Xyratex Technology Limited Patent applications |
Patent application number | Title | Published |
20150363253 | NON-VOLATILE FAULT INDICATION IN A STORAGE ENCLOSURE - Apparatus and method for providing a non-volatile fault indication in a multi-device storage enclosure. In some embodiments, a storage enclosure includes a plurality of storage devices housed within a storage enclosure housing. A non-volatile display element is arranged to provide a persistent display of fault information relating to a component of the storage enclosure after power is removed from the display element. | 12-17-2015 |
20150362965 | Carrier with Multiple Storage Devices Having Different Form Factors - Storage systems, carriers, enclosures and support PCBs connecting to a first storage device of a first form factor such as a hard disc drive (HDD), a dongle within a storage carrier coupled to the first storage device, and a second storage device such as a solid-state drive (SSD) coupled to the dongle having a second form factor different than or smaller than the first form factor. | 12-17-2015 |
20150269023 | METHOD OF, AND APPARATUS FOR, IMPROVED DATA RECOVERY IN A STORAGE SYSTEM - Method of defining a layout mapping function for a parity distributed RAID array including target objects, the layout mapping function defining the mapping of the stripe group-address space to the target-address space in the array and including a matrix defining a unit space across target objects, the matrix includes columns defining the objects and rows defining equally-offset sequential units on the objects, the method including: specifying P target objects, where P>1; b) specifying A target objects as spare space, where A | 09-24-2015 |
20150216031 | SOLID STATE MEMORY UNIT COOLING APPARATUS - Apparatus for thermally cooling a solid state memory unit, such as but not limited to densely packed flash memory storage devices in a data storage system. In some embodiments, a thermally conductive corrugated plate has one or more corrugations. The corrugations are adapted for positioning adjacent at least one solid state memory unit to form one or more channels for a cooling fluid to flow therethrough. | 07-30-2015 |
20150160420 | OPTICAL ALIGNMENT SYSTEM - An optical alignment system for aligning an optical component is provided. The system includes an alignment component configured to be moveable in a plane and in a fixed relationship with the optical component. Typically the alignment component houses an optical fibre MT ferrule. One or more driving components are further provided typically in the form of a ball headed adjustment screw. The driving components are configured to be moveable, relative to the alignment component, in a first linear direction. At least a component of the first linear direction is parallel with the normal of the plane. The driving component, when forced along the first linear direction and in contact with the alignment component, imparts a force upon the alignment component, in the plane, to move the optical component in the plane. An alignment frame accommodating the driving components may also be provided. | 06-11-2015 |
20150089282 | METHOD OF, AND APPARATUS FOR, LAYOUT RECTIFICATION OF ERASURE ENCODED STORAGE SYSTEMS - There is provided a method of recovering configuration metadata from an erasure encoded RAID array. The RAID array includes raw data including a plurality of codewords encoded using Reed-Solomon encoding. The codewords include message data and checksum data, and the configuration metadata includes parameters relating to the layout of the RAID array. The method includes reading, from the RAID array, raw data including message data and checksum data. Then a set of linear equations are defined using the message data and checksum data. The linear equations are then solved and then, from the solved linear equations, one or more parameters relating to the layout of the RAID array are determined. | 03-26-2015 |
20150019917 | METHOD OF, AND APPARATUS FOR, ADAPTIVE SAMPLING - A method of sampling sensor data from a computing system is presented. The computing system includes a plurality of components and a sensor network for monitoring the computing system. The sensor network includes primary sensor nodes operable to obtain primary parameter data from a measurement of a primary parameter of the components, and secondary sensor nodes operable to obtain secondary parameter data from a measurement of secondary parameters of the components. The method includes: a) obtaining secondary parameter data from secondary sensor nodes relating to components; b) processing, in a computing device, the secondary parameter data; c) determining, based upon determined or pre-determined relationships between the secondary parameters and the primary parameter, a sample rate for the primary parameter data for the components; and d) obtaining primary parameter data from the primary sensor nodes relating to components at the determined sample rate. | 01-15-2015 |
20140359376 | METHOD OF, AND APPARATUS FOR, DETECTION OF DEGRADATION ON A STORAGE RESOURCE - A method of monitoring the performance of a device is presented, each storage device being operable to receive storage requests and includes a queue for incoming storage requests and a physical storage medium, the method includes: a) obtaining data relating to the device parameters of: throughput of storage requests to the storage device; queue time for one or more requests on the storage device; and the time required to complete one or more storage requests on the storage device; b) generating a model relating to the expected distribution of the device parameters on the storage device during normal operation; c) monitoring the parameters during operation of the storage device; d) comparing the distribution of the monitored parameters during operation of the storage device with the expected distribution of the parameters; and e) identifying a fault on the storage device based on the comparison. | 12-04-2014 |
20140328562 | STORAGE DEVICE, A STORAGE OR TEST SYSTEM AND A METHOD OF MOUNTING A STORAGE DEVICE - An electro-optical connector assembly includes a first data connector for arrangement on a first device and a second data connector for arrangement on a second device, the first and second data connectors being for communicating data through free space between the first device and the second device and, a first power connector for arrangement on the first device and a second power connector for arrangement on the second device, the first and second power connectors being for providing wireless power transfer between the first device and the second device. | 11-06-2014 |
20140290023 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SUPPORTING STORAGE DEVICES DURING MANUFACTURE - There is disclosed an apparatus and method for supporting storage devices during manufacture. The apparatus includes structural members and plural slot carriers received in bays in the apparatus. Each slot carrier carries at least one slot arranged to receive a storage device, wherein the slot carriers are insertable and/or removable from the bays through apertures at the front of the apparatus. Clamp assemblies are arranged to releasably clamp the slot carrier to one or more structural members at the sides of the slot carrier. | 10-02-2014 |
20140247569 | ELECTRONIC APPARATUS COMPRISING BACKPLANE AND METHODS OF ASSEMBLING AND DISASSEMBLING - The present disclosure relates to an electronic apparatus ( | 09-04-2014 |
20140233179 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND A METHOD OF COOLING A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - A data storage system and a method of cooling the data storage system are presented. The data storage system includes: an enclosure; one or more drawer structures disposed within the enclosure, wherein at least one of the drawer structures is configured to receive one or more electronic devices; and one or more temperature control elements positioned adjacent to the bottom of the at least one drawer structure, wherein at least one of the temperature control elements is arranged in use to thermally communicate with at least one of the electronic devices. | 08-21-2014 |
20140219624 | OPTICAL CONNECTOR - The invention provides an optical connector for coupling with a complementary optical connector and for supporting an optical component. The connector comprises a cover moveable between a first and second position. The cover may also comprise a moveable shield and biasing components. There is also provided an optical connector assembly comprising covers that sequentially open. A PCB comprising waveguides and an optical component sub-mount for integrating with the PCB is also presented. | 08-07-2014 |
20140086718 | PALLET, METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AND METHOD OF TRANSPORTING OR HANDLING GOODS - A pallet for transportation and handling of goods includes a base and a deck above the base for supporting goods. The pallet includes at least one location element that is provided between the deck and the base arranged to substantially limit lateral motion of the deck relative to the base. At least one isolator is provided between the deck and the base arranged to provide shock and vibration isolation to the deck from the base. In another aspect, the pallet includes at least one isolator between the deck and the base arranged to provide shock and vibration isolation to the deck from the base, the isolator including a resilient hollow shell that is open to the atmosphere in at least one place. | 03-27-2014 |
20140059551 | DATA STORAGE I/O COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS - A method of scheduling requests from various services to a data storage resource, includes receiving service requests, the service requests including metadata specifying a service ID and a data size of payload data associated with the request, at least some of the service IDs having service throughput metadata specifying a required service throughput associated therewith; arranging the requests into FIFO throttled queues based on the service ID; setting a deadline for processing of a request in a throttled queue, the deadline selected in dependence upon the size of the request and the required service throughput associated therewith; providing a time credit value for each throttled queue, the time credit value including an accumulated value of the time by which a deadline for that queue has been missed; comparing the time credit value of a throttled queue to the time required to service the next request in that throttled queue. | 02-27-2014 |
20140047208 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE CAPACITY OF A VIRTUAL STORAGE SYSTEM, AND A VIRTUAL STORAGE SYSTEM - A method of controlling the capacity of a virtual storage system provided on a physical storage system, the method including: providing a control program on the physical storage system; coupling additional virtual storage to the virtual storage system on the physical storage system; providing control data on the additional virtual storage; with the control program, reading the control data and configuring the virtual storage system accordingly. A corresponding virtual storage system is also provided. | 02-13-2014 |
20130333871 | CONTROLLER FOR CONTROLLING THE SPEED OF A COOLING DEVICE, APPARATUS AND METHODS - There is disclosed a controller ( | 12-19-2013 |
20130307283 | METHOD AND A TOOL FOR HANDLING STORAGE MEDIA IN CARRIERS - The invention provides a method and a tool for handling storage media in carriers, the tool comprising: a tool body; a first jaw to engage a first side of the storage media in carrier; a second jaw to engage a second opposed side of the storage media in carrier; wherein at least the second jaw is pivotally mounted on the main body so as to be movable between a first position in which the jaw is positioned so as to enable a disk drive in carrier to be freely moved into an engagement position with the tool and a second position in which the jaw engages the disk drive carrier so as to releasably lock the disk drive in carrier to the tool. | 11-21-2013 |
20130304775 | STORAGE UNIT FOR HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING SYSTEM, STORAGE NETWORK AND METHODS - There is disclosed a storage unit for high performance computing system, a storage network and a method of providing storage and of accessing storage. The storage unit includes an enclosure constructed and arranged to receive plural storage devices to provide high density, high capacity storage. The unit also includes a network connector and at least one integrated application controller constructed and arranged to run a scalable parallel file system for accessing data stored on the storage devices and providing server functionality to provide file access to a client via the network connector. | 11-14-2013 |
20130265725 | STORAGE ENCLOSURE AND A METHOD OF ACCESSING COMPONENTS WITHIN A STORAGE ENCLOSURE - The invention provides storage enclosure, comprising an enclosure housing; one or more drawers slidably arranged within the enclosure housing, wherein each drawer has a pivotably mounted midplane having storage media coupled thereto wherein the storage media are coupled to both sides of the pivotably mounted midplane. | 10-10-2013 |
20130248140 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING THE TEMPERATURE OF COMPONENTS - The invention provides a method and apparatus for the temperature control of a component within a storage system wherein the storage system includes a heat exchanger in thermal communication with the component, the method comprising: generating a flow of heat transfer fluid through the heat exchanger, to transfer heat to or from the heat exchanger; receiving a set point signal indicative of the desired temperature of the component in the storage system; receiving temperature data regarding the component and the heat transfer fluid, and in dependence on set point signal and the temperature data regarding the component and the heat transfer fluid generating an output signal to control the flow of heat transfer fluid. | 09-26-2013 |
20130235450 | AMPLIFICATION MODULE FOR AN OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AND AN OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD - The invention provides an amplification module for an optical printed circuit board, the optical printed circuit board including plural polymer waveguide sections from independent waveguides, each of the sections being doped with an amplifying dopant, wherein the plural waveguide sections are routed so as to pass through an amplification zone in which the plural polymer waveguide sections are arranged close or adjacent to one another, the amplification module including: a pump source including plural light sources arranged to provide independently controllable levels of pump radiation to each of the plural waveguide sections. In an embodiment, the amplification module also includes plural polymer waveguide sections corresponding to the plural polymer waveguides of the printed circuit board on which in use the amplification module is to be arranged, each of the sections being doped with an amplifying dopant. | 09-12-2013 |
20130226887 | METHOD OF, AND APPARATUS FOR, IMPROVED DATA INTEGRITY IN A NETWORKED STORAGE SYSTEM - A method of writing data to a distributed file system including a file system client, a server and a storage resource target, includes generating, on the client, a write request including a byte stream to be written to the storage resource target; formatting, on the client, the byte stream into sectors in accordance with the T10 protocol, the sectors including a data field and a protection information field, the protection information field including a guard field, an application field and a reference field; computing, on the client, checksum data for the guard field; sending, across a network, the data and the protection information to the server; verifying, in T10-capable hardware on the server, the checksum data for the guard field; verifying, on the storage resource target, the checksum data for the guard field; and storing the data on the storage resource target. | 08-29-2013 |
20130198585 | METHOD OF, AND APPARATUS FOR, IMPROVED DATA INTEGRITY - There is provided a method of writing data to a data sector of a storage device. The data sector has at least one parity sector associated therewith, each sector being configured to include a data field and a data integrity field. The data integrity field including a guard field, an application field and a reference field. The method includes providing data to be written to an intended sector; generating, for the intended sector, version information for the sector; generating a version vector based on the version information for the data sector; and writing the data to the data field of the data sector; writing the version information to the application field of the data sector; and writing the version vector to the application field of the parity sector. | 08-01-2013 |
20130187301 | METHOD OF, AND APPARATUS FOR, MAKING AN OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE - There is provided a method of making an optical polymer waveguide having an arbitrary refractive index profile, the method including: a) providing a first input optical beam having a first beam intensity profile and a second input optical beam having a second beam intensity profile; b) combining the first and second input optical beams to form an output optical beam having an output beam intensity profile; and c) forming the optical waveguide on a substrate by: exposing the optical materials of the waveguide to the output optical beam; and curing the optical materials using said output optical beam. | 07-25-2013 |
20130170802 | OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE AND A METHOD FOR MAKING AN OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE - The invention provides an optical waveguide and a method of making an optical waveguide. The waveguide has a curved section having an asymmetric refractive index profile, in which the refractive index varies asymmetrically across the waveguide cross-section in dependence on the radius of the curved section of the waveguide. | 07-04-2013 |
20130156386 | OPTICAL CONNECTOR ASSEMBLY - The invention provides an optical connector assembly for arrangement on a first optical printed circuit board and for connecting the first optical printed circuit board to a second optical device on a second electro optical printed circuit board, the connector assembly comprising: an electrical connector; and an optical connector; the optical connector being arranged in a housing that is fixed relative to the electrical connector, the optical connector being movably mounted in the housing so that the optical connector can move relative to the electrical connection, such that when electrical connection is made, the optical connector can still move with at least three degrees of freedom. | 06-20-2013 |
20130094135 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM, AN ENERGY MODULE AND A METHOD OF PROVIDING BACK-UP POWER TO A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - The invention provides a data storage system for connection to a primary power source, the data storage system comprising: one or more data storage media; one or more interfaces, each interface able to connect to at least one of the data storage media so as to couple power from the primary power source to the at least one of the data storage media; one or more energy modules, each energy module being able to connect to an interface for providing back-up power to the one or more of the data storage media in the event of a failure of the primary power source. | 04-18-2013 |
20130031239 | DATA COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS - There is provided a method of scheduling requests from a plurality of services to at least one data storage resource. The method comprises receiving, on a computer system, service requests from said plurality of services. The service requests comprise metadata specifying a service ID and a data size of payload data associated with said service request, and at least some of said service IDs have service throughput metadata specifying a required service throughput associated therewith. The method further includes arranging, in a computer system, said requests into FIFO throttled queues based on said service ID and then setting a deadline for processing of a request in a throttled queue. The deadline is selected in dependence upon the size of the request and the required service throughput associated therewith. Then, the deadline of each throttled queue is monitored and, if a request in a throttled queue has reached or exceeded the deadline the request is processed in a data storage resource. | 01-31-2013 |
20130021696 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND A METHOD OF COOLING STORAGE MEDIA WITHIN A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - The invention provides a data storage system and a method of cooling storage media within a data storage system. The data storage system comprises an enclosure; plural drawer structures each containing plural storage media such as disk drives, wherein the storage media are arranged such that air can pass vertically within the system through and between at least 2 of the plural drawers thereby to cool the disk drives in the system by a vertical flow of air within the system; and air flow generating means to generate a vertical flow of air through the drawers. | 01-24-2013 |
20120327582 | DATA STORAGE DEVICE ENCLOSURE AND MODULE - There is disclosed an electronics module ( | 12-27-2012 |
20120314990 | OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE AND A METHOD OF FABRICATING AN OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE - There is provided an optical waveguide comprising an optical core having transverse sides, the optical core extending along a curved path; an optical cladding on the transverse sides of the optical core, wherein the distribution of the optical cladding on the transverse sides of the optical core is asymmetric about the centre of the core. | 12-13-2012 |
20120268112 | MAGNETIC SENSOR AND A METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MAPPING THE MAGNETIC FIELD OR MAGNETIC FIELD SENSITIVITY OF A RECORDING HEAD - The invention provides a method and apparatus for scanning a read/write head of a hard disk drive during manufacture. The method comprises: providing a magnetic sensor; moving the magnetic sensor relative to and in close proximity to the read/write head under test; obtaining measurements from the head under test or the sensor, representing a two-dimensional magnetic map; processing the map to obtain an accurate map of the head sensitivity of the head under test from which the key performance characteristics of the head can be obtained. | 10-25-2012 |
20120262812 | TEST APPARATUS AND METHOD OF TESTING WITH A TEST APPARATUS - There is disclosed a test apparatus for performing testing with a read/write head and method of testing with a test apparatus. The test apparatus includes a head load mechanism for receiving and positioning the read/write head during testing and a multi-channel preamplifier arranged to interface plural channels to a measurement system. A first channel of the multi-channel preamplifier has a connector for connecting to the read/write head. One or more other channels of the multi-channel preamplifier is connected to or has a connector for connecting to another device for interfacing that device to the measurement system. | 10-18-2012 |
20120233484 | METHOD OF, AND APPARATUS FOR, POWER MANAGEMENT IN A STORAGE RESOURCE - There is provided a method and apparatus for power management in a storage resource. The storage resource comprises at least one RAID array including a plurality of physical drives. The method comprises: determining a reduced number of physical drives within a RAID array upon which data is to be concentrated; moving data stored on said RAID array and/or targeting data written to said RAID array to one or more of said reduced number of physical drives such that said data is concentrated on said reduced number of physical drives in said RAID array; and selectively applying power management logic to enable, based on at least one power management criterion, one or more physical drives in said RAID array to be powered down or to be supplied with reduced power. | 09-13-2012 |
20120226854 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND A METHOD OF CONTROL OF A STORAGE SYSTEM - A storage system and a method of control of a storage system including plural storage media, at least one SAS expander physically connected to each of the plural storage media and to a controller via plural parallel data channels, the controller being connected to a host CPU arranged in use to execute input/output operations to transfer data to and read data from the plural storage media, the method including: at the expander, varying the available bandwidth for communication with the plural storage media by varying the available number of the plural parallel data channels thereby providing control of the number of input/output operations executed by the host CPU. | 09-06-2012 |
20120219249 | OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD, A METHOD OF MAKING AN OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AND AN OPTICAL WAVEGUIDE - An optical printed circuit board, including at least one optical waveguide for carrying optical signals on the optical printed circuit board; and a trench formed adjacent the at least one optical waveguide, wherein the trench contains a light absorptive material to absorb light that strays from the at least one waveguide. | 08-30-2012 |
20120200287 | SPINSTANDS FOR TESTING A HEAD GIMBAL ASSEMBLY - There is disclosed a spinstand for testing a head gimbal assembly. The spinstand includes a gripper operable to grip the head gimbal assembly and a load pick device operable to hold a head gimbal assembly and to move the head gimbal assembly into an exchange position where it can be gripped by the gripper. In the exchange position part of the load pick device registers with the gripper and another part of the load pick device is spaced from the gripper so as to form a space between, in which space at least part of the head gimbal assembly is located in use. | 08-09-2012 |
20120182849 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CENTRING A DISK ON A SPINDLE, METHOD OF TESTING WITH A SPINSTAND AND SPINSTAND - There is disclosed herein a method and apparatus for centring a disk on a spindle, a spinstand and a method of testing with a spinstand. The method of centring includes attaching the disk to the spindle with a stick-slip clamp. A vector is determined by which the centre of the disk is displaced from the spindle axis and the vector is aligned with a movably mounted piezo actuator. A voltage is then applied to the piezo actuator to cause the piezo actuator to apply an impulse to the edge of the disk to cause the disk to slip in the clamp and reduce the displacement of the disk. | 07-19-2012 |
20120127605 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MAPPING THE MAGNETIC FIELD OR MAGNETIC FIELD SENSITIVITY OF A RECORDING HEAD - A method and apparatus for scanning a read/write head of a hard disk drive during manufacture are presented. The method includes: providing a magnetic sensor; moving the magnetic sensor relative to and in close proximity to the read/write head under test; obtaining measurements from the head under test or the sensor, representing a two-dimensional magnetic map; processing the map to obtain an accurate map of the head sensitivity of the head under test from which the key performance characteristics of the head can be obtained. | 05-24-2012 |
20120120524 | TEMPERATURE CONTROL APPARATUS FOR A HARD DISK DRIVE AND A METHOD OF VARYING THE TEMPERATURE OF A HARD DISK DRIVE - A temperature control apparatus for a hard disk drive includes: a thermal chamber for receiving a hard disk drive; and an oscillatory air movement generator for generating air movement within a region between the thermal chamber and the hard disk drive when received in the thermal chamber, thereby to facilitate heat transfer between the thermal chamber and the hard disk drive. | 05-17-2012 |
20120114280 | OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AND A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING AN OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD - A method of manufacturing an optical printed circuit board and an optical printed circuit board. The method includes providing a support layer having one or more optical waveguides formed on the support layer, the waveguides having exposed interfaces. A film is provided on one or more of the exposed interfaces, wherein the film has a smoother outer surface than the waveguide interface. | 05-10-2012 |
20120106612 | METHOD OF EVALUATING THE PROFIT OF A SUBSTREAM OF ENCODED VIDEO DATA, METHOD OF OPERATING SERVERS, SERVERS, NETWORK AND APPARATUS - There is disclosed in aspects of the invention a method of evaluating the profit of a substream of encoded video data, a method of operating servers, a network and an apparatus. In the method, a data portion is identified comprising at least some of the data in the substream being evaluated; comparing a decoded version of the video with the data portion present and a decoded version of the video with the data portion removed and calculating an error metric indicative of the distortion between the two versions; and, calculating a profit for the substream dependent upon the error metric. | 05-03-2012 |
20120105056 | APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING A DISK DRIVE, DISK DRIVE TEST APPARATUS AND METHOD OF TESTING A DISK DRIVE - There is disclosed apparatus for supporting a disk drive, disk drive test apparatus and a method of testing a disk drive. The apparatus for supporting a disk drive includes: a housing, a slot for receiving a disk drive, and a plurality of isolators. The slot is received in the housing and has a longitudinal axis. The isolators are disposed between the slot and the housing for isolating the slot from the housing. The isolators are arranged with respect to the longitudinal axis such that the slot has a low rotational stiffness in the direction of the longitudinal axis relative to the rotational stiffness in at least one other direction. | 05-03-2012 |
20120096329 | METHOD OF, AND APPARATUS FOR, DETECTION AND CORRECTION OF SILENT DATA CORRUPTION - There is provided a method of writing data to a sector of a storage device, the sector comprising a data field and a protection information field and having identifying information identifying the location of said sector. The method comprises providing data to be written to an intended sector, generating, for said intended sector, a message comprising the data and the identifying information of said intended sector and performing, on said message, error correcting encoding to generate a codeword. The codeword comprises the message and parity information generated from said error correcting coding. The data can then be written to the data field of the sector, and the parity information can be written to said protection information field of the sector. | 04-19-2012 |
20120086467 | APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING A DISK DRIVE AND DISK DRIVE TEST APPARATUS - The invention provides a method and apparatus for inserting a disk drive into or removing a disk drive from a test cell, the test cell including plural slots, each slot having a carrier for receiving the disk drive, the method including: moving the carrier out of the slot into an open position so that it can receive a disk drive, wherein the carrier remains in contact with the slot; inserting a disk drive into the carrier when the tray is still in contact with the slot; and moving the carrier containing the disk drive into a closed position back in the slot. | 04-12-2012 |
20120081856 | STORAGE SYSTEM AND A STORAGE BRIDGE BAY CANISTER - The invention provides a Storage Bridge Bay system, comprising: plural hard disk drives, each arranged within a corresponding slot; one or more Storage Bridge Bay canisters, wherein there is provided in the or each canister one or more solid state drives. In addition in an embodiment, the invention provides a Storage Bridge Bay canister, the canister comprising: electrical connections in accordance with the Storage Bridge Bay standard; and, one or more solid state drives arranged within the canister and arranged in communication with the electrical connections, thereby enabling control of and transfer of data to or from the solid state drives via the electrical connections. | 04-05-2012 |
20120079321 | POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM FOR A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND A METHOD OF CONTROLLING A POWER SUPPLY - The invention provides a power supply system for a data storage system, the power supply system comprising: a first power supply unit for supplying power to the storage system; a second power supply unit independent from the first power supply unit for supplying power to the storage system; an auxiliary power supply; a power redundancy controller, arranged to monitor the region of an efficiency curve within which the first and/or second power supplies are operating in and control the first and second power supplies accordingly such that the either or both of the first and second power supplies are providing power at any one time, wherein in the event of failure of a power supply unit when only one of the power supply units is operating, the power redundancy controller is arranged to provide power supply to the data storage system from the auxiliary power supply. | 03-29-2012 |
20120044627 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STORAGE OF CABLES - There is provided a method and apparatus for storage of cable, comprising: a cable reel, said cable reel being rotatable about an axis and having a surface spaced from said axis, said surface being arranged to store wound cable thereon, the cable reel further comprising: a first receiving portion for receiving a first part of the cable; a second receiving portion for receiving a second part of the cable; and a guide for guiding the cable between the first and second receiving portions, wherein the guide is arranged to guide the cable along a path extending in three dimensions. | 02-23-2012 |
20120044626 | Method and apparatus for storage of cables - There is provided a storage reel for storage of cable. The storage reel comprises a first cable reel having a first reeling surface arranged to store wound communication cable thereon, a second cable reel having a second reeling surface arranged to store wound communication cable thereon and a connecting member arranged to connect said first and second cable reels. The storage reel is rotatable about an axis such that, in use, the storage reel is operable to wind cable across both the first and second reeling surfaces. | 02-23-2012 |
20120038999 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR RECEIVING AND POSITIONING A READ/WRITE HEAD TO A DISK FOR TESTING AND METHOD OF REMOVING A TESTED READ/WRITE HEAD FROM A TEST APPARATUS - An apparatus for receiving and positioning a read/write head to a disk and related methods are disclosed. The apparatus includes: a deck; a spindle on the deck; a safety enclosure surrounding at least the spindle; and a movable carriage having at least one head receiving portion. The carriage is movable between a first position wherein the head receiving portion is outside the safety enclosure and a second position wherein the head receiving portion is inside the safety enclosure. The apparatus further includes an automated mechanism arranged to pick up the head from the head receiving portion when in the second position and to load the head to the disk for testing. | 02-16-2012 |
20120020007 | CARRIER, STORAGE ENCLOSURE AND METHODS - There is disclosed a carrier ( | 01-26-2012 |
20120020005 | STORAGE ENCLOSURE AND METHODS - There is disclosed a storage enclosure ( | 01-26-2012 |
20110314232 | ELECTRONIC DATA STORE - A method of, and apparatus for, predicting the performance of a data storage resource forming part of a networked electronic data store. The method includes representing the data storage resource as a plurality of separate virtual storage components, each virtual storage component representing a part of the data storage resource and having at least one operational state selectable from a pool of operational states. The method further includes obtaining resource profile data from the data storage resource, and modelling the performance of the data storage resource by assigning, from the pool, an operational state to each virtual storage component to fit the resource profile data. By providing such a method, the data storage resource can be represented as a collection of virtual storage components, each having a dynamically-assignable operational state. This enables the modelling of the performance of the data storage resource to be simplified significantly because each virtual storage component can only have a finite number of operational states, simplifying the modelling of access patterns on, and interactions between, the virtual storage components. | 12-22-2011 |
20110314087 | COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS - A method of, and apparatus for, network communication between a client computer initiator and a target data store. The method includes requesting, by the initiator, a data transfer session between the initiator and the target over a network. The request specifies quality of service parameters for the data transfer session. The method further includes receiving, from the target, a response accepting or denying the data transfer session based on the quality of service parameters; and establishing the data transfer session between the initiator and the target if the request is accepted. An advantage in communicating QoS requirements automatically on a per session basis between a client computer initiator and a target data storage resource is that QoS guarantees can be improved because the QoS determination can be carried out at the time the data transfer session is required. This enables the current access patterns on the storage resource to be monitored and an accurate determination regarding whether the QoS parameters of a desired data transfer session can be met. | 12-22-2011 |
20110313752 | ELECTRONIC DATA STORE - An apparatus and method of providing conditional access to an electronic data store including a storage controller and a data storage resource. The method includes receiving, at the storage controller, a network request for access to the data storage resource from a client, the request including at least one required parameter defining the requested connection, obtaining information on the performance of the data storage resource, determining, based upon the information, whether a) the data storage resource can meet the or each required parameter of the request; and b) meeting the or each required parameter of the request will not violate any previously agreed parameters defining existing connections on the data storage resource; and denying the request if at least one of a) and b) are determined to be negative. | 12-22-2011 |
20110286691 | DATA STORAGE SYSTEM, A MODULAR PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD, A BACKPLANE AND A BACKPLANE COMPONENT - The invention provides a component electro-optical printed circuit board backplane for assembly in a modular electro-optical backplane, the component electro-optical printed circuit board backplane comprising: optical channels for the propagation and transmission of optical data signals and electrical channels for the propagation and transmission of power and control signals; connectors for connection in-plane to at least one other component electro-optical printed circuit board; and, at least one socket for receiving, in use, a user circuit. The invention also provides a modular backplane made up of plural such component backplanes. | 11-24-2011 |
20110258381 | DATA DUPLICATION RESYNCHRONISATION - There is provided a method of resynchronising a previous duplication, started at a first time, of a source logical drive on a destination logical drive. The method comprises tracking changes to the data on said source logical drive since said first time and starting a resynchronisation operation at a second time later than said first time. The resynchronisation operation comprises copying data from said source logical drive to said destination logical drive by copying only data which has changed since said first time. By providing such a method, the need to copy data which has not changed since the previous duplication operation is alleviated. This reduces the time and processing required to perform the resynchronisation operation by eliminating unnecessary transfer of data which has not changed since the earlier duplication. | 10-20-2011 |
20110246793 | METHOD OF PROVIDING OUT OF BAND MONITORING AND CONTROL OF A DATA STORAGE SUBSYSTEM - The invention provides a method of providing out of band monitoring and/or control of a data storage subsystem, the storage subsystem comprising one or more storage media, a controller for controlling the storage media and a power supply unit, the method comprising: providing out of band control and/or monitoring signals to and/or from the power supply unit. | 10-06-2011 |
20110228660 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING A SIGNAL, METHOD OF TESTING WITH A SPINSTAND, A METHOD OF WRITING A TEST DATA PATTERN AND A SPINSTAND - There is disclosed a method and apparatus for measuring a signal using a measurement system. The signal has a frequency component that is to be detected by the measurement. The frequency component has a varying phase. The signal has at least one interruption thereto. The method includes: processing the signal with the measurement system to detect the frequency component in the signal and stalling the measurement system before the start of the interruption. The stall period is calculated such that the processing of the signal is resumed: i) after the end of the interruption, and ii) where there is substantially no discontinuity between the phase of the frequency component in the signal at the end of the stall and in the phase of the frequency component in the signal at the beginning of the stall. | 09-22-2011 |
20110222861 | INTERCONNECT FOR A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM - The invention provides an interconnect for a data storage system, to enable optical communication between a data storage device and a backplane to which the data storage device is in use to be connected, wherein the interconnect includes an electrical power connection for providing power to a said data storage device; and, an optical engine for generating and receiving optical signals for transmission of data between the data storage device and the backplane. | 09-15-2011 |
20110222823 | OPTICAL CONNECTOR AND A METHOD OF CONNECTING A USER CIRCUIT TO AN OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD - The invention provides an optical connector for connecting a user circuit to an optical backplane, in which the backplane has one or more waveguides on it for carrying optical signals, the connector comprising: a first optical interface provided on the user circuit for receiving optical signals from the backplane or for transmitting optical signals for passage along the one or more waveguides; a second optical interface provided on the backplane for receiving optical signals from the user circuit or for transmitting optical signals to the user circuit; alignment features provided on each of the user circuit and the backplane arranged to align the first and second optical interfaces such that upon insertion of the user circuit to the backplane, the optical interfaces are aligned in the direction of insertion. | 09-15-2011 |
20110222821 | OPTICAL CONNECTOR AND A METHOD OF CONNECTING AN OPTICAL CONNECTOR TO AN OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD - The invention provides an optical printed circuit board connector, comprising: a housing having a major plane; an optical interface for connection in use to another optical interface on a device to which in use the optical printed circuit board connector is arranged to be connected, in which the optical interface on the connector is mounted such that it is twistable about a vertical axis in the major plane to vary the launch angle of light from the interface with respect to the housing. | 09-15-2011 |
20110222235 | CLAMP ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF CLAMPING A DISK DRIVE - There is disclosed herein a clamp assembly and a method for clamping a disk drive to a substrate. The disk drive has a disk drive connector. The clamp assembly includes a resilient biasing element mounted to the substrate. The clamp assembly also has a substrate connector. When a disk drive connector is connected to the substrate connector, the resilient biasing element biases the disk drive and the substrate connector together. | 09-15-2011 |
20110222234 | STORAGE ENCLOSURE, CARRIER AND METHODS - There is disclosed a storage enclosure, a carrier, a method of receiving and/or removing disk drive units to/from a storage enclosure, methods of manufacturing a storage enclosure, and a method of mounting a disk drive unit in a storage enclosure. In an aspect of the invention, a storage enclosure ( | 09-15-2011 |
20110219158 | STORAGE ASSEMBLY, A PHYSICAL EXPANDER AND A METHOD - A storage assembly includes a physical expander for connection in use to two or more SCSI initiators, and two or more storage devices, wherein the expander is controlled such that it presents plural virtual expanders. A method for connecting two or more storage devices to two or more SCSI initiators within a storage assembly, includes providing a physical expander for connection in use to the two or more SCSI initiators, and two or more storage devices, and controlling the single expander such that it presents plural virtual expanders. | 09-08-2011 |
20110202720 | Snapback-Free Logical Drive Duplication - There is provided a method of duplicating a logical drive. The method includes sequentially copying data from a source logical drive to a destination logical drive and determining whether a write request is received to a data area on the source logical drive which has not yet been copied to the destination logical drive. If a write request is detected, the data at the write-requested data area is copied to the destination logical drive prior to executing the write request. By providing such a method, the destination logical drive can be used as the change-data store while in the process of the duplication operation, removing the need for a snapshot logical drive in the duplication process. This results in improvements in duplication speed and reduces drive wear due to the reduced number of data reads/writes. | 08-18-2011 |
20110202719 | Logical Drive Duplication - There is provided a method of, and apparatus for, duplicating a logical drive. The method includes sequentially copying data from a source logical drive to a destination logical drive, and determining whether a write request to the source logical drive is received during the sequential copying. If so, the step of copying data in the write-requested data area to an additional storage area is carried out prior to executing the write request. It is further specified that the data in the write-requested data area is to be ignored and not copied during the sequential copying. The method further includes copying, upon completion of the sequential copying, data from the additional storage area to the destination logical drive. | 08-18-2011 |
20110179233 | ELECTRONIC DATA STORE - A method of, and apparatus for, predicting the performance of a data storage resource forming part of a networked electronic data store. The method includes representing the data storage resource as a plurality of separate virtual storage components, each virtual storage component representing a part of the data storage resource and having at least one operational state selectable from a pool of operational states. The method further includes obtaining resource profile data from the data storage resource, and modelling the performance of the data storage resource by assigning, from the pool, an operational state to each virtual storage component to fit the resource profile data. By providing such a method, the data storage resource can be represented as a collection of virtual storage components, each having a dynamically-assignable operational state. This enables the modelling of the performance of the data storage resource to be simplified significantly because each virtual storage component can only have a finite number of operational states, simplifying the modelling of access patterns on, and interactions between, the virtual storage components. | 07-21-2011 |
20110179224 | DATA STORAGE MIRRORING - There is provided a method and apparatus for implementing a virtual mirror of a primary storage device ( | 07-21-2011 |
20110179109 | COMMUNICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS - A method of, and apparatus for, network communication between a client computer initiator and a target data store. The method includes requesting, by the initiator, a data transfer session between the initiator and the target over a network. The request specifies quality of service parameters for the data transfer session. The method further includes receiving, from the target, a response accepting or denying the data transfer session based on the quality of service parameters; and establishing the data transfer session between the initiator and the target if the request is accepted. An advantage in communicating QoS requirements automatically on a per session basis between a client computer initiator and a target data storage resource is that QoS guarantees can be improved because the QoS determination can be carried out at the time the data transfer session is required. This enables the current access patterns on the storage resource to be monitored and an accurate determination regarding whether the QoS parameters of a desired data transfer session can be met. | 07-21-2011 |
20110178790 | ELECTRONIC DATA STORE - An apparatus and method of providing conditional access to an electronic data store including a storage controller and a data storage resource. The method includes receiving, at the storage controller, a network request for access to the data storage resource from a client, the request including at least one required parameter defining the requested connection, obtaining information on the performance of the data storage resource, determining, based upon the information, whether a) the data storage resource can meet the or each required parameter of the request; and b) meeting the or each required parameter of the request will not violate any previously agreed parameters defining existing connections on the data storage resource; and denying the request if at least one of a) and b) are determined to be negative. | 07-21-2011 |
20110072290 | AUXILIARY POWER SUPPLY, A METHOD OF PROVIDING POWER TO A DATA STORAGE SYSTEM AND A BACK-UP POWER SUPPLY CHARGING CIRCUIT - The invention provides a data storage system, comprising: one or more data storage media; a midplane to which the one or more data storage media are, in use, connected; at least one input/output module for providing control of data transfer between the or each of the data storage media and one or more hosts to which, in use, the data storage system is connected; and a back-up power supply to provide power to the input/output modules in the event of a failure of regular power sources therefor, the back-up power supply being provided separately from the at least one input/output module. | 03-24-2011 |
20110032631 | APPARATUS AND METHODS OF GENERATING A TEST PATTERN OF DATA, ANALYSING A TEST PATTERN OF DATA, AND TESTING A DATA STORAGE DISK MEDIUM AND/OR A READ/WRITE HEAD - A method of generating a test pattern of data to be written to a data storage disk medium for testing includes: rotating the disk; detecting fluctuations in the speed of rotation of the disk; producing a reference clock signal in accordance with the fluctuations so as to be synchronised with the rotation of the disk; and, generating a test pattern of data using the reference clock signal as a timing reference. An apparatus for generating a test pattern of data includes a spindle for rotating a disk; a detector arranged to detect fluctuations in the speed of rotation of the disk; a processor arranged to produce a reference clock signal in accordance with fluctuations so as to be synchronised with the rotation of the disk; and, a pattern generator arranged to generate a test pattern of data using the reference clock signal as a timing reference. | 02-10-2011 |
20100290737 | OPTICAL WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXED MULTIPLEXER/DEMULTIPLEXER FOR AN OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AND A METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME - The invention provides an optical mux/demux for an optical printed circuit board. The mux/demux comprises: a first waveguide formed on a support layer for carrying a wavelength division multiplexed optical signal; a separator/combiner for separating the wavelength division multiplexed signal into component signals of corresponding wavelengths or for combining component signals into the said wavelength division multiplexed signal; and plural second waveguides, each for receiving or providing one or more of the said component signals, wherein the separator/combiner is at a predetermined location relative to the waveguides. | 11-18-2010 |
20100258350 | APPARATUS COMPRISING RACK, COMPONENT, CABLE AND CABLE MANAGEMENT ASSEMBLY - An apparatus is disclosed including a rack; a component mounted to the rack and a cable connected at one end to the component. A cable management assembly for managing the cable has a first end fixed relative to the component and a second end fixed relative to the rack. The cable management assembly includes a first support member having a cable attachment portion that supports the cable along a first length; and, a second support member having a cable attachment portion that supports the cable along a second length. The support members are arranged to pivot with respect to each other about a pivot axis as the component moves between received and withdrawn positions in the rack. The first and second lengths of cable are offset from each other in the direction of the pivot axis. | 10-14-2010 |
20100011229 | METHODS OF POWERING UP A DISK DRIVE STORAGE ENCLOSURE AND STORAGE ENCLOSURES - A method of powering up a disk drive storage enclosure is disclosed, the storage enclosure having at least one power supply and at least one module having a keyed readable interface corresponding to its power rating. The method includes: receiving a power-on signal; determining the power supplying capability of the storage enclosure; determining the power requirement of the storage enclosure including reading the keyed readable interface to determine the power rating of the at least one keyed module; determining the power mode attainable by the system in accordance with the power supplying capability and the power requirement, the modes including at least power on and power off; and, powering up or not powering up the storage enclosure in accordance with the power mode. | 01-14-2010 |
20090310245 | METHOD OF CONTROLLING THE POSITION OF A READ/WRITE HEAD AND APPARATUS FOR TESTING A READ/WRITE HEAD - A method of controlling the position of a read/write head relative to a disk in a test apparatus is disclosed. The test apparatus has a positioner for positioning the head. The positioner has a sensor to measure the actual position achieved by the positioner. The method includes generating a sensor signal measuring the actual position achieved by the positioner; generating a position error signal of the head relative to the disk detected at the head; high pass filtering the head position error signal and low pass filtering the sensor signal so that there is substantially no overlap in frequency between them; and, deriving a low frequency head error signal from the head position error signal corresponding to any drift of the head. | 12-17-2009 |
20090291571 | DONGLES AND METHODS OF MANUFACTURING A DONGLE - A dongle for connecting a disk drive assembly to the backplane of a storage enclosure is disclosed. The dongle includes: a housing having a disk drive connector portion having a plurality of contact pins for connecting to a disk drive assembly and having a PCB holding portion having walls that define a recess; and, a PCB located within the recess, the PCB having a plurality of contact fingers on at least one surface at an edge of the PCB to form a backplane connector for connecting to the backplane. At least some of the disk drive connector contact pins are in electrical connection with at least some of the contact fingers of the backplane connector. | 11-26-2009 |
20090202713 | METHOD OF MAKING A WAVEGUIDE AND A WAVEGUIDE MADE THEREBY - A method of making a waveguide, the method including depositing discrete units of optical core material in a pattern of the waveguide, and controlling the refractive index of the discrete units such that the refractive index of the waveguide varies along its length. | 08-13-2009 |
20090193213 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DATA TRANSFORM - In an apparatus and method of transforming a block of data elements, the order of the data elements is transformed. The data elements are stored in an initial order in respective ones of first and second memory elements, each first memory element corresponding to a respective second memory element. The contents of all respective pairs of the first and second memory elements are compared. The data elements in the second memory elements are shifted to different ones of the second memory elements after each comparison whilst maintaining the initial order of the data elements. The shifts and comparisons are repeated until every data element has been compared with every other data element. The results of the comparisons are combined after each comparison to provide a result that can be used to order the data elements to a final order. | 07-30-2009 |
20090168219 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR WRITING SERVO FRAMES TO AND/OR VERIFYING DATA AREAS OF A STORAGE MEDIUM - Methods and apparatus are disclosed for writing and verifying servo frames written on a storage medium, for verifying data areas of a storage medium, and for writing and verifying servo frames and data areas of a storage medium. In one example, the writing of at least a portion of a position field of a servo frame to a track of the storage medium is interleaved with reading of at least a portion of a previously written logic field of a servo frame of a track of the storage medium whereby said portion of the previously written logic field can be verified during the servo writing process. | 07-02-2009 |
20090162004 | OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AND MANUFACTURING METHOD - The invention provides a method of manufacturing an optical printed circuit board and an optical printed circuit board. The method comprises providing a support layer; on the support layer, providing an optical core layer; forming optical channels from the optical core layer and surrounding the optical channels with cladding thereby forming optical waveguides; and during said step of forming the optical channels, forming one or more alignment features, e.g. projections, on the optical printed circuit board. | 06-25-2009 |
20090135558 | AIRFLOW MODULE, DATA STORAGE DEVICE ENCLOSURE AND METHOD OF COOLING ELECTRONICS MODULE - An airflow module for being received in a module bay of a data storage device enclosure is disclosed. The airflow module comprises a body having: a first face having a first opening therein; a second face having a second opening therein, the first face being adjacent to the second face; and, an airflow channel between the first opening and the second opening so as to allow the passage of air between the first opening and the second opening. The first and second openings are arranged to co-operate with airflow openings in modules positioned in adjacent bays of a said data storage device enclosure to direct a cooling stream of air between said modules in use. The airflow channel is free from components that generate substantial amounts of heat in their normal operation. | 05-28-2009 |
20090122443 | Disk Drive Carrier Assembly and Method - A disk drive carrier assembly for carrying plural disk drives is provided. The assembly has a casing having first and second opposed ends, opposed sides, a top and a bottom. Drive cards are provided in the casing. Each drive card has a disk drive receiving portion for receiving a disk drive and provides at least one of a power and a data connection to a disk drive. A baffle arrangement splits an air stream entering the casing at a first end of the casing to flow over the disk drive receiving portion of each of the drive cards. The drive cards and the baffle arrangement are arranged so that air flows only in parallel over the disk drive receiving portion of each of the drive cards. In this way, each disk drive receiving portion receives air that has not passed over another disk drive receiving portion of the assembly. | 05-14-2009 |
20090092046 | Method for Congestion Management of a Network, a Switch, and a Network - A switch for connection in a network of other like switches and includes memory for storing data packets, a control system arranged to control the switch to, upon receipt at one of the ingress or egress ports of notification of congestion at a downstream congested port, either store at said ingress port or egress port data packets received for said congested port or to communicate with an upstream port for storage at said upstream port of data packets destined for the congested port, and in dependence on the current of stored data, to send a message to a further upstream port informing the further upstream port of the congestion downstream. The memory is provided substantially only at the ingress ports or the egress ports of the switch. | 04-09-2009 |
20090083319 | METHOD OF EXECUTING A BACKGROUND TASK AND AN ARRAY CONTROLLER - The present invention provides a method of executing a background task on an array of data storage devices, the method comprising recording information about where in an array data is stored and executing a background task only on those regions of the array in which data is stored. | 03-26-2009 |
20090052904 | AN OPTICAL CONNECTOR, A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND A METHOD OF CONNECTING A USER CIRCUIT TO AN OPTICAL TRANSCEIVER - The invention provides an optical connector for connecting a user circuit to an optical backplane, in use the connector being adapted for mounting on a user circuit. The connector comprises an active or passive photonic interface through which optical signals may be transmitted and received between a user circuit and a said optical backplane; a primary aligner for engagement with a corresponding aligner on a backplane to ensure alignment of the optical interface with the backplane; and a support for supporting the aligner and/or the optical interface on the connector. The support is selected to enable relative movement between a user circuit to which the connector is connected in use and the aligner and/or the optical interface. The support is preferably a flexible printed circuit board. | 02-26-2009 |
20090041409 | ELECTRO-OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AND A METHOD OF MAKING AN ELECTRO-OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD - An electro-optical printed circuit board and a method of making an electro-optical printed circuit board are provided. The method comprises: forming a trench or groove on an outer surface of an electrical printed circuit board; providing optical material in the trench thereby to form an optical waveguide. | 02-12-2009 |
20090028496 | ELECTRO-OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD, A BLANK AND A METHOD OF MAKING AN ELECTRO-OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD - The invention provides a method of making an electro-optical printed circuit board, the method comprising: providing a support layer having thereon surface mounted electric components within a region of the support layer; forming one or more surface mounted optical components on the surface of the electro-optical printed circuit board; and during formation of the one or more surface mounted optical components shielding the region of the electro-optical printed circuit board where the surface mounted electric components are formed. | 01-29-2009 |
20090016011 | MODULE AND A METHOD OF POSITIONING A MODULE - A module receivable within a data storage device enclosure is disclosed. The module comprises a module body and a handle arranged to lever the module into or out of its received position in a said data storage device enclosure. The handle has a plastics portion that can be gripped by a user to operate the handle, and a metal portion by which the handle is attached to the module body. | 01-15-2009 |
20090009954 | Chassis and module for data storage device enclosure and methods of reconfiguring chassis and module - A chassis for a data storage device enclosure is disclosed. The chassis comprises a bay arranged to receive a module and a key in the bay. The bay key is constructed and arranged such that a module can be received in the bay only when said module has a corresponding module key. The bay key is manually reconfigurable by a user without use of a tool from a first configuration in which only a module having a corresponding first key can be received in the bay to a second configuration in which only a module having a corresponding second key, which is different from the first key, can be received in the bay. | 01-08-2009 |
20080273546 | DATA SWITCH AND A METHOD OF SWITCHING - The invention relates to a data switch, comprising: plural input ports each for receiving data cells from a respective link; plural output ports each for providing data cells to a respective link; a switch fabric for selectively enabling a data cell received at one of the plural input ports to be switched to one or more of the plural output ports; and a switch scheduler comprising a cut-through arbiter arranged to schedule the switching of a received data cell before the entirety of the data cell is received. | 11-06-2008 |
20080273531 | DATA SWITCH AND A METHOD OF SWITCHING - The present invention relates to a switch and a method of switching for switching data frames. The switch comprises plural input ports and plural output ports; a central switch fabric configurable in any switching cycle to make connections between required pairs of the input ports and output ports; one or more transmit devices configured to receive data from the input ports and transmit data cells across the switch fabric; a controller for controlling the operation of the transmit devices, the plural input ports and output ports and the switch fabric; and multicast storage associated with the or each of the transmit devices for storage of fragmenting multicast cells and onward transmission of the fragmented cells. | 11-06-2008 |
20080267029 | Method of Generating a Position Error Signal, Method of Writing a Data Track, and Method and Apparatus for Testing a Head - A method of generating a position error signal for a desired radial position of a read/write head relative to a data track of a disk is disclosed. The track has a plurality of servo bursts defining a plurality of servo nulls for the track, and are positioned such that they are at more than four different radial positions relative to the track, and define a predetermined locus having a known position relationship with the track. The method comprises determining a target null position on the null locus corresponding to the radial position of the head relative to the track; detecting the position of the servo null with the head; determining from the detected servo null position the position error of the head relative to the target null position; and, generating a position error signal. | 10-30-2008 |
20080259489 | Apparatus and Method for Generating a Servo Pattern - A method of writing a servo pattern to a disk, wherein a servo pattern is generated in a processor. The generated servo pattern is then written to a disk. The servo pattern for a servo sector is preferably generated in a single routine. | 10-23-2008 |
20080256397 | System and Method for Network Performance Monitoring and Predictive Failure Analysis - A method and system for detecting performance degradation of a plurality of monitored components in a networked storage system. Performance data is collected from the plurality of monitored components. Component statistics are generated from the collected performance data. Heuristics are applied to the generated component statistics to determine the likelihood of failure or degradation of each of the plurality of monitored components. | 10-16-2008 |
20080253289 | Method For Congestion Management of a Network, a Signalling Protocol, a Switch, an End Station and a Network - A method of congestion management within a switch or network of connected switches is provided, wherein the or each of the switches has a plurality of ingress ports and a plurality of egress ports. The method involves, when congestion is detected at a first ingress or egress port, sending a message to an upstream port connected to the first ingress or egress port indicating that congestion has occurred at a particular port and requesting storage at the upstream port of data packets destined for that port; and, in dependence on the amount of data packets destined for the congested port stored at the upstream port, sending from the upstream port to a further upstream port a message informing the further upstream port of the congestion at the congested port, the further upstream port storing at the further upstream port data packets destined for the congested port. | 10-16-2008 |
20080239564 | Method and Apparatus for Controlling the Temperature of a Disk Drive During Manufacture - An apparatus for controlling the temperature of a disk drive during manufacture of the disk drive has a cell having a mounting arrangement to which a disk drive can be mounted and having walls defining a volume in which the disk drive is received when mounted to the mounting arrangement during manufacture of the disk drive. At least one wall of the cell adjacent said volume is heat conductive and is arranged such that a disk drive when received in the volume does not touch said at least one wall. An air-agitating device agitates air between the at least one wall and a disk drive when received in the volume to encourage heat transfer between said at least one wall and a disk drive when inserted into the volume. The air-agitating device is mounted so as to be vibrationally isolated from a said disk drive when mounted in the cell. | 10-02-2008 |
20080225701 | ELECTRONICS APPARATUS, A MANAGEMENT DEVICE FOR AN ELECTRONICS APPARATUS AND A METHOD OF MANAGING AN ELECTRONICS APPARATUS - An electronics apparatus comprises an electronic device having at least first and second ports in communication with respective first and second communication paths by each of which communications can be made with the electronic device. The electronics apparatus comprises a management device arranged to collect information concerning the performance of the first and second ports and to apply a decision threshold to said information to decide whether or not each port has failed. If said decision is that the first port has failed, the management device is arranged to disable communication over the first communication path and to adjust the decision threshold for the second port. | 09-18-2008 |
20080218949 | ENCLOSURE FOR CONTAINING ONE OR MORE ELECTRONIC DEVICES AND COOLING MODULE - An enclosure for containing one or more electronic devices is disclosed. The enclosure comprises walls defining a channel; an air movement device in the channel, the channel having an air inlet upstream of the air movement device in communication with a first region of the enclosure; and, a pressure chamber in the channel downstream of the air movement device. The air movement device is arranged so as in use to blow air drawn from the air inlet into the pressure chamber. The pressure chamber has an increased resistance to airflow so as to positively pressurise the air flowing therethrough. The pressure chamber has a first air outlet in communication with a second region of the enclosure and a second air outlet in communication with the exterior of the enclosure. | 09-11-2008 |
20080199132 | ADAPTER FOR AN OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD, AN OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD AND A METHOD OF CONNECTING AN ADAPTER TO AN OPTICAL PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD - The invention provides an adapter for an optical printed circuit board, the adapter comprising a socket for receiving a daughter card for connecting to a said optical printed circuit board; and a connector for engagement with the optical printed circuit board arranged such that when the connector engages with the optical printed circuit board an optical connection is established between the optical printed circuit board and the adapter. | 08-21-2008 |