System and method for designating and deleting expired files
First Claim
1. A method for managing expired files on a computer system, said method comprising:
- receiving a file expiration date that corresponds to a file stored in a directory;
storing the file expiration date in a first data area managed by a file system, wherein the first data area includes a file identifier corresponding to the file;
determining an earliest expiration date from one or more file expiration dates, wherein each of the file expiration dates correspond to a different file stored in the directory; and
saving the earliest expiration date in a second data area managed by the file system, wherein the second data area includes a directory identifier corresponding to the directory.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for designating and deleting expired files includes a means for storing expiration dates along with file identification data maintained by the file system. An earliest expiration date is stored in data maintained by the file system pertaining to each directory. In this manner, a check of the directory data indicates whether one or more expired files exist in the directory. The system date is compared to the earliest expiration date for a directory, for example when a “list contents of directory” command is received. If the earliest expiration date is earlier than the system date then a comparison is made with the files in the directory and individual files with expiration dates earlier than the current date are deleted. The earliest expiration date is then update to the correspond to the next earliest expiration date falling after the current date.
59 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for managing expired files on a computer system, said method comprising:
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receiving a file expiration date that corresponds to a file stored in a directory;
storing the file expiration date in a first data area managed by a file system, wherein the first data area includes a file identifier corresponding to the file;
determining an earliest expiration date from one or more file expiration dates, wherein each of the file expiration dates correspond to a different file stored in the directory; and
saving the earliest expiration date in a second data area managed by the file system, wherein the second data area includes a directory identifier corresponding to the directory. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An information handling system comprising:
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one or more processors;
a memory accessible by the processors;
a nonvolatile storage device managed by a file system, the nonvolatile storage device including one or more directories that include one or more files;
an expired file management tool for managing expired files on the nonvolatile storage device, the expired file management tool including;
means for receiving a file expiration date that corresponds to a file stored in a directory;
means for storing the file expiration date in a first data area managed by a file system, wherein the first data area includes a file identifier corresponding to the file;
means for determining an earliest expiration date from one or more file expiration dates, wherein each of the file expiration dates correspond to a different file stored in the directory; and
means for saving the earliest expiration date in a second data area managed by the file system, wherein the second data area includes a directory identifier corresponding to the directory. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer program product stored in a computer operable media for managing expired files, said computer program product comprising:
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means for receiving a file expiration date that corresponds to a file stored in a directory;
means for storing the file expiration date in a first data area managed by a file system, wherein the first data area includes a file identifier corresponding to the file;
means for determining an earliest expiration date from one or more file expiration dates, wherein each of the file expiration dates correspond to a different file stored in the directory; and
means for saving the earliest expiration date in a second data area managed by the file system, wherein the second data area includes a directory identifier corresponding to the directory. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification