Flexible media storage and organization in automated data storage systems

• US 9,923,966 B1
• Filed: 06/29/2015
• Issued: 03/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Franklin, Paul David, Allard, James Raymond, Barrett, Samuel Rubin, Brazeau, Jeremiah, Dzado, Jeffrey Allen, Kirschner, James Caleb, Levy, David, Lutz, Brent James, Tinka, Andrew Brenden, Lazier, Colin Laird
• Primary Examiner(s): Pollack, Melvin H
• Application Number:
  US14/754,580
• Time in Patent Office: 995 Days
• Field of Search: 709217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Techniques and systems for storing and retrieving data storage devices of a data storage system are disclosed. In some embodiments, inventory holders are used to store data storage devices used by a data storage system. When data is to be transacted with the data storage devices, mobile drive units locate appropriate inventory holders and transport them to a device reading station, where an appropriate device retrieval unit transacts the data. The inventory holders are configured such that any of the mobile drive units may interchangeably interact with any of the inventory holders and/or the data device reading stations. After the data has been transacted, the data storage devices are returned to the appropriate inventory holders, and the inventory holders are placed by the mobile drive units in locations where they may be accessed in response to further data transactions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

under the control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions,

generating, from a plurality of received archives using a redundancy code, a set of shards representing the plurality of archives, a minimum quorum quantity of the shards in the set being usable, by the redundancy code, to generate original data of the archives, the set of shards including at least;

identity shards that contain the original data of the plurality of archives, and

encoded shards representing an encoded form of the original data; and

storing the set of shards on a set of storage devices, the set of data storage devices having a quantity of data storage devices that is associated with the minimum quorum quantity;

allocating the set of storage devices to a plurality of inventory holders such that any of the plurality of inventory holders is accessible to any of a plurality of mobile drive units, the plurality of mobile drive units being configured to, upon request, physically transport each inventory holder of the plurality of inventory holders to at least one device data station of a plurality of device data stations associated with the one or more computer systems; and

in response to a data request associated with at least a portion of the plurality of received archives, at least;

determining, based on the data request, a subset of the set of shards to retrieve;

locating one or more of the inventory holders associated with at least one subset of the set of data storage devices upon which the determined subset of shards is stored;

determining a mobile drive unit of the plurality of mobile drive units to retrieve the located one or more inventory holders;

retrieving the located one or more inventory holders using the determined mobile drive unit;

determining a device data station of a plurality of device data stations for transacting data with member data storage devices of the at least one subset of the set of storage devices to which the retrieved inventory holders are associated;

routing, using the determined mobile drive unit, the retrieved inventory holders to the determined device data station;

retrieving, using at least one device retrieval unit associated with the determined device data station, the at least one subset of the set of data storage devices from the associated inventory holders;

transacting, by the device data stations, the data with the at least one subset of the set of storage devices;

returning the at least one subset of the set of data storage devices to a respective inventory holder from which it was retrieved; and

placing the retrieved inventory holders in a location where they are capable of being retrieved using the at least one mobile drive unit.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining of the device data station is based at least in part on proximity of the located inventory holders to the device data station.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the plurality of device data stations are capable of reading more than one type of data storage device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least some of the inventory holders include a plurality of stacked trays, each of which is capable of holding at least one type of data storage device.

5. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device configured to implement one or more services, wherein the one or more services are configured to;

allocate a set of storage devices to a plurality of inventory holders such that any storage device of the set of storage devices is accessible to any device data station of a plurality of device data stations; and

in response to a data request associated with data associated with a portion of the allocated set of storage devices, at least;

determine, based on the data request, which subset of the portion of the set of storage devices to retrieve;

locate at least one respective inventory holder to which the determined subset of storage devices is associated;

determine a mobile drive unit of a plurality of mobile drive units for retrieving the located inventory holder;

retrieve, using the determined mobile drive unit, the located inventory holders so as to enable at least one device retrieval unit associated with at least one device data station of the plurality of device data stations to access the determined subset of storage devices; and

transact, using the at least one device data stations, the data with the determined subset of storage devices.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the one or more services are further configured to store data on the set of storage devices.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more services are further configured to receive the data from a customer of the one or more services.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more services are further configured to store the data on the set of storage devices by at least processing the data using a redundancy code so as to generate a set of shards representing the data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the set of shards includes identity shards that contain a portion of an original form of the data, and encoded shards representing an encoded form of the data.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the services are further configured to store each shard of the set of shards on a respective data storage device of the set of data storage devices.

11. The system of claim 5, wherein the services are further configured to allocate the set of storage devices to the plurality of inventory holders such that a subset of the set of data storage devices is allocated to at least one inventory holder of the plurality of inventory holders and a remainder of the set of storage devices outside of the subset is allocated to a different inventory holder of the plurality of inventory holders.

12. The system of claim 5, wherein the set of data storage devices includes at least a set of tapes.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computer system, cause the computer system to at least:

cause storage of data storage devices by at least;

allocating the data storage devices to a plurality of inventory holders; and

placing each of the plurality of inventory holders in locations accessible to each of a plurality of mobile drive units associated with the computer system; and

in response to a data request associated with a subset of the data storage devices, at least;

determine at least one respective inventory holder to which the subset of storage devices is allocated;

determine, based on the data request, a mobile drive unit of the plurality of mobile drive units for retrieval of the determined at least one inventory holder;

cause, by the determined mobile drive unit, retrieval of the determined at least one inventory holder so as to enable at least one device retrieval unit associated with at least one device data station to access the subset of storage devices; and

cause, using the at least one device data stations, transaction of data associated with the data request, with the subset of storage devices.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein at least some of the plurality of inventory holders each include a plurality of stackable trays capable of holding the data storage devices.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to cause the storage of the data storage devices by allocating the data storage devices to specific trays of the plurality of stackable trays.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to place the plurality of inventory holders such that at least some of the locations remain clear of any of the inventory holders.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the computer system and the inventory holders are located in the same physical facility.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to locate the determined at least one inventory holder using an imaging device associated with the mobile drive unit.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computer system to locate the determined at least one inventory holder by locating at least one fiducial marker associated with the at least one inventory holder.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the data storage devices include at least one of tapes, hard disk drives, memory resistors, solid state disk drives, or optical media.