Storage Region Allocation for Data Access Speed
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Solution Overview
Problem
The speed of accessing data stored in a storage device decreases due to inefficient allocation of physical regions to logical regions, leading to separate placement of partial physical regions, which affects data retrieval and storage efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A storage region providing device that accepts writing requests, determines if a physical region is allocated to a specified logical region, allocates an initial allocation region if not, stores data in that region, and then reallocates data to a reallocation region to maintain efficient data access and prevent wasteful allocation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If partial physical regions are allocated to partial logical regions separately for each writing request, then physical region allocation flexibility is improved, but data access speed deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the physical region into an initial allocation region and a reallocation region. The initial allocation region is allocated to a partial logical region when it is not already allocated, enabling flexible physical region allocation. The reallocation region is then allocated to the same partial logical region, allowing data to be stored contiguously and improving access speed. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by providing both allocation flexibility and performance optimization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary allocation of the initial allocation region before actual data writing. By determining in advance whether the physical region is already allocated and allocating the initial region beforehand, the system prepares the storage structure ahead of time. This preliminary action enables efficient data access while maintaining allocation flexibility, resolving the speed-flexibility contradiction.
2Ease of manufacture
If physical region is allocated based on first-come-first-serve manner, then allocation simplicity is improved, but storage efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different allocation strategies to different regions. The initial allocation region uses a simple first-come-first-serve approach for ease of allocation. The reallocation region uses a more sophisticated approach that considers whether the physical region is already allocated, improving storage efficiency. This local quality differentiation allows the system to maintain simplicity where needed while optimizing efficiency where possible, resolving the simplicity-efficiency contradiction.
Data Source
AI summary
A storage region providing device provides a physical storage region (a physical region) as a virtual storage region (a logical region). The device accepts a writing request including data and information for specifying a partial logical region that is part of the logical region. In a case that part of the physical region is not allocated yet to a partial logical region specified by a writing request, the device allocates at least part of an initial allocation region of the physical allocation region to the partial logical region. The device moves data stored in the partial physical region included in the initial allocation region, to a movement destination region that is at least part of a reallocation region other than the initial allocation region of the physical region, and reallocates the movement destination region to the partial logical region.