Data storage device having a virtual machine

• US 9,785,350 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2013
• Issued: 10/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Furuhjelm, Martin R
• Primary Examiner(s): DAO, TUAN C.
• Application Number:
  US13/773,337
• Publication Number:
  US 20160011777A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,692 Days
• 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 3/061 Improving I/O performance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0659 Command handling arrangements, e.g. command buffers, queues, command scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0661 Format or protocol conversion arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0676 Magnetic disk device
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/455 Emulation; Interpretation; Software simulation, e.g. virtualisation or emulation of application or operating system execution engines

Abstract

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for implementing a virtual machine on a data storage device are disclosed. In one embodiment, a device may comprise a communication interface responsive to a host, a processor, and a housing including the communication interface and the processor such that the device is removable from the host. The processor may be configured to receive a command from the host via the communication interface, process the command using a platform-independent program interface that is not dependent on the architecture of the device, and return results of the command to the host via the communication interface. In another embodiment, a method may comprise receiving at a data storage device a command from a host device, processing the command at the data storage device using a platform-independent program interface, and returning the results of the command from the data storage device to the host.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a removable data storage drive, including;

a communication interface responsive to a host and configured to receive a command associated with user data, the command indicating code to be executed by a virtual machine;

a virtual machine including a platform-independent programming interface of the data storage drive that is not dependent on the architecture of the data storage drive;

a processor configured to;

process the command via the virtual machine to produce a computed result comprising newly produced data that is not a write command response and is not previously stored data;

provide the computed result of the command to the host via the communication interface; and

a housing including the communication interface, the processor, and a physical connector configured to allow the data storage device to be physically connected and physically disconnected from the host.

2. The device of claim 1, the data storage drive further comprising a data storage medium connected to the housing.

3. The device of claim 2, further comprising the processor configured to:

determine if the command is an application command or a data storage command, an

application command includes an operation to be performed by the virtual machine to produce the computed result, and a data storage command includes a read command or a write command;

process the command using the virtual machine when the command is an application command; and

store data to or retrieve data from the data storage drive when the command is a data storage command.

4. The device of claim 2, further comprising processing the command via the virtual machine includes:

retrieving the user data associated with the command from the data storage medium; and

processing the user data according to the command.

5. The device of claim 1, further comprising the command includes computer code and instructions to execute the included computer code using the platform-independent program interface.

6. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

the command includes an equation to perform with one or more data sets stored at the removable data storage drive;

the processor further configured to;

retrieve the one or more data sets; and

calculate the computed result by applying the equation to the one or more data sets.

7. The device of claim 1, further comprising the platform-independent program interface includes computer-readable instructions running on the processor.

8. The device of claim 1, further comprising:

the command includes data to be processed and instructions on how to process the data;

and the processor is further configured to process the command using the platform-independent program interface according to the instructions.

9. The device of claim 1, further comprising the command includes instructions to perform a subprocess of a process running on the host to distribute a computational workload.

10. The device of claim 1, further comprising the processor configured to:

receive a device inquiry from the host; and

provide a response to the device inquiry identifying the removable data storage drive as a device with virtual machine capabilities.

11. A system comprising:

a host;

a data storage drive configured to store user data thereto, including;

a communication interface responsive to the host;

a processor configured to;

receive a command from the host via the communication interface;

process the command using a virtual machine of the data storage drive, the virtual machine not being dependent on structural architecture of the data storage drive;

return results of the command to the host via the communication interface; and

a housing including the interface and the processor such that the data storage drive is removable from the host;

a data storage medium connected to the housing;

the processor further configured to;

determine if the command is an application command or a data storage command, an application command includes a command designating an operation to be performed by the virtual machine, and a data storage command includes a read command or a write command;

process the command using the virtual machine when the command is an application command; and

store data to the data storage medium or retrieve data from the data storage medium when the command is a data storage command.

12. The system of claim 11, further comprising processing the command using the virtual machine includes:

retrieving data associated with the command from the data storage medium; and

performing processing operations on the data according to the command.

13. A method comprising:

receiving a command from a host device at a data storage drive configured to store user data thereto, and that is removable from the host device;

processing the command at the data storage drive device using a platform-independent program interface that is not dependent on structural and operating system architecture of the data storage drive, the processing producing results including new data that is not a write command response or previously stored data; and

returning the results of the command from the data storage drive to the host.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

processing the command at the data storage drive using the platform-independent program interface includes;

retrieving data associated with the command from the data storage drive; and

processing the data according to the command.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising the command includes instructions for the data storage drive to perform a subprocess of a process running on the host to distribute a computational workload.