STORAGE SYSTEM AND METHOD OF PROCESSING DATA USING THE SAME

• US 20110185122A1
• Filed: 01/27/2011
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology International (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Choi, Jin Won
• Application Number:
  US13/015,100
• Publication Number:
  US 20110185122A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/114
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1008 in individual solid state devices G06F11/1004 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0607 by facilitating the process of upgrading existing storage systems, e.g. for improving compatibility between host and storage device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0635 by changing the path, e.g. traffic rerouting, path reconfiguration
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0683 Plurality of storage devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0689 Disk arrays, e.g. RAID, JBOD

Abstract

A storage system includes a plurality of data processing devices connected in series. One of the data processing devices either accesses a first data storage device or transmits an access command output from a host to an next data processing device in the series according to the access command. The data processing device determines whether to access a second data storage device according to the received access command.

Claims

1. A storage system comprising N data processing devices each comprising a data storage device and serially connected to one another, wherein N denotes a natural number,

wherein:

an i-th data processing device from among the N data processing devices accesses a first data storage device of the i-th data processing device or transmits an access command output from a host to an (i+1)th data processing device according to the access command, wherein i denotes a natural number of 1≦

i<

N; and

the (i+1)th data processing device determines whether to access a second data storage device of the (i+1)th data processing device according to the received access command.

2. The storage system of claim 1, wherein when the i-th data processing device has accessed the first data storage device, the i-th data processing device transmits a result of the accessing to the host.

3. The storage system of claim 1, wherein when the (i+1)th data processing device has accessed the second data storage device, the (i+1)th data processing device transmits a result of the accessing to the host via the i-th data processing device.

4. The storage system of claim 1, wherein when the access command is a read command and the read command includes a read address, the i-th data processing device compares the read address with a first address and reads data corresponding to the read address from the first data storage device and transmits the read-out data to the host, or transmits the read command to the (i+1)th data processing device, according to a result of the comparison, and the (i+1)th data processing device compares the read address included in the read command with a second address and determines according to a result of the comparison whether to access the second data storage device.

5. The storage system of claim 4, wherein when the read address is identical to the second address, the (i+1)th data processing device reads data corresponding to the read address from the second data storage device and transmits the read-out data to the host via the i-th data processing device.

6. The storage system of claim 4, wherein when the read address is not identical to the second address, the (i+1)th data processing device transmits the read command to an (i+2)th data processing device.

7. The storage system of claim 1, wherein when the access command is a write command and the write command includes a write address and write data, the i-th data processing device compares the write address with a first address and writes the write data to the first data storage device or transmits the write command to the (i+1)th data processing device, according to a result of the comparison, and the (i+1)th data processing device compares the write address included in the write command with a second address and determines according to a result of the comparison whether to access the second data storage device.

8. The storage system of claim 7, wherein when the write address is identical to the second address, the (i+1)th data processing device writes the write data to the second data storage device.

9. The storage system of claim 7, wherein when the write address is not identical to the second address, the (i+1)th data processing device transmits the write command to an (i+2)th data storage device.

10. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the i-th data processing device and the (i+1)th data processing device are hard disk drives.

11. The storage system of claim 1, wherein the i-th data storage device and the (i+1)th data storage device are magnetic recording media.

12. The storage system of claim 1, wherein one of the i-th data storage device and the (i+1)th data storage device is one of a magnetic recording medium and a non-volatile memory device.

13. A method of processing data by using a storage system, the storage system comprising N data processing devices each comprising a data storage device and serially connected to one another, wherein N denotes a natural number, the method comprising:

an operation in which an i-th data processing device from among the N data processing devices accesses a first data storage device of the i-th data processing device or transmits an access command output from a host to an (i+1)th data processing device according to the access command, wherein i denotes a natural number of 1≦

i<

N; and

an operation in which the (i+1)th data processing device determines whether to access a second data storage device of the (i+1)th data processing device according to the received access command.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein when the i-th data processing device has accessed the first data storage device, the i-th data processing device transmits a result of the accessing to the host.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein when the (i+1)th data processing device has accessed the second data storage device, the (i+1)th data processing device transmits a result of the accessing to the host via the i-th data processing device.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein when the access command is a read command and the read command includes a read address, the i-th data processing device compares the read address with a first address and reads data corresponding to the read address from the first data storage device and transmits the read-out data to the host, or transmits the read command to the (i+1)th data processing device, according to a result of the comparison, and the (i+1)th data processing device compares the read address included in the read command with a second address and determines according to a result of the comparison whether to access the second data storage device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein when the read address is identical to the second address, the (i+1)th data processing device reads data corresponding to the read address from the second data storage device and transmits the read-out data to the host via the i-th data processing device.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising an operation in which, when the read address is not identical to the second address, the (i+1)th data processing device transmits the read command to an (i+2)th data processing device.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein when the access command is a write command and the write command includes a write address and write data, the i-th data processing device compares the write address with a first address and writes the write data to the first data storage device or transmits the write command to the (i+1)th data processing device, according to a result of the comparison, and the (i+1)th data processing device compares the write address included in the write command with a second address and determines according to a result of the comparison whether to access the second data storage device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein when the write address is identical to the second address, the (i+1)th data processing device writes the write data to the second data storage device.