Methods and systems for managing data

• US 20050289394A1
• Filed: 04/22/2005
• Published: 12/29/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Carol, Andrew, Giampaolo, Dominic, Arrouye, Yan
• Granted Patent: US 8,538,997 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 714/15
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/329 by task scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/134 Distributed indices
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/168 Details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems, e.g. browsing and visualisation, 2d or 3d GUIs query results presentation G06F16/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/31 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/41 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing data, such as metadata or indexes for index databases. In one exemplary method, different processing priorities are assigned to different indexing tasks based upon the origin of the task. In another exemplary method, indexing tasks are processed in a first mode when a data processing system is in a first power state and indexing tasks are processed in a second mode when the data processing system is in a second power state.

Claims

1. A machine implemented method of processing data, the method comprising:

determining a power state of a data processing system;

establishing a first set of indexing queues or metadata importation queues if the data processing system is in a first power state;

establishing a second set of indexing queues or metadata importation queues if the data processing system is in a second power state.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein the first set of indexing queues is one queue and the second power state is designed to conserve more power than the first power state and the second set of indexing queues comprises at least two queues.

3. A method as in claim 1 wherein the first set of indexing queues is at least one queue and the second set of indexing queues has more queues than the first set of indexing queues and indexing tasks in the first set of indexing queues have a higher priority than indexing tasks in the second set of indexing queues.

4. A method as in claim 1 wherein the data processing system is in the first power state when it is powered by an alternating current source and is in the second power state when it is powered by a battery.

5. A method as in claim 2 wherein when the data processing system is in the second power state indexing is performed for no more than a predetermined period of time after a last user action in a set of predefined user actions.

6. A method as in claim 5 wherein the set of predefined user actions does not comprise merely cursor movements.

7. A machine readable medium providing instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method of processing data, the method comprising:

determining a power state of a data processing system;

establishing a first set of indexing queues or metadata importation queues if the data processing system is in a first power state;

establishing a second set of indexing queues or metadata importation queues if the data processing system is in a second power state.

8. A medium as in claim 7 wherein the first set of indexing queues is one queue and the second power state is designed to conserve more power than the first power state and the second set of indexing queues comprises at least two queues.

9. A medium as in claim 7 wherein the first set of indexing queues is at least one queue and the second set of indexing queues has more queues than the first set of indexing queues and indexing tasks in the first set of indexing queues have a higher priority than indexing tasks in the second set of indexing queues.

10. A medium as in claim 7 wherein the data processing system is in the first power state when it is powered by an alternating current source and is in the second power state when it is powered by a battery.

11. A medium as in claim 8 wherein when the data processing system is in the second power state indexing is performed for no more than a predetermined period of time after a last user action in a set of predefined user actions.

12. A medium as in claim 11 wherein the set of predefined user actions does not comprise merely cursor movements.

13. A data processing system comprising:

means for determining a power state of a data processing system;

means for establishing a first set of indexing queues or metadata importation queues if the data processing system is in a first power state;

means for establishing a second set of indexing queues or metadata importation queues if the data processing system is in a second power state.

14. A system as in claim 13 wherein the first set of indexing queues is one queue and the second power state is designed to conserve more power than the first power state and the second set of indexing queues comprises at least two queues.

15. A system as in claim 13 wherein the first set of indexing queues is at least one queue and the second set of indexing queues has more queues than the first set of indexing queues and indexing tasks in the first set of indexing queues have a higher priority than indexing tasks in the second set of indexing queues.

16. A system as in claim 13 wherein the data processing system is in the first power state when it is powered by an alternating current source and is in the second power state when it is powered by a battery.

17. A system as in claim 14 wherein when the data processing system is in the second power state indexing is performed for no more than a predetermined period of time after a last user action in a set of predefined user actions.

18. A system as in claim 17 wherein the set of predefined user actions does not comprise merely cursor movements.

19. A machine implemented method for processing data, the method comprising:

processing requests for indexing of files or importing metadata of the files at a first priority when a data processing system is in a first power consumption state;

processing requests for indexing of at least some files or importing metadata of at least some files at a second priority when the data processing system is in a second power consumption state.

20. A method as in claim 19 wherein when the data processing system is in the second power consumption state, requests for indexing certain files are given the first priority and wherein the first power consumption state is designed to consume more power than the second power consumption state.

21. A method as in claim 20 wherein when the data processing system is in the second power consumption state, indexing is performed for no more than a predetermined period of time after a last user action in a set of predefined user actions.

22. A method as in claim 21 wherein the set of predefined user actions does not comprise merely cursor movements.

23. A machine readable medium providing instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method for processing data, the method comprising:

processing requests for indexing of files or importing metadata of the files at a first priority when a data processing system is in a first power consumption state;

processing requests for indexing of at least some files or importing metadata of at least some files at a second priority when the data processing system is in a second power consumption state.

24. A medium as in claim 23 wherein when the data processing system is in the second power consumption state, requests for indexing certain files are given the first priority and wherein the first power consumption state is designed to consume more power than the second power consumption state.

25. A medium as in claim 24 wherein when the data processing system is in the second power consumption state, indexing is performed for no more than a predetermined period of time after a last user action in a set of predefined user actions.

26. A medium as in claim 25 wherein the set of predefined user actions does not comprise merely cursor movements.

27. A data processing system comprising:

means for processing requests for indexing of files or importing metadata of the files at a first priority when a data processing system is in a first power consumption state;

means for processing requests for indexing of at least some files or importing metadata of at least some files at a second priority when the data processing system is in a second power consumption state.

28. A system as in claim 27 wherein when the data processing system is in the second power consumption state, requests for indexing certain files are given the first priority and wherein the first power consumption state is designed to consume more power than the second power consumption state.

29. A system as in claim 28 wherein when the data processing system is in the second power consumption state, indexing is performed for no more than a predetermined period of time after a last user action in a set of predefined user actions.

30. A system as in claim 29 wherein the set of predefined user actions does not comprise merely cursor movements.

31. A machine implemented method for processing data, the method comprising:

determining whether a data processing system is in a low power consumption state;

determining whether, if the data processing system is in the low power consumption state, an indexing operation is of a first type or a second type;

performing indexing at a first priority if the indexing operation is of the first type;

performing indexing at a second priority if the indexing operation is of the second type, wherein the first priority is a higher priority than the second priority.

32. A method as in claim 31 wherein the indexing operation is of the first type when indexing is required as a result of a contemporaneous change by a user to a file and wherein the indexing operation is of the second type when indexing is required as a result of an initial index of a volume or a reindex of a removable volume having files that have been modified since the removable volume was last mounted by the data processing system.

33. A method as in claim 32 wherein the data processing system is in the low power consumption state when it is powered by a battery.

34. A machine readable medium providing instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method for processing data, the method comprising:

determining whether a data processing system is in a low power consumption state;

determining whether, if the data processing system is in the low power consumption state, an indexing operation is of a first type or a second type;

performing indexing at a first priority if the indexing operation is of the first type;

performing indexing at a second priority if the indexing operation is of the second type, wherein the first priority is a higher priority than the second priority.

35. A medium as in claim 34 wherein the indexing operation is of the first type when indexing is required as a result of a contemporaneous change by a user to a file and wherein the indexing operation is of the second type when indexing is required as a result of an initial index of a volume or a reindex of a removable volume having files that have been modified since the removable volume was last mounted by the data processing system.

36. A medium as in claim 35 wherein the data processing system is in the low power consumption state when it is powered by a battery.

37. A data processing system comprising:

means for determining whether a data processing system is in a low power consumption state;

means for determining whether, if the data processing system is in the low power consumption state, an indexing operation is of a first type or a second type;

means for performing indexing at a first priority if the indexing operation is of the first type;

means for performing indexing at a second priority if the indexing operation is of the second type, wherein the first priority is a higher priority than the second priority.

38. A systems as in claim 37 wherein the indexing operation is of the first type when indexing is required as a result of a contemporaneous change by a user to a file and wherein the indexing operation is of the second type when indexing is required as a result of an initial index of a volume or a reindex of a removable volume having files that have been modified since the removable volume was last mounted by the data processing system.

39. A system as in claim 38 wherein the data processing system is in the low power consumption state when it is powered by a battery.

40. A machine readable medium providing instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method for processing data, the method comprising:

determining whether a data processing system is in a low power consumption state;

determining whether, if the data processing system is in the low power consumption state, an operation to add metadata of a file to a metadata database is of a first type or a second type;

performing an adding of metadata at a first priority if the operation is of the first type;

performing an adding of metadata at a second priority if the operation is of the second type, wherein the first priority is a higher priority than the second priority.

41. A medium as in claim 40 wherein the operation is of the first type when the adding of metadata is required as a result of a contemporaneous change by a user to a file and wherein the operation is of the second type when the adding of metadata is required as a result of an initial importation or reimportation of a volume.

42. A medium as in claim 41 wherein the data processing system is in the low power consumption state when it is powered by a battery.

43. A machine implemented method of processing data, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a power state of a data processing system;

determining how to process indexing tasks in response to the indication.

44. A method as in claim 43 wherein the determining is performed automatically and causes indexing tasks to be processed with a first procedure for a first power state and with a second procedure for a second power state.

45. A method as in claim 43 wherein the indication comprises one or more indicators which specify at least one of:

(a) the data processing system is powered by only battery power;

(b) a battery charge level;

(c) the data processing system is powered by AC power.

46. A method as in claim 43 wherein the determining comprises assigning different priorities to different indexing tasks stored in different indexing queues stored on a non-volatile storage.

47. A method as in claim 43 wherein the determining comprises at least one of determining to coalesce a plurality of notifications and determining whether indexing is required for a mounted storage device.

48. A machine readable medium providing executable instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method of processing data, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of a power state of a data processing system;

determining how to process indexing tasks in response to the indication.

49. A medium as in claim 48 wherein the determining is performed automatically and causes indexing tasks to be processed with a first procedure for a first power state and with a second procedure for a second power state.

50. A medium as in claim 48 wherein the indication comprises one or more indicators which specify at least one of:

(a) the data processing system is powered by only battery power;

(b) a battery charge level;

(c) the data processing system is powered by AC power.

51. A medium as in claim 48 wherein the determining comprises assigning different priorities to different indexing tasks stored in different indexing queues stored on a non-volatile storage.

52. A medium as in claim 48 wherein the determining comprises at least one of determining to coalesce a plurality of notifications and determining whether indexing is required for a mounted storage device.

53. A data processing system comprising:

means for receiving an indication of a power state of a data processing system;

means for determining how to process indexing tasks in response to the indication.

54. A data processing system as in claim 53 wherein the determining is performed automatically and causes indexing tasks to be processed with a first procedure for a first power state and with a second procedure for a second power state.

55. A data processing system as in claim 53 wherein the indication comprises one or more indicators which specify at least one of:

(a) the data processing system is powered by only battery power;

(b) a battery charge level;

(c) the data processing system is powered by AC power.

56. A data processing system as in claim 53 wherein the determining comprises assigning different priorities to different indexing tasks stored in different indexing queues stored on a non-volatile storage.

57. A data processing system as in claim 53 wherein the determining comprises at least one of determining to coalesce a plurality of notifications and determining whether indexing is required for a mounted storage device.

58. A machine implemented method of processing data, the method comprising:

determining storage locations of files to be indexed, the files being listed in at least one indexing queue;

determining a sequence of indexing based on storage locations.

59. A method as in claim 58 wherein the sequence attempts to reduce power consumption of a storage device.

60. A method as in claim 58 wherein the sequence continues to index files on a spinning storage media before starting to spin another storage media.

61. A method as in claim 58 wherein the sequence continues to index files in a partition of a storage volume before starting to index files in another partition of the storage volume.

62. A method as in claim 58 wherein the sequence continues to index files of a first user before starting to index files of another user.

63. A machine readable medium providing executable instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method of processing data, the method comprising:

determining storage locations of files to be indexed, the files being listed in at least one indexing queue;

determining a sequence of indexing based on storage locations.

64. A medium as in claim 63 wherein the sequence attempts to reduce power consumption of a storage device.

65. A medium as in claim 63 wherein the sequence continues to index files on a spinning storage media before starting to spin another storage media.

66. A medium as in claim 63 wherein the sequence continues to index files in a partition of a storage volume before starting to index files in another partition of the storage volume.

67. A medium as in claim 63 wherein the sequence continues to index files of a first user before starting to index files of another user.

68. A data processing system comprising:

means for determining storage locations of files to be indexed, the files being listed in at least one indexing queue;

means for determining a sequence of indexing based on storage locations.

69. A data processing system as in claim 68 wherein the sequence attempts to reduce power consumption of a storage device.

70. A data processing system as in claim 68 wherein the sequence continues to index files on a spinning storage media before starting to spin another storage media.

71. A data processing system as in claim 68 wherein the sequence continues to index files in a partition of a storage volume before starting to index files in another partition of the storage volume.

72. A data processing system as in claim 68 wherein the sequence continues to index files of a first user before starting to index files of another user.

73. A machine implemented method of processing data, the method comprising:

storing data on a storage device of a data processing system;

receiving, through a port coupled to the storage device, at least one command to cause indexing of data stored on the storage device based, at least in part, on a power state of the data processing system.

74. A method as in claim 73 wherein the storage device is a storage volume and wherein the port is to couple to another data processing system which includes another storage device which is another storage volume which is indexed based, at least in part, on a power state of the another data processing system.

75. A method as in claim 74 wherein the data processing system is capable of being powered by only battery power and wherein the another data processing system is powered by AC power.

76. A machine readable medium providing executable instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause the data processing system to perform a method of processing data, the method comprising:

storing data on a storage device of a data processing system;

receiving, through a port coupled to the storage device, at least one command to cause indexing of data stored on the storage device based, at least in part, on a power state of the data processing system.

77. A medium as in claim 76 wherein the storage device is a storage volume and wherein the port is to couple to another data processing system which includes another storage device which is another storage volume which is indexed based, at least in part, on a power state of the another data processing system.

78. A medium as in claim 77 wherein the data processing system is capable of being powered by only battery power and wherein the another data processing system is powered by AC power.

79. A data processing system comprising:

means for storing data on a storage device of a data processing system;

means for receiving, through a port coupled to the storage device, at least one command to cause indexing of data stored on the storage device based, at least in part, on a power state of the data processing system.

80. A data processing system as in claim 79 wherein the storage device is a storage volume and wherein the port is to couple to another data processing system which includes another storage device which is another storage volume which is indexed based, at least in part, on a power state of the another data processing system.

81. A data processing system as in claim 80 wherein the data processing system is capable of being powered by only battery power and wherein the another data processing system is powered by AC power.

82. An apparatus comprising:

a first storage volume of a first data processing system;

a port of the first data processing system, the port to couple the first data processing system to a second data processing system which has a second storage volume, the port being coupled to the first storage volume, the port receiving at least one command to cause indexing of data stored on the first storage volume based, at least in part, on a power state of at least one of the first data processing system and the second data processing system.