Data storewidth accelerator

Abstract

Data storage controllers and data storage devices employing lossless or lossy data compression and decompression to provide accelerated data storage and retrieval bandwidth. In one embodiment of the invention, a composite disk controller provides data storage and retrieval acceleration using multiple caches for data pipelining and increased throughput. In another embodiment of the invention, the disk controller with acceleration is embedded in the storage device and utilized for data storage and retrieval acceleration.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A controller for controlling storage and retrieval of data to and from a data storage device, comprising: 
 a data compression/decompression engine for compressing data stored to the data storage device and for decompressing data retrieved from the data storage device;    a first cache, operatively connected to the storage device and the data compression/decompression engine, for temporary storage of (i) compressed data that is read from the data storage device and (ii) compressed data from the data compression/decompression engine that is to be written to the data storage device;    a second cache, operatively connected to the data compression/decompression engine and to a host interface bus, for temporary storage of (i) data that is received from a host system over the host interface bus for compression and storage and (ii) data that is to be sent to the host system over the host interface bus; and    a cache manager for controlling the first and second data caches under commands received from the data compression/decompression engine.    
     
     
         2 . The controller of  claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises a disk controller and wherein the storage device comprises a hard disk.  
     
     
         3 . The controller of  claim 1 , wherein the first cache, second cache and the data compression/decompression engine are operatively connected by a first local bus.  
     
     
         4 . The controller of  claim 1 , wherein the data compression/decompression engine is connected to the cache manager over a dedicated bus.  
     
     
         5 . The controller of  claim 1 , further comprising a virtual file system.  
     
     
         6 . The controller of  claim 1 , wherein the controller comprises a magnetic disk controller.  
     
     
         7 . The controller of  claim 1 , wherein the data compression/decompression engine, the first cache, and the second cache are implemented on a digital signal processor.  
     
     
         8 . The controller of  claim 1 , wherein the controller provides accelerated data storage.  
     
     
         9 . The controller of  claim 1 , wherein the controller provides accelerated data retrieval.  
     
     
         10 . The controller of  claim 1 , wherein the first cache, second cache and data compression/decompression engine are embedded components of the controller.  
     
     
         11 . A magnetic disk controller for controlling storage and retrieval of data to and from a magnetic disk, comprising: 
 an embedded data compression/decompression engine for compressing data stored to the magnetic disk and for decompressing data retrieved from the magnetic disk;    an embedded first cache, operatively connected to the magnetic disk and the data compression/decompression engine, for temporary storage of (i) compressed data that is read from the magnetic disk and (ii) compressed data from the data compression/decompression engine that is to be written to the magnetic disk;    an embedded second cache, operatively connected to the data compression/decompression engine and to a host interface bus, for temporary storage of (i) data that is received from a host system over the host interface bus for compression and storage and (ii) data that is to be sent to the host system over the host interface bus; and    an embedded cache manager for controlling the first and second data caches under commands received from the data compression/decompression engine.    
     
     
         12 . The magnetic disk controller of  claim 11 , wherein the first cache, second cache and the data compression/decompression engine are operatively connected by a first local bus.  
     
     
         13 . The controller of  claim 11 , wherein the data compression/decompression engine is connected to the cache manager over a dedicated bus.  
     
     
         14 . The controller of  claim 11 , further comprising an embedded virtual file system.  
     
     
         15 . The controller of  claim 11 , wherein the data compression/decompression engine, the first cache, and the second cache are implemented on a digital signal processor.  
     
     
         16 . The controller of  claim 1 , wherein the controller provides accelerated data storage.  
     
     
         17 . The controller of  claim 1 , wherein the controller provides accelerated data retrieval.  
     
     
         18 . A magnetic disk controller for controlling storage and retrieval of data to and from a magnetic disk, comprising: 
 an embedded data compression/decompression engine for compressing data stored to the magnetic disk and for decompressing data retrieved from the magnetic disk;    an embedded bi-directional cache for temporary storage of (i) compressed data that is read from the magnetic disk and (ii) compressed data from the data compression/decompression engine that is to be written to the magnetic disk;    an embedded cache manager for controlling the bi-directional cache; and    an embedded virtual file management system for mapping compressed data blocks stored on the disk to corresponding uncompressed data blocks.