Patent ID: 7496539
Filing Date: 2009-02-24
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method of managing dynamic price performance enhancement features and scheduling ranges of input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions in a storage library device, wherein the storage library device includes a bank of tape drives and a general purpose computer containing a computer executable program that when executed by the general purpose computer, causes the general purpose computer to manage the bank of tape drives by performing the method comprising: initiating, one of remotely over a network and locally in the storage library device, by one of a provider and a purchaser and a lessee of the storage library device, the computer executable program, which when executed by one of a host computer system in communication with the general purpose computer installed in the storage library device and executed locally by the general purpose computer in the storage library device, causing one of the host computer system and the general purpose computer in the storage library device to perform the operations of: prompting, by the computer executable program in the general purpose computer, one of the purchaser and the lessee of the storage device to complete a first on line questionnaire, requesting identification of storage requirements and price constraints, I/O performance, operating categories, settings options and feature solutions required of the storage library device; receiving by the storage library device, identification, of storage requirements and price constraints I/O performance, operating categories, settings options and feature solutions required of the storage library device by one of the purchaser and the lessee of the storage device; negotiating, in one of an electronic sales and lease contract agreement for the storage library device and for input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions services related to the storage library device, by the provider with one of the purchaser and the lessee of the storage library device, by prompting, automatically, one of the purchaser and the lessee of the storage device to complete a second on line questionnaire; finalizing design of input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions services to storage requirements of one of the purchaser and the lessee of the storage library device, by receiving the first and second questionnaires from the purchaser of the storage library device and matching, results from the first and second questionnaires including price constraints with available input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions, wherein matching includes using fuzzy matching operations; providing by the seller, upon receipt of payment by one of the purchaser and lessee for input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions services, a pool of license keys which includes an at least one or more license keys, associated with an at least one or more passwords corresponding to the one or more license keys, to the general purpose computer installed in the storage library device, upon receipt, by the general purpose computer, of the at least one or more passwords, causing the general purpose computer to enable by unlocking only negotiated and matched input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions of one or more storage drives in the bank of tape drives in the storage library device paid for by one of the purchaser and the lessee of the storage library device and one of disabling and maintaining disablement of any available input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions, of one or more storage drives in the bank of tape drives, not negotiated and agreed upon, wherein the at least one or more license keys provided are generated by the computer executable program code executed by one of the host system and the general purpose computer processor in the storage library device, wherein enabling and disabling of the bank of tape drives in the storage library device are performed by one of remotely by the host over the network including fiber optic links through a host device driver interface and locally by a library drive interface, wherein negotiated input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions and one or more storage drives in the bank of tape drives in the storage library device are renegotiated to one of increase and decrease input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions when storage requirements of one of the purchaser and the lessee of the storage device change by one of increasing and decreasing, wherein one of enabling and disabling remotely and locally includes receiving a request from one or more tape drives in the bank of tape drives to one of enable and disable performance of the one or more tape drives transmitting the request, wherein providing the pool of license keys for an at least one or more tape drives in the bank of tape drives by one or more performance providing sub operations in a group of performance providing sub operations, wherein the library tape device schedules one of increased and decreased performance of the at least one or more tape drives at one of the same time and different staggered times and wherein the group of performance providing sub operations includes one or more of: operating the bank of tape drives in the library tape device within dynamic price performance enhancement features and scheduling ranges of input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and features solutions provided in the storage library device, and wherein negotiated input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions are paid for by one of the purchaser and the lessee of the library tape device, wherein input/output performance, operating categories, settings, options and feature solutions include one or more of delaying performance of backups and initiating performance of backups, providing high performance transfer rates with recursive accumulating backhitches flush, providing low performance transfer rates without recursive accumulating backhitches flush, providing flexible media capabilities including exchanging long media for short media and short length media for long media, and providing re-writable and write once read many format, and wherein one or more of the tape drives in the library tape device are turned on, wherein one or more of the tape drives in the library tape device are turned off.