Patent attributes
This disclosure describes a storage aggregator controller with metadata computation control. The storage aggregator controller communicates, via a host interface, over a computer network with one or more remote hosts, and also communicates, via a storage device interface, with a plurality of local storage devices, which are separate from the remote host(s) and which have respective non-volatile memories. The storage aggregator controller manages the local storage devices for storage or retrieval of media objects. The storage aggregator controller also governs a selective computation, at aggregator control circuitry or at a storage device controller of one or more of the storage devices, of metadata that defines content characteristics of the media objects that are retrieved from the plurality of storage devices or that are received from the one or more hosts over the computer network for storage in the plurality of storage devices.