File associated pinning

• US 9,542,324 B1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Original Assignee: Seagate Technology LLC (Seagate Technology Holdings Plc)
• Inventors: Wehman, John, McLeran, Daniel, Heiney, Eric, Winter, James, Marley, Joe
• Primary Examiner(s): Rossiter, Sean D
• Application Number:
  US13/832,505
• Time in Patent Office: 1,397 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/0871 Allocation or management of cache space
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/126 with special data handling, e.g. priority of data or instructions, handling errors or pinning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/172 Caching, prefetching or hoarding of files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/1016 Performance improvement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2212/463 File

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for intelligent data caching behavior. In an embodiment, a method may comprise receiving a read or write command for specific data, determining related data associated with the specific data, and directing the related data be stored to a cache. In another embodiment, a system may comprise a host device, and at least one driver operating on the host device. The at least one driver may be configured to intercept read or write command from the host device to a data storage device regarding specific data, obtain information from the host device to determine associated data related to the specific data, and direct the data storage device to store the associated data to a cache memory.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a host device configured to;

connect to a data storage device;

initiate read and write commands directed to the data storage device regarding specific data, a read command directing the data storage device to return the specific data to the host from a memory of the data storage device, a write command directing the data storage device to store the specific data to a memory of the data storage device;

at least one driver operating in a kernel of an operating system of the host device and configured to facilitate communication between host applications and the data storage device, including;

monitor a file system of the host device for the read and write commands directed to the data storage device;

intercept the read and write commands to initiate a process separate from input/output (I/O) processing of the read and write commands, the process including;

obtain information from the host device to determine associated data related to the specific data; and

direct the data storage device to store the associated data to a cache memory of the data storage device.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising the data storage device including the cache memory, the cache memory including a non-volatile solid state memory.

3. The system of claim 1, the at least one driver further configured to:

determine whether the specific data should be stored to the cache memory; and

determine the associated data when the specific data should be stored to the cache memory.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

the specific data comprises a software application; and

the associated data comprises files used in the execution of the software application.

5. The system of claim 1, the associated data comprising one or more files in a related file system directory as the specific data or with a threshold likelihood of being requested within a certain proximity to the specific data based on a file access history.

6. A device comprising:

a data storage device including;

an interface circuit to communicate with a host;

a processor configured to;

receive read and write commands regarding specific data from the host via the interface circuit, a read command directing the data storage device to return the specific data to the host from a memory of the data storage device, a write command directing the data storage device to store the specific data to a memory of the data storage device;

retrieve file system information from the host via the interface circuit that is related to the specific data, the file system information including information associated with the read or write command that is not received by the interface circuit as part of the read and write commands;

determine other data related to the specific data based on the file system information; and

store the other data in a cache memory of the data storage device.

7. The device of claim 6, the processor further configured to:

determine whether to store the specific data to the cache memory based on the file system information; and

determine the other data when the specific data should be stored to the cache memory.

8. The device of claim 6, further comprising:

the cache memory and a nonvolatile data storage medium, and the data storage device is removable from the host; and

the processor further configured to initiate a process separate from input/output processing of the read and write commands, the process including retrieving the file system information, determining the other data, and storing the other data.

9. The device of claim 6, wherein the file system information includes a file name, a file path, a file extension, a file size, a power source indicator, a type of program requesting the specific data, or logical block addresses for data other than the specific data.

10. A system comprising:

a host device configured to connect to a data storage device, the host device including;

a processor configured to execute an operating system, the operating system initiating read and write commands directed from the host to the data storage device, where a read command directs the data storage device to return the specific data to the host from a memory of the data storage device, and a write command directs the data storage device to store the specific data to a memory of the data storage device;

a memory accessible by the processor, the memory storing drivers configured to run in a kernel of the operating system, the drivers including;

a file system filter driver executable by the processor to;

monitor a file system of the host device for the read and write commands;

intercept the read and write commands to initiate a process separate from input/output (I/O) processing of the read and write commands, the process including;

 

access a file system of the host device to obtain file system information related to the specific data;

 

determine related data associated with the specific data based on the file system information;

a caching policy engine driver executable by the processor to determine caching attributes for the specific data and the related data based on the file system information; and

the processor configured to provide the caching attributes to the data storage device to control data cached at the data storage device, the caching attributes provided in a separate communication from the read and write commands.

11. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

the memory further storing;

a table driver executable by the processor to maintain a table relating the specific data, the file system information related to the specific data, and the caching attributes set for the specific data.

12. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

the memory further storing;

a device filter driver executable by the processor to;

obtain additional information related to the specific data from the data storage device; and

the caching policy engine driver executable by the processor to set the caching attributes based on the file system information and the additional information.

13. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

the memory further storing;

an advanced host controller interface (AHCI) driver executable by the processor to;

include the caching attributes into an interface command block structure; and

the processor configured to transmit the caching attributes to the data storage device via the AHCI driver using the interface command block structure.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising:

the processor configured to transmit the caching attributes to the data storage device separate from the read or write command.

15. The system of claim 10 further comprising:

the caching policy engine driver executable by the processor to;

determine whether the specific data should be cached based on the file system information;

set the caching attributes to direct the data storage device to cache the specific data when the determination is made that the specific data should be cached; and

set the caching attributes to direct the data storage device not to cache the specific data when the determination is made that the specific data should not be cached.

16. The system of claim 15 further comprising the file system filter driver executable by the processor to determine the related data when the caching policy engine driver determines that the specific data should be cached.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising the related data includes one or more files used in the execution of the specific data.

18. The system of claim 10, the related data comprising one or more files with at least a threshold likelihood of being requested within a certain proximity to the specific data based on a file access history.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising the certain proximity indicating a certain period of time between a request for the specific data and a request for the related data.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising the certain proximity indicating a certain number of data requests between a request for the specific data and a request for the related data.