Storage Control Apparatus Managing Compressed Data Allocation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing storage technologies face inefficiencies when writing compressed data, leading to increased CPU and storage loads during garbage collection, and inefficient use of storage space due to varying sizes of compressed data areas.
Innovation Solution
A storage control apparatus manages storage areas by using management information to identify data areas of specific sizes that match the size of compressed data, writing the data into unused areas of those sizes, and optimizing garbage collection by relocating data without gaps, thereby reducing CPU and storage loads.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If compressed data is written into storage areas without dividing by size, then storage space is allocated simply, but storage efficiency deteriorates due to varying sizes of compressed data areas
Solution Approach 1:
The storage area is divided into multiple data areas of the same size, and the compressed data is segmented to match these fixed-size areas. This segmentation allows efficient utilization of storage space while maintaining simple allocation management, resolving the contradiction between simplicity and efficiency.
2Quantity of substance
If garbage collection is performed to collect unused data areas, then storage space is reused, but CPU load and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-dividing the storage area into fixed-size data areas and pre-managing them through allocation tables. This preliminary organization eliminates the need for complex garbage collection operations, reducing CPU load and processing time while maintaining effective storage space reuse.
3Adaptability or versatility
If data areas of varying sizes are used, then storage space utilization is flexible, but data management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality by creating uniform data areas of the same size throughout the storage, which simplifies management. The flexibility is achieved through the allocation table that tracks which areas are used, allowing efficient space utilization without varying data area sizes, thus reducing management complexity.
4Ease of operation
If compressed data is written sequentially from front to back, then write operation is simple, but read speed decreases due to data scattering
Solution Approach 1:
The storage is segmented into fixed-size data areas, and compressed data is written sequentially into these segments from front to back. This segmentation maintains simple write operations while improving read speed by ensuring data is stored in contiguous, manageable units rather than scattered throughout the storage medium.
Data Source
AI summary
Management information is provided to control a storage including storage-areas so that each storage-area includes a set of data-areas allocated from each storage-area and each set of data-areas has a data-area size that is a different integer multiple of an access unit of the storage. Logical address information stores information identifying a data-area into which target-data obtained by compressing data has been written, in association with a logical address of the data. Upon reception of the data and the logical address of the data, the apparatus identifies the management information corresponding to a data-area size greater than or equal to a size of the target-data, writes the target-data into an unused data-area of one of the sets of data-areas corresponding to the identified management information, and stores, in the logical address information, information identifying a physical address of the unused data-area in association with the logical address of the data.