METHOD FOR AUTOMATICALLY MANAGING DISK FRAGMENTATION

• US 20100121895A1
• Filed: 01/12/2010
• Published: 05/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: RAJAKARUNANAYAKE, Yasantha Nirmal
• Granted Patent: US 7,860,896 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/823
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0611 in relation to response time
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0644 Management of space entities, e.g. partitions, extents, pools
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0674 Disk device

Abstract

In the current invention, a method and apparatus for automatically managing fragmentation on a disk is described. This is done by having a special Mode for preallocation and dumping of contiguous block chunks.

Claims

1. A digital video recorder comprising:

a memory, comprising;

a contiguous block repository comprising a contiguous set of data blocks allocated specifically to the contiguous block repository;

a file record associated with the contiguous block repository, the file record comprising a repository pointer to the contiguous set of data blocks; and

a system pointer; and

a CPU, connected to the memory, configured to assign the value of the repository pointer to the system pointer responsive to a repository allocation instruction, wherein the repository pointer is selected from the file record.

2. The digital video recorder, as set forth in claim 1, the contiguous block repository further comprising:

a second contiguous set of data blocks; and

an indirect pointer block comprising a plurality of repository pointers, wherein the plurality of repository pointers address the second contiguous set of data blocks.

3. The digital video recorder as set forth in claim 2, the file record further comprising:

an indirect pointer to point to the indirect pointer block in the repository.

4. The digital video recorder as set forth in claim 3, the memory further comprising:

a system indirect pointer, wherein the CPU assigns the value of the indirect pointer to the system indirect pointer responsive to a repository allocation instruction.

5. The digital video recorder of claim 1, further comprising:

a video input interface, wherein the CPU is further configured to direct storage of a video feed received via the video input interface to the contiguous set of data blocks.

6. The digital video recorder of claim 5, further comprising:

a set of decoders, wherein the CPU is further configured to direct the stored video feed to the decoders for output to a display.

7. The digital video recorder, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the memory comprises a fixed recording medium.

8. The digital video recorder, as set forth in claim 7, wherein the fixed recording medium comprises a hard disk drive.

9. A method for storing data files in a contiguous area of a memory, the method comprising:

accessing a file record associated with a contiguous block repository comprising a contiguous set of data blocks allocated specifically to the contiguous block repository, the file record comprising a repository pointer to the contiguous set of data blocks;

defining a system pointer; and

assigning the value of the repository pointer to the system pointer responsive to a repository allocation instruction, wherein the repository pointer is selected from the file record.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

allocating an indirect pointer block in the repository comprising a plurality of repository pointers, wherein the plurality of repository pointers address a second contiguous set of data blocks.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

allocating an indirect pointer in the file record to point to the indirect pointer block in the repository.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

defining a system indirect pointer; and

assigning the value of the indirect pointer to the system indirect pointer responsive to a repository allocation instruction.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the memory comprises a fixed recording medium.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the fixed recording medium comprises a hard disk drive.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a video feed via a video input interface; and

directing storage of the video feed to the contiguous set of data blocks.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

directing the stored video feed to one or more decoders for output to a display.

17. An article of manufacture including a computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions, execution of which by a computing device, causes the computing device to perform operations comprising:

accessing a file record associated with a contiguous block repository comprising a contiguous set of data blocks allocated specifically to the contiguous block repository, the file record comprising a repository pointer to the contiguous set of data blocks;

defining a system pointer; and

assigning the value of the repository pointer to the system pointer responsive to a repository allocation instruction, wherein the repository pointer is selected from the file record.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

allocating an indirect pointer block in the repository comprising a plurality of repository pointers, wherein the plurality of repository pointers address a second contiguous set of data blocks.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18, the operations further comprising:

allocating an indirect pointer in the file record to point to the indirect pointer block in the repository.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19, the operations further comprising:

defining a system indirect pointer; and

assigning the value of the indirect pointer to the system indirect pointer responsive to a repository allocation instruction.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 17, wherein the memory comprises a fixed recording medium.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 21, wherein the fixed recording medium comprises a hard disk drive.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

receiving a video feed via a video input interface; and

directing storage of the video feed to the contiguous set of data blocks.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 23, the operations further comprising:

directing the stored video feed to one or more decoders for output to a display.