History preservation in a computer storage system
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method by which a disk-based distributed data storage system is organized for protecting historical records of stored data entities, the method comprising:
- recording distinct states of an entity, corresponding to different moments of time, as separate entity versions coexisting within the distributed data storage system; and
assigning expiration times to the entity versions independently within each of a plurality of storage sites according to a shared set of rules, before which times deletion is prohibited.
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Abstract
A method by which a disk-based distributed data storage system is organized for protecting historical records of stored data entities. The method comprises recording distinct states of an entity, corresponding to different moments of time, as separate entity versions coexisting within the distributed data storage system, and assigning expiration times to the entity versions independently within each of a plurality of storage sites according to a shared set of rules, before which times deletion is prohibited.
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Citations
163 Claims
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1. A method by which a disk-based distributed data storage system is organized for protecting historical records of stored data entities, the method comprising:
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recording distinct states of an entity, corresponding to different moments of time, as separate entity versions coexisting within the distributed data storage system; and
assigning expiration times to the entity versions independently within each of a plurality of storage sites according to a shared set of rules, before which times deletion is prohibited. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 138, 139, 140)
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62. A method by which a disk-based distributed data storage system is organized for protecting historical records of stored data entities, the method comprising:
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recording distinct states of an entity, corresponding to different moments of time, as separate entity versions coexisting within the distributed data storage system;
associating time-intervals with entity versions, corresponding to the times during which each entity version was considered current;
sharing a set of rules for retaining entity versions among a plurality of storage sites; and
designating some entity versions as deletable and some as undeletable independently at each of the plurality of storage sites. - View Dependent Claims (63, 64, 65)
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66. A method by which a disk-based data storage system is organized for protecting historical records of stored data entities, the method comprising:
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recording distinct states of an entity, corresponding to different moments of time, as separate entity versions coexisting within the data storage system;
assigning expiration times to the entity versions, before which times deletion is prohibited; and
assigning expiration times to blocks of stored content that constitute the entity versions, with at least one block shared between different entities. - View Dependent Claims (67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76)
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77. A method for keeping track of when all references of a specified category made to elements have been removed, the method being designed to fail in a manner that does not falsely conclude there are no references, the method comprising:
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computing a hash value that identifies the source of a reference;
combining hash values using a first operation to record the addition of references;
combining hash values using a second operation to record the removal of references; and
concluding that reference additions for an element have been matched by reference removals. - View Dependent Claims (78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98)
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99. A method by which more than one client program connected to a network stores the same data item on a storage device of a data repository connected to the network, the method comprising:
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encrypting the data item using a key derived from the content of the data item;
determining a digital fingerprint of the data item;
storing the data item on the storage device at a location or locations associated with the digital fingerprint; and
assigning an expiration time to the data item, before which time deletion is prohibited. - View Dependent Claims (100, 101)
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102. A method by which more than one client program connected to a network stores the same data item on a storage device of a data repository connected to the network, the method comprising:
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determining a digital fingerprint of the data item;
testing for whether the data item is already stored in the repository by comparing the digital fingerprint of the data item to the digital fingerprints of data items already in storage in the repository;
challenging a client that is attempting to deposit a data item already stored in the repository, to ascertain that the client has the full data item; and
assigning an expiration time to the data item, before which time deletion is prohibited. - View Dependent Claims (103, 104)
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105. A method by which more than one client program connected to a network stores the same data item on a storage device of a data repository connected to the network, the method comprising:
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determining a digital fingerprint of the data item;
storing the data item on the storage device at a location or locations associated with the digital fingerprint;
associating the data item with each of a plurality of access-authorization credentials, each of which is uniquely associated with an access owner;
assigning an expiration time to the data item, before which time deletion is prohibited; and
preparing a digital time stamp of a plurality of records associating data-items and credentials, to allow a property of these records to be proven at a later date. - View Dependent Claims (106, 107)
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108. A method by which more than one client connected to a network stores the same data item on a storage device of a data repository connected to the network, the method comprising:
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determining a digital fingerprint of the data item;
testing for whether a data item is already stored in the repository by comparing the digital fingerprint of the data item to the digital fingerprints of data items already in storage in the repository;
associating with a data item an informational tag which may be read by at least some client programs; and
assigning an expiration time to the tagged data item, before which time deletion is prohibited. - View Dependent Claims (109, 110)
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111. A method by which a client connected to a data repository over a lower speed network connection may provide higher speed access to a data item for application processing than is possible over the relatively low speed connection to the network, the method comprising:
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determining a digital fingerprint of the data item;
testing for whether the data item is already stored in a repository by comparing the digital fingerprint of the data item to digital fingerprints of data items already in the repository;
only if the data item is not already in the repository, transferring the data item over the lower speed connection from the client to the repository;
assigning an expiration time to the data item, before which time deletion is prohibited;
making a higher speed connection between an application server and the data repository;
executing an application on the application server to process the data item stored on the data repository; and
returning at least some of the processed data to the client across the lower speed connection. - View Dependent Claims (112, 113)
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114. A method by which multiple clients browse content on a network such as the Internet, the method comprising:
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each of the multiple clients accessing content on the network via one or more proxy servers;
determining the digital fingerprint of an item of content passing through the proxy server;
storing the item of content in a content repository connected to the proxy server at a location associated with the digital fingerprint;
assigning an expiration time to the item of content, before which time deletion is prohibited;
testing for whether a content data item is already stored in the repository by comparing the digital fingerprint of the content data item to the digital fingerprints of content data items already in storage in the repository; and
associating a content data item already stored in the repository with an access authorization credential uniquely associated with an access owner. - View Dependent Claims (115, 116)
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117. A method by which clients store content items which are broken into up into smaller data items in a data repository connected to the network, the method comprising:
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determining a digital fingerprint of a data item;
testing for whether a data item is already stored in the repository by comparing the digital fingerprint of the data item to the digital fingerprints of data items already in storage in the repository; and
assigning an expiration time to a data item, before which time deletion is prohibited. - View Dependent Claims (118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124)
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125. A method for ensuring that rules that prevent premature deletion of entity versions are enforced by correctly operating servers that store the blocks of content that comprise the entity versions, the method comprising:
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computing a hash value that identifies the source of a reference to a block of content;
incorporating into the hash value a description of rules or parameters that are needed in order to enforce rules; and
communicating information which allows the hash value to be computed, to a server that stores the block of content. - View Dependent Claims (126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137)
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141. A method by which a distributed disk-based data storage system is organized for protecting historical records of stored data entities, the method comprising:
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recording distinct states of an entity, corresponding to different moments of time, as separate entity versions coexisting within the data storage system;
assigning expiration times to the entity versions, before which times deletion is prohibited;
assigning expiration times to blocks of stored content that constitute the entity versions; and
assigning a reference count to a block of stored content that reflects the number of references there are to the block in entity versions which are scheduled to expire during some specified finite time period. - View Dependent Claims (142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147)
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148. A method by which a disk-based data storage system is organized for protecting historical records of stored data entities, the method comprising:
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recording distinct states of an entity, corresponding to different moments of time, as separate entity versions coexisting within the data storage system; and
assigning finite expiration times to entity versions based on information supplied by the storage client, before which times deletion is prohibited and after which times deletion is allowed. - View Dependent Claims (149, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 162, 163)
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Specification