1. A method comprising:
formatting a hard disk drive (HDD) with a plurality of data heads and associated data surfaces, including at least one data head optimized for shingled magnetic recording (SMR) to a SMR surface of the HDD, and at least one data head optimized for random block overwrite (RBO) to a RBO surface of the HDD.
2. The method of claim 1, further comprising using the RBO surface of the HDD as a storage tier for staging data to be written to the SMR area prior to committing the data to the SMR area.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving a write request and performing the write with one of the RBO heads to the RBO optimized surface, including locating a free SMR erase unit and copying the RBO optimized data to the free SMR erase unit.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing SMR metadata in the RBO optimized area of the HDD, the metadata including an index to a location of at least one SMR erase unit and data about at least one partially free SMR erase unit.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising compressing data in the SMR optimized area, including at least one erase unit having free space, and further comprising appending data to a partially free SMR erase unit, wherein free space in the partially free SMR erase unit is utilized for further data storage.
6. The method of claim 4, wherein the metadata includes layout and ordering of two or more SMR erase units.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein data blocks in the RBO optimized surface have a length different from data blocks in the SMR optimized surface.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising a host system specifying a data storage location within the HDD, including designating storage in one of the RBO formatted surface and the SMR formatted surface.
9. A computer program product for leveraging surfaces of a hard disk drive (HDD), the computer program product comprising a compute readable storage device having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a processing unit to:
format the hard disk drive (HDD) with a plurality of data heads and associated data surfaces, including at least one data head formatted for shingled magnetic recording (SMR) to a SMR surface of the HDD, and at least one data head formatted for random block overwrite (RBO) to a RBO surface of the HDD; and
read and write data to the SMR and RBO formatted surfaces, including leveraging random write performance with the RBO formatted surface and storage density with the SMR formatted surface.
10. The computer program product of claim 9, program code to stage data for storage on the SMR formatted surface, including servicing a write request with one of the RBO heads to the RBO formatted surface, locating a free SMR erase unit, and copying the RBO formatted data to the free SMR erase unit.
11. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising program code to compress data in the SMR formatted surface, including identification of one or more partially free erase units, wherein the partially free erase unit include stored data and free space, and appending data to at least one of the partially free SMR erase units.
12. The computer program product of claim 11, further comprising program code to index a location of at least one SMR erase unit, including storage of SMR metadata in the RBO formatted surface of the HDD.
13. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the RBO surface includes data about at least one partially free SMR erase unit.
14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein SMR metadata includes layout and ordering of two or more SMR erase units.
15. The computer program product of claim 9, further comprising program code to specify a data storage location within the HDD, including designating storage in one of the RBO formatted surface and the SMR formatted surface.
16. A computer system comprising:
a processing unit operatively coupled to memory and a hard disk drive (HDD), the HDD having a dual format;
the HDD having a plurality of data heads and associated data surfaces, including at least one data head formatted for shingled magnetic recording (SMR) to a SMR surface of the HDD, and at least one data head formatted for random block overwrite (RBO) to a RBO surface of the HDD; and
a tool in communication with the processing unit, the tool to read and write data to the SMR and RBO formatted surfaces, including leveraging random write performance with the RBO formatted surface and storage density with the SMR formatted surface.
17. The system of claim 16, further comprising the tool to stage data for storage on the SMR formatted surface, including servicing a write request with one of the RBO heads to the RBO formatted surface, locating a free SMR erase unit, and copying the RBO formatted data to the free SMR erase unit.
18. The system of claim 16, further comprising the tool to compress data in the HDD, including identification of one or more partially free erase units, wherein the partially free erase unit includes stored data and free space, and the tool to append data to at least one of the partially free SMR erase units.
19. The system of claim 16, further comprising an index stored in the RBO formatted surface of the HDD, the tool to leverage to storage a location of at least one SMR erase unit in the index, including storage of SMR metadata in the RBO formatted surface of the HDD.
20. The system of claim 16, further comprising the tool to specify a data storage location within the HDD, including designation of data storage in one of the RBO formatted surface and the SMR formatted surface.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A locomotion interface that provides input signals, indicative of a user’s movement, to a virtual reality system, the locomotion interface comprising:
a pressure-sensing mat including a base layer, a plurality of pressure sensing elements and a heatingrefrigeration layer formed over the base layer, and a top layer formed over the plurality of pressure-sensing elements, wherein the plurality of pressure sensing elements output signals indicative of pressure applied to the top layer.
2. The locomotion interface of claims 1, wherein the heatingrefrigeration layer is made up of a plurality of heatingrefrigeration elements.
3. The locomotion interface of claim 2, wherein the plurality of heatingrefrigeration elements make up a grid.
4. The locomotion interface of claim 2, wherein the heatingrefrigeration elements are thermoelectric devices.
5. The locomotion interface of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pressure-sensing elements make up a grid.
6. The locomotion interface of claim 1, wherein the plurality of pressure-sensing elements comprise force sensitive resistors.
7. The locomotion interface of claim 1, wherein the base layer comprises a semi-rigid material.
8. The locomotion interface of claim 1, wherein the base layer comprises plastic.
9. The locomotion interface of claim 1, wherein the top layer comprises rubber.
10. A virtual reality system comprising the locomotion interface of claim 1.
11. A virtual reality system that transposes a user’s position and movement in real space to virtual space, the virtual reality system comprising:
a locomotion interface that outputs signals indicative of a user’s position in real space, the locomotion interface including a pressure-sensing mat including a base layer, a plurality of pressure sensing elements and a heatingrefrigeration layer formed over the base layer, and a top layer formed over the plurality of pressure-sensing elements, the plurality of pressure sensing elements output signals indicative of pressure applied to the top layer;
a virtual reality processor that uses the signals output by the locomotion interface to produce an output indicative of the user’s position in the virtual space corresponding to the user’s position and movement in the real space; and
a display that uses the output from the virtual reality processor to produce an image of the virtual space.
12. The locomotion interface of claims 11, wherein the heatingrefrigeration layer is made up of a plurality of heatingrefrigeration elements.
13. The locomotion interface of claim 12, wherein the plurality of heatingrefrigeration elements make up a grid.
14. The locomotion interface of claim 12, wherein the heatingrefrigeration elements are thermoelectric devices.
15. The virtual reality system of claim 11, wherein the display is a head mounted display.
16. The virtual reality system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of pressure-sensing elements make up a grid.
17. The virtual reality system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of pressure-sensing elements comprise force sensitive resistors.
18. The virtual reality system of claim 11, wherein the base layer comprises a semi-rigid material.
19. The virtual reality system of claim 11, wherein the base layer comprises plastic.
20. The virtual reality system of claim 11, wherein the top layer comprises rubber.
21. The virtual reality system of claim 11, wherein the virtual reality processor comprises:
a pattern generator that uses the signals output from the locomotion interface to generate a plurality of corresponding patterns;
a motion identifier that uses the plurality of patterns generated by the pattern generator to identify a corresponding plurality of user positions and user movements; and
a virtual environment renderer that uses the identified user positions and movements to generate a virtual space such that the user can effect, and be effected by, the virtual space.
22. The virtual reality system of claim 21, wherein the virtual space generated by the virtual environment renderer includes a virtual ground surface.
23. The virtual reality system of claim 22, wherein the virtual ground surface generated by the virtual environment renderer determines the amount heat andor cold generated by the heatingrefrigeration layer.
24. The virtual reality system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of positions identified by the motion identifier comprise at least one of a prone user position, a crawling user position, and a standing user position.
25. The virtual reality system of claim 21, wherein the plurality of motions identified by the motion identifier comprise at least one of a backward user motion, a sideways user motion, a forward user motion, and a diagonal user motion.
26. A method of providing input signals, indicative of a user’s movement, to a virtual reality system, comprising:
sensing pressure applied to a locomotion interface having a pressure-sensing mat including a base layer, a plurality of pressure sensing elements and a heatingrefrigeration layer formed over the base layer, and a top layer formed over the plurality of pressure-sensing elements.
27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:
processing signals output by the locomotion interface, in response to the sensed pressure, to produce an input signal indicative of the user’s position in virtual space corresponding to the user’s position and movement in real space.
28. The method of claim 26, wherein the step of processing the signals output by the locomotion interface comprises:
generating a plurality of patterns that correspond to the signals output by the locomotion interface; and
identifying a plurality of user positions and user movements that correspond to the plurality of patterns.