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Techniques and systems for tray-based storage and organization in automated data storage systems

  • US 9,961,141 B1
  • Filed: 06/29/2015
  • Issued: 05/01/2018
  • Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2015
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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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;

    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 a minimum quorum quantity of the data storage devices sufficient to retrieve the plurality of archives;

    allocating the set of storage devices to a plurality of inventory holders, each inventory holder having a plurality of trays, each tray of the plurality of trays capable of holding a plurality of the data storage devices, such that;

    a first 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; and

    a second subset of the first subset is allocated to at least one tray of the plurality of trays and a remainder of the first subset outside the second subset is allocated to a different tray of the plurality of trays; and

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

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

    retrieving, using at least one mobile drive unit capable of retrieving any of the plurality of inventory holders, the located inventory holders;

    routing the retrieved inventory holders to one or more device data stations capable of transacting data with member data storage devices of the least one subset of the set of storage devices to which the retrieved inventory holders are associated;

    manipulating one or more of the plurality of trays of the retrieved inventory holders so as to expose contents of at least one of the plurality of trays having one or more respective data storage devices associated with the data request;

    retrieving, using at least one device retrieval unit associated with the device data stations, the at least one subset of the set of data storage devices from the exposed trays;

    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.

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