File-aware priority driver

• US 10,209,768 B1
• Filed: 04/05/2012
• Issued: 02/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: McLeran, Daniel Robert, Marley, Joe David, Noone, Scott J, Viscarola, Peter G
• Primary Examiner(s): Mamo, Elias
• Application Number:
  US13/440,332
• Time in Patent Office: 2,511 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0862 with prefetch
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/602 Details relating to cache prefetching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/6028 Prefetching based on hints or prefetch instructions
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/00 Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/06 Digital input from, or digital output to, record carriers , e.g. RAID, emulated record carriers or networked record carriers
• 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 3/0673 Single storage device

Abstract

The disclosure is related to systems, devices, and methods for file-aware priority drivers in data storage devices. In one example, a device may comprise a data storage medium, an interface circuit to communicate with a host, a driver configured to retrieve file system information related to a structured input/output (I/O) command from the host, select priority attributes based on the file system information, and prioritize execution of the I/O command based on the priority attributes. Another embodiment may be a method comprising inspecting characteristics of an I/O request, choosing priority attributes for the I/O request based on the characteristics, and executing operations in an order based on the priority attributes.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

an interface circuit to receive a specific structured input/output (I/O) command from a host;

a driver configured to;

obtain file system information from the host related to the specific structured I/O command via the interface circuit, the specific structured I/O command including a command to read data from or write data to the device, the file system information including information associated with the specific structured I/O command that is not received by the interface circuit as part of the specific structured I/O command;

select priority attributes based on the file system information; and

prioritize execution of the specific structured I/O command based on the priority attributes.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the file system information comprises host file system information that is not transmitted with the specific structured I/O command.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the driver is a controller loaded with software designed to execute the functions of the driver.

4. The device of claim 1 wherein the priority attributes are selected based on settings set by a user.

5. The device of claim 1 further comprising the driver configured to maintain a relationship between the specific structured I/O command and the priority attributes.

6. The device of claim 1 wherein the priority attributes are used by the data storage device to determine an order for executing operations.

7. The device of claim 1 wherein the file system information comprises information identifying a file involved in the specific structured I/O command.

8. The device of claim 1 wherein the file system information comprises information identifying an application which initiated the specific structured I/O command.

9. The device of claim 1 wherein the file system information comprises information identifying a power source.

10. The device of claim 1 wherein the file system information comprises information identifying a file path, a file extension, a file size, a file name, a file logical block address (LBA), I/O size of the whole file, a name of the program accessing the file, an extension of the program accessing the file, and a device power source.

24. The device of claim 1 further comprising:

the interface circuit including a connector configured to physically disconnect the device from the host.

11. A system comprising:

a host device; and

at least one driver operating on the host device configured to;

intercept a data input/output (I/O) request from the host device to a data storage device, the data I/O request including a request to read data from or record data to a storage medium of the data storage device;

obtain information from the host device about the I/O request;

assign priority attributes to the I/O request based on the information; and

store the priority attributes to a table accessible to the data storage device.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising the data storage device which accesses the table and uses the priority attributes to determine an order for executing commands.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the at least one driver comprises a file system filter driver configured to intercept the I/O request from the host device and obtain data about the I/O request from the host device.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the at least one driver further comprises a priority policy engine configured to assign priority attributes to the I/O request based on the data from the host device.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the at least one driver further comprises a table driver configured to request priority attributes from the priority policy engine and maintain a relationship between the I/O request and the priority attributes.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one driver further comprises an Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) driver configured to place the I/O request and the priority attributes into a data structure based on the data storage device, and send the data structure to the data storage device.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the at least one driver further comprises a device filter driver configured to request priority attributes for the I/O request if priority attributes have not been set, and to send the I/O request and priority attributes to the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) driver.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the I/O request comprises an application thread initiating the I/O request and a file to be transmitted between the host device and the data storage device pursuant to the I/O request.

19. A method comprising:

inspecting characteristics associated with a data input/output (I/O) request from a host device, the data I/O request including a request to read data from or record data to a storage medium of a data storage device, the characteristics obtained from the host device and not included as part of the data I/O request;

choosing priority attributes for the I/O request based on the characteristics and user-defined settings; and

executing operations in an order based on the priority attributes.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising delaying choosing the priority attributes if the characteristics of the I/O request do not meet certain criteria.

21. The method of claim 19 further comprising intercepting the characteristics from a host file system.

22. The method of claim 19 further comprising maintaining a relationship between the I/O request and the priority attributes.

23. The method of claim 19 further comprising sending the I/O request and the priority attributes to a data storage device for execution of the I/O request.