Patent ID: 7971019

Claim:
A controller for aggregating multiple physically separate media libraries, said controller comprising: a computer processor; a computer memory electronically connected to the computer processor, the computer memory storing a set of computer instructions executable by the computer processor to: communicate with at least a plurality of physical media libraries; control access to the plurality of physical media libraries; maintain one or more virtual media libraries, each virtual library representing a portion of an associated physical media library to which a host has access, wherein each physical media library comprises computer-readable media and one or more drives for performing operations on said computer-readable media; associate a first virtual media library with a first host, wherein the first virtual media library represents a first portion of a first physical media library to which the first host has access; associate a second virtual media library with a second host, wherein the second virtual library represents a second portion of the first physical media library to which the second host has access; store the associations between the first host and the first virtual media library and the second host and the second virtual media library; control access to the first portion of the first physical library represented by the first virtual media library based on the associations such that the first host is allowed access to the first virtual media library and the second host is not allowed access to the first virtual media library; and control access to the second portion of the first physical library represented by the second virtual media library based on the associations such that the first host is not allowed access to the second virtual media library and the second host is allowed access to the second virtual media library.