICAL BLOCK ADDRESS DE-ALLOCATION INFORMATION IN A FIRST FORMAT TO A SECOND FORMAT

• US 20100251009A1
• Filed: 03/27/2009
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: LSI Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Stenfort, Ross John
• Granted Patent: US 8,090,905 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/14 Protection against unauthorised use of memory or access to memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0605 by facilitating the interaction with a user or administrator
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0661 Format or protocol conversion arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product are provided for converting logical block address de-allocation information in a first format to a second format. In use, logical block address de-allocation information is received in a first format associated with a first protocol. Additionally, the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format is converted to a second format associated with a second protocol.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving logical block address de-allocation information in a first format associated with a first protocol; and

converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first protocol includes a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) protocol and the second protocol includes an AT Attachment (ATA) protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first protocol includes an ATA protocol and the second protocol includes an SCSI protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical block address de-allocation information includes a de-allocation command.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the de-allocation command includes a command to de-allocate at least one of user data and protection information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the logical block address de-allocation information includes a de-allocation status.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to the second format includes converting an SCSI UNMAP command to an ATA data set management command.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether one of user data or protection data associated with the logical block address de-allocation information can be de-allocated independently.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising de-allocating one of the user data or the protection data independently, if it is determined that one of the user data or the protection data associated with the logical block address de-allocation information can be de-allocated independently.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving power loss information in the first format associated with the first protocol.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format associated with the second protocol.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format includes converting one of a power loss primitive or a power loss command to one of a primitive or command for hardening data.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format includes converting an SCSI power loss primitive to an ATA flush cache command.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a command to write a pattern of data in the first format associated with the first protocol.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising converting the command to write a pattern of data in the first format to the second format associated with the second protocol.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the command to write a pattern of data includes one of a WRITE SAME command or a FORMAT command.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one of user data or protection data is de-allocated based on the converted command to write a pattern of data.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to the second format includes converting a SATA logical block address block alignment to an SCSI logical block address block alignment.

19. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium, comprising:

computer code for receiving logical block address de-allocation information in a first format associated with a first protocol; and

computer code for converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

a bridge for receiving logical block address de-allocation information in a first format associated with a first protocol and for converting the logical block address de-allocation information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol.

21. A method, comprising:

receiving power loss information in a first format associated with a first protocol; and

converting the power loss information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol;

wherein converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format includes converting one of a power loss primitive or a power loss command to one of a primitive or command for hardening data.

22. A computer program product embodied on a computer readable medium, comprising:

computer code for receiving power loss information in a first format associated with a first protocol; and

computer code for converting the power loss information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol;

wherein converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format includes converting one of a power loss primitive or a power loss command to one of a primitive or command for hardening data.

23. An apparatus, comprising:

a bridge for receiving power loss information in a first format associated with a first protocol and for converting the power loss information in the first format to a second format associated with a second protocol;

wherein converting the power loss information in the first format to the second format includes the bridge converting one of a power loss primitive or a power loss command to one of a primitive or command for hardening data.