Patent ID: 6487638
Filing Date: 2002-11-26
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
A computer network comprising:one or more storage devices, wherein the storage devices comprise a plurality of logical volumes, and wherein each logical volume comprises one or more bins, such that each bin corresponds to an area of a storage device; a first and second memory location; a cache, wherein the cache comprises one or more lines of cache operable to store data; a bin access table located in the first memory location, wherein the bin access table contains a frequency value and a time stamp for each bin, wherein the frequency value corresponds to the number of times an I/O access was directed to data stored in that bin and the time stamp corresponds to the time of the most recent I/O access that was directed to data stored in that bin; a hot spot table located in the second memory location, wherein the hot spot table contains a hot spot value for each bin that contains data stored in a cache line, wherein the hot spot value corresponds to the frequency value and time stamp contained in the bin access table for that bin; and a logic operable to calculate a hot spot value and make a comparison of the hot spot value for a bin that contains data responsive to an I/O access to one or more hot spot values stored in the hot spot table; and a network appliance operable to replace data stored in a cache line based on the comparison.