Patent ID: 7379974

Claim:
A pathway determination system for a data storage system comprising N storage devices and more than N pathways for retrieving requested data from the data storage system, the pathway determination system comprising: a sorter capable of receiving a read request and separating the read request into an appropriate segment size for sending to the storage devices of the data storage system; an assigner comprising: a permutation generator capable of generating a reduced number of read permutations based at least in part on queue length information and estimated current cost information, and a cost calculator capable of calculating an expense of each permutation based on a predetermined metric, the cost calculator being capable of utilizing the queue length information and the estimated current cost information, and the cost calculator being capable of calculating the expense of each permutation further based at least in part on performance information received from the storage devices of the storage system, the assigner being capable of selecting a read permutation satisfying the received read request, the selected read permutation being based at least in part on the predetermined metric, and the assigner being capable of sending the selected read permutation to the storage devices of the storage system; and a collector capable of receiving the requested data from the N storage devices in response to the selected read permutation being sent to the storage devices.