Patent ID: 7366833

Claim:
A method for enhanced scheduling of a plurality of information storage system access requests, each of said plurality of information storage system access requests having an associated storage system address, said method comprising the steps of: associating a time deadline with selected ones of said plurality of information storage system access requests; periodically selecting one or more of said plurality of information storage system access requests for execution based solely upon an associated time deadline; determining if said associated time deadline for said one or more of said plurality of information storage system access requests can be met while executing at least one additional information storage system access request and said selected one or more of said plurality of information storage system access requests; and selecting at least one additional information storage system access request for execution without regard to it's associated time deadline based solely upon close proximity between an information storage system address of said at least one additional information storage system access request and either an information storage system address of said selected one or more of said plurality of information storage system access requests, or a current information storage system address, if said associated time deadline can be met.