Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
78 words
A computer disk storage control system (10), comprising: (a) first and second disk controllers (20,25), each having non-volatile memory thereon (30,35); (b) means for selectively writing data to the first and second controller memory (40,45), substantially concurrently, whereby a mirrored memory is obtained; (c) means for monitoring and detecting a failure in the system (40,45,100,105); and, (d) means for providing substantially immediate and substantially complete operational failover from one controller to the other upon detection of the failure.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
46 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the means for writing provides concurrent and ready access for each controller to a same disk storage control data set and disk data (30,35) without need for extra manipulation or extra direct memory access (DMA) activity to satisfy host requests.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
57 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the means for writing further includes means on the second controller for extracting/copying the data from the first controller memory to the second controller memory after failure of the first controller, whereby a mirror image of the memory of the first controller is created in the memory of the second controller.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
26 words
The system of claim 1 wherein the means for providing failover includes means for monitoring and detecting an accuracy status and consistency of the mirrored memory.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
18 words
The system of claim 1 further including means for hot swapping one of the controllers without preparatory intervention.
Claim 6
Independent Claim
86 words
A method of providing operational failover in a computer disk storage control system (10) having first and second disk controllers (20,25), each controller having non-volatile memory (30,35) thereon, comprising: (a) writing data to the first and second controller memory (30,35), substantially concurrently, whereby a mirrored memory is obtained; (b) monitoring and detecting a failure in one of the controllers (40,45,100,105); and, (c) providing substantially immediate and substantially complete operational failover from one of the controllers wherein the failure was detected to the other of the controllers.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of claim 6 wherein the writing provides concurrent and ready access for each controller to a same disk storage control data set and disk data (30,35) without need for extra manipulation or extra direct memory access (DMA) activity to satisfy host requests.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
75 words
The method of claim 6 wherein steps (a) and (b) are reversed in order and the writing includes selectively writing the data to the first and second controller memory such that the data is extracted/copied by the second controller from the first controller memory wherein the failure is detected after failure of the first controller, whereby a mirror image of the memory of the first controller is created in the memory of the second controller.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
30 words
The method of claim 6 further including correcting an error in the mirrored memory based on a mirrored memory accuracy status detected for the purpose of preserving mirrored image consistency.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
The method of claim 6 further including hot swapping one of the controllers wherein the failure was detected without preparatory intervention.