1. A sensor device comprising:
a sensor assembly comprising at least one sensor element;
an additional sensor assembly comprising at least one additional sensor element;
a switch-in element coupling the additional sensor assembly to the sensor assembly responsive to a switch-in signal to selectively achieve an overall sensor assembly comprising the sensor assembly and the additional sensor assembly; and
a supply circuit configured to provide a first supply signal comprising a first power value to the sensor assembly and a second supply signal comprising a second power value to the overall assembly, wherein the overall sensor assembly has a reduced power demand so that the second power value is smaller than the first power value.
2. The sensor device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor element and the at least one additional sensor element comprise a magneto-resistive sensor element or a piezo-resistive sensor element.
3. The sensor device according to claim 2, wherein a magneto-resistive sensor element comprises a GMR (giant magneto resistance) structure, a TMR (tunnel magneto resistance) structure, a spin valve structure, an AMR (anisotropic magneto resistance) structure or an EMR (extraordinary magneto resistance) structure.
4. The sensor device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor assembly comprises a full bridge circuit comprising at least four circuit elements of which at least one circuit element comprises a sensor element.
5. The sensor device according to claim 4, wherein at least one circuit element of the full bridge circuit comprises a resistive element, a resistor element, a capacity, a semiconductor device or an inductivity.
6. The sensor device according to claim 1, wherein the supply circuit is a voltage source and the switch-in element couples the additional sensor assembly to the sensor assembly to form a series connection in the form of the overall sensor assembly, or wherein the supply circuit is a current source and the switch-in element couples the additional sensor assembly to the sensor assembly to form a parallel connection as the overall sensor assembly.
7. The sensor device according to claim 1, further comprising an evaluation circuit coupled to at least one of the overall sensor assembly and the sensor assembly.
8. The sensor device according to claim 1, wherein the sensor device is a pressure sensor, a magnetic field sensor, a magnetic angle sensor or a magnetic revolution sensor.
9. A sensor device for detecting a measurable quantity by an overall sensor assembly, comprising:
a sensor assembly comprising at least one resistive sensor element;
an additional sensor assembly comprising at least one additional resistive sensor element;
a switch-in element coupled to the additional sensor assembly, the switch-in element configured to selectively couple together the sensor assembly and the additional sensor assembly, responsive to a switch-in signal, to form the overall sensor assembly having a reduced power demand; and
a control circuit coupled to the switch-in element, the control circuit configured to provide the switch-in signal.
10. The sensor device according to claim 9, wherein the at least one sensor element and the at least one additional sensor element comprise a magneto-resistive sensor element or a piezo-resistive sensor element.
11. The sensor device according to claim 10, wherein a magneto-resistive sensor element comprises a GMR (giant magneto resistance) structure, a TMR (tunnel magneto resistance) structure, a spin valve structure, an AMR (anisotropic magneto resistance) structure or an EMR (extraordinary magneto resistance) structure.
12. The sensor device according to claim 9, wherein the sensor assembly comprises a full bridge circuit comprising at least four circuit elements of which at least one circuit element comprises a sensor element.
13. The sensor device according to claim 12, wherein a circuit element comprises a sensor element, a resistive sensor element, a resistor element, a capacity, a semiconductor device or an inductivity.
14. The sensor device according to claim 9, further comprising a supply circuit providing a first supply signal comprising a first power value to the sensor assembly and providing, responsive to the switch-in signal, a second supply signal comprising a second power value to the overall assembly, the second power value being smaller than the first power value.
15. The sensor device according to claim 14, wherein the supply circuit is a voltage source and the switch-in element couples the additional sensor assembly to the sensor assembly to form a series connection in the form of the overall sensor assembly, or wherein the supply circuit is a current source and the switch-in element couples the additional sensor assembly to the sensor assembly to form a parallel connection as the overall sensor assembly.
16. The sensor device according to claim 9, further comprising an evaluation circuit coupled to at least one of the overall sensor assembly and the sensor assembly.
17. The sensor device according to claim 9, wherein the sensor device is a pressure sensor, a magnetic field sensor, a magnetic angle sensor or a magnetic revolution sensor.
18. A sensor device comprising:
sensor means comprising at least one detection means for detecting a measurable quantity;
additional sensor means comprising at least one additional detection means;
switch-in means coupling the additional sensor means to the sensor means responsive to a switch-in signal to selectively achieve an overall sensor assembly comprising the sensor assembly and the additional sensor assembly; and
a supply means configured to provide a first supply signal comprising a first power value to the sensor means and a second supply signal comprising a second power value to the overall sensor assembly, wherein the overall sensor assembly has a reduced power demand so that the first power value is greater than the second power value.
19. The sensor device according to claim 18, wherein the at least one detection means for detecting a measurable quantity and the at least one additional detection means comprise a sensor element, a magneto-resistive sensor element or a piezo-resistive sensor element.
20. The sensor device according to claim 18, wherein the supply means comprises a voltage source or a current source.
21. The sensor device according to claim 18, further comprising evaluation means coupled to at least one of the overall sensor assembly and the sensor means to provide an evaluation signal.
22. The sensor device according to claim 18, further comprising a supply circuit providing a first supply signal comprising a first power value to the sensor assembly and providing, responsive to the switch-in signal, a second supply signal comprising a second power value to the overall assembly, the second power value being smaller than the first power value.
23. A method for detecting a measurable quantity by a sensor device comprising a sensor assembly comprising at least one sensor element and an additional sensor assembly comprising at least one additional sensor element, comprising the step of:
switching in the additional sensor assembly, upon receipt of a switch-in signal, to the sensor assembly to selectively achieve an overall sensor assembly comprising the sensor assembly and the additional sensor;
wherein a first supply signal comprising a first power value is provided to the sensor assembly, wherein a second supply signal comprising a second power value is provided to the overall sensor assembly, and wherein the overall sensor assembly has a reduced power demand so that the second power value is smaller than the first power value.
24. The method according to claim 23, further comprising the step of:
detecting the measurable quantity by the sensor assembly.
25. The method according to claim 23, further comprising the step of:
detecting the measurable quantity by the overall sensor assembly.
26. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium storing a program code for performing a method for detecting a measurable quantity by a sensor device comprising a sensor assembly comprising at least one sensor element and an additional sensor assembly comprising at least one additional sensor element, the method comprising the step of: switching in the additional sensor assembly, upon receipt of a switch-in signal, to the sensor assembly to selectively achieve an overall sensor assembly comprising the sensor assembly and the additional sensor assembly, when the program runs on a processor;
wherein a first supply signal comprising a first power value is provided to the sensor assembly, wherein a second supply signal comprising a second power value is provided to the overall sensor assembly, and wherein the overall sensor assembly has a reduced power demand so that the second power value is smaller than the first power value.
27. A sensor device comprising:
a sensor assembly comprising at least one sensor element;
an additional sensor assembly comprising at least one additional sensor element;
a switch-in element coupling the additional sensor assembly to the sensor assembly responsive to a switch-in signal to achieve an overall sensor assembly comprising a reduced power demand; and
a supply circuit providing a first supply signal comprising a first power value to the sensor assembly and providing, responsive to the switch-in signal, a second supply signal comprising a second power value to the overall assembly, the second power value being smaller than the first power value.
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 file storage system comprising:
a gateway service adapted to service requests from clients for accessing files having respective file identifiers;
a storage service adapted to provide permanent storage of file data corresponding to the files; and
a metadata service adapted to maintain metadata corresponding to the files, a portion of the metadata for each file correlating a respective locations of the files in the storage service with the respective file identifiers,
the gateway service communicating with the metadata service to determine a location of the file data in the storage service in accordance with the file identifier, and with the storage service for providing clients access to the file data in accordance with the determined location, whereby the clients need only provide the file identifier to access the file from the determined location.
2. A file storage system according to claim 1, wherein the storage service comprises a plurality of storage devices, the location of the file data being associated with the plurality of storage devices.
3. A file storage system according to claim 2, wherein the storage service is adapted so that the number of storage devices is scalable.
4. A file storage system according to claim 2, wherein the storage service and the metadata service are adapted so that the location of the file data corresponding to a certain one of the files is associated with more than one of the plurality of storage devices.
5. A file storage system according to claim 4, wherein the more than one of the plurality of storage devices are determined in accordance with a redundancy scheme.
6. A file storage system according to claim 5, wherein the gateway service is adapted to provide access to an operable device of the more than one of the plurality of storage devices rather than a failed device of the more than one of the plurality of storage devices in accordance with a client request associated with the certain one of the files and with the location determined from the metadata service.
7. A file storage system according to claim 4, wherein the more than one plurality of storage devices are determined in accordance with a striping scheme.
8. A file storage system according to claim 2, wherein the metadata service is adapted to implement a hierarchical storage management scheme, a first set of the plurality of storage devices having a first capacity and performance characteristic, a second set of the plurality of storage devices having a second capacity and performance characteristic different than the first characteristic, the metadata service cooperating with the storage service to manage a migration of file data from the first set to the second set of storage devices, whereby clients requesting access to moved files corresponding to the migrated file data need only supply the file identifiers corresponding to the moved files.
9. A file storage system according to claim 1, wherein the gateway service comprises a plurality of gateway service nodes, the gateway service nodes being adapted to uniformly communicate with the metadata service, the storage service and the clients.
10. A file storage system according to claim 9, further comprising a load balance adapted to distribute the requests from the clients to the plurality of gateway service nodes.
11. A file storage system according to claim 9, wherein the gateway service nodes provide substantially the same performance in servicing the client file requests.
12. A file storage system according to claim 9, wherein the gateway service is adapted so that the number of gateway service nodes is scalable.
13. A file storage system according to claim 1, wherein the metadata service comprises a plurality of metadata nodes, the metadata nodes being adapted to uniformly communicate with the gateway service and to maintain the metadata.
14. A file storage system according to claim 1, wherein the metadata service is adapted to implement a hierarchical storage management scheme.
15. A file storage system according to claim 1, wherein the clients comprise one of at least one of a NFS client, a CIFS client, a HTTP client, and a FTP client, the gateway service being further adapted to service the client requests in accordance with the respective protocols used by the clients.
16. A file storage system comprising:
a scalable number of gateway servers each adapted to service requests from clients for accessing files having respective file identifiers;
a scalable number of storage servers each adapted to provide permanent storage of bitfile data corresponding to the files; and
a metadata service adapted to maintain metadata corresponding to the files, a portion of the metadata for each file correlating a respective locations of the files in the storage service with the respective file identifiers,
the gateway servers each communicating with the metadata service to determine a location of the bitfile data in the storage servers in accordance with the file identifier, and with the bitfile storage servers for providing clients access to the bitfile data in accordance with the determined location, whereby a client who accessed the file when the scalable number comprised a first value need only provide the same file identifier to access the file when the scalable number comprises a second value different than the first value.
17. A method for providing shared access to stored files, comprising:
servicing requests from clients for accessing files having respective file identifiers;
providing permanent storage of file data corresponding to the files in a first storage device; and
maintaining metadata corresponding to the files in a second storage device different than the first device, a portion of the metadata for each file correlating a respective locations of the files in the first storage device with the respective file identifiers,
determining a location of the file data in the first device in accordance with the file identifier from the metadata maintained in the second device; and
providing clients access to the file data from the first device in accordance with the determined location, whereby the clients need only provide the file identifier to access the file from the determined location.
18. A method according to claim 17, wherein the first storage device comprises a number of storage devices, the location of the file data being associated with the number of storage devices.
19. A method according to claim 18, wherein the maintaining step includes accounting for a scaling of the number of storage devices.
20. A method according to claim 18, wherein the maintaining step includes correlating the location of the file data corresponding to a certain one of the files being associated with more than one of the number of storage devices.
21. A method according to claim 20, further comprising determining the more than one of the number of storage devices in accordance with a redundancy scheme.
22. A method according to claim 21, further comprising providing access to an operable device of the more than one of the number of storage devices rather than a failed device of the more than one of the number of storage devices in accordance with a client request associated with the certain one of the files and with the determined location.
23. A method according to claim 20, further comprising determining the more than one of the number of storage devices in accordance with a striping scheme.
24. A method according to claim 17, wherein the servicing step includes servicing the requests in a uniform manner by a plurality of gateway service nodes.
25. A method according to claim 24, further comprising distributing the requests from the clients to the plurality of gateway service nodes.
26. A method according to claim 24, wherein the gateway service nodes provide substantially the same performance in servicing the client file requests.
27. A method according to claim 17, wherein the servicing step includes servicing the requests in accordance with at least one of a NFS protocol, a CIFS protocol, a HTTP protocol, and a FTP protocol.
28. A method according to claim 17, further comprising:
migrating certain of the file data from the first device to a third storage device different than the first and second storage devices; and
updating the metadata corresponding to the migrated file data to reflect the migrated location of the migrated file data,
whereby the clients need only provide the file identifier associated with the migrated file data to access the file from the migrated location.
29. A method according to claim 28, further comprising: removing the file data from old locations in the first storage device.