What is claimed is:
1. An apparatus for metering delivery quantity of an ultra-low temperature liquefied gas delivered from a storage element to a transportation element, comprising a flow path for the ultra-low temperature liquefied gas circulating from said storage element to said storage element; at least two flowmeters provided in said flow path; and a flow path, which is provided between said two flowmeters, for supplying the ultra-low temperature liquefied gas to said transportation element.
2. The apparatus for metering delivery quantity of an ultra-low temperature liquefied gas according to claim 1, wherein said apparatus further comprises a gas flowmeter provided in a flow path for return gas returned from said transportation element.
3. The apparatus for metering delivery quantity of an ultra-low temperature liquefied gas according to claim 2, wherein said apparatus further comprises a batch controller for automatically controlling said metering apparatus based on the flow information sent from said two flowmeters and said gas flowmeter.
4. The apparatus for metering delivery quantity of an ultra-low temperature liquefied gas according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the ultra-low temperature liquefied gas is a liquefied natural gas.
5. A method for metering delivery quantity of an ultra-low temperature liquefied gas delivered from a storage element to a transportation element, comprising the steps of circulating the ultra-low temperature liquefied gas in a flowpath from said storage element to said storage element; measuring the loading quantity of flow to said transportation element and the return quantity of flow to said storage element by using at least two flowmeters provided in said flow path; and supplying the ultra-low temperature liquefied gas to said transportation element through a flow path provided between said two flowmeters.
6. The method for metering delivery quantity of an ultra-low temperature liquefied gas according to claim 5, wherein the supply of ultra-low temperature liquefied gas to said transportation element is automatically controlled by a batch controller based on the flow information sent from said two flowmeters and a gas flowmeter provided in a flow path for return gas returned from said transportation element.
7. The method for metering delivery quantity of an ultra-low temperature liquefied gas according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the ultra-low temperature liquefied gas is a liquefied natural gas.
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 computer-readable medium containing executable code that causes a computer system to perform a method of acquiring media components for a media storage facility, the method comprising:
obtaining information related to historical usage of at least one set of media components;
determining an amount of media components contained within the media storage facility;
predicting future usage of the at least one set of media components; and
when the predicted future usage requires an amount of media components greater than the determined amount contained within the media storage facility, acquiring additional medial components to satisfy the predicted future usage.
2. A computer-implemented method of obtaining data storage media for a data storage media library used in data storage operations, the method comprising:
identifying storage requirements for one or more future data storage operations;
determining an available storage capacity of available media within the media library;
comparing the identified storage requirements with the available storage capacity of available media within the media library; and
when the identified storage requirements are greater than the available storage capacity, automatically requesting for additional media for the media library.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the comparison includes comparing the identified storage requirements to a number of pieces of media within the media library.
4. The method of claim 2, wherein the comparison includes comparing the identified storage requirements to a collective free capacity of media within the media library.
5. A system for predicting data storage media requirements for a media library associated with a data storage system, the system comprising:
a data storage prediction component, wherein the storage prediction component determines an estimated storage requirement for a future storage operation using the media library; and
a media acquisition component, in communication with the data storage prediction component, wherein the media acquisition component acquires media for the media library based at least in part on the determined estimated storage requirements received from the data storage prediction component.
6. The system of claim 5, wherein the data storage prediction component identifies a trend in information associated with previous storage operations and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the identified trend.
7. The system of claim 5, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related to types of media used in previous storage operations and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the retrieved information.
8. The system of claim 5, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related a total volume of media used in previous storage operations and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the retrieved information.
9. The system of claim 5, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related to user preferences during previous storage operations and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the retrieved information.
10. The system of claim 5, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related to storage operations not associated with the media library and related to other data storage systems and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the retrieved information.
11. The system of claim 5, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related to storage operations performed within a specified time period before the future storage operation, identifies a trend in the retrieved information, and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the identified trend.
12. The system of claim 5, wherein the data storage prediction component retrieves information related to contents of the data to be stored by the future storage operation, identifies a capacity of media in the media library suitable for storing the contents of the data to be stored and estimates the storage requirement for the future storage operation based at least in part on the retrieved information and the identified capacity of media.
13. A method of obtaining an additional data storage article for a warehouse that contains data storage articles at a current time, the method comprising:
predicting a future deficit of data storage articles at a future time, wherein the prediction is based on a previous deficit of data storage articles that occurred at a previous time;
estimating, at the current time, an amount of data storage articles required to satisfy the predicted future deficit; and
retrieving a number of data storage articles equal to the estimated amount before the future time.