Patent ID: 9086820
Filing Date: 2015-07-21
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a storage system comprising a block control layer operatively coupled to one or more physical storage devices constituting a physical storage space represented by storage blocks, the method comprising: receiving, by the block control layer and from an upper layer application, a request for obtaining a space allocation descriptor indicative of one or more logical blocks free for allocation within a range of logical addresses, wherein said range of logical addresses is comprised within a logical address space associated with the upper layer application; and scanning, by the block control layer, a data structure comprised in the block control layer and comprises mappings between logical addresses within said logical address space and allocated storage blocks within the physical storage space, wherein the scanning is for identifying mappings related to logical addresses within said range of logical addresses; in accordance with identified mappings or non-found mappings, generating the space allocation descriptor as comprising data indicative of logical addresses that have no mapping to allocated storage blocks; and providing, by the block control layer, the space allocation descriptor to the upper layer application.