Patent ID: 7013379

Claim:
A method for performing a data operation comprising: receiving, by a switching fabric, said data operation; determining at least one processing step for performing said data operation in accordance with a current state of at least one mapping table; determining one or more mapping primitive operations for processing said data operation, at least one of said mapping primitive operations being a first type of primitive operation used to perform virtual to physical address translation by said switching fabric using an entry from at least one mapping table, said entry corresponding to one or more addresses for accessing a location on a data storage device associated with said data operation, said first type of primitive operation being one of a plurality of defined types of primitive operations, each of said plurality of defined types of primitive operations corresponding to a non-complex operation performed independently of other primitive operations wherein one or more primitive operations are specified to perform any higher level operations in accordance with said data operation; and executing said at least one mapping primitive operation of said first type and obtaining a physical address associated with said data operation.