Systems and methods for expiring digital assets based on an assigned expiration date

• US 20060106883A1
• Filed: 11/17/2005
• Published: 05/18/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Micro Focus LLC (Open Text Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Iron Mountain Incorporated
• Inventors: Barnes, Matthew, Blumenau, Steven
• Granted Patent: US 7,814,062 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/125 characterised by the use of retention policies retention policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/16 Program or content traceability, e.g. by watermarking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2135 Metering
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2137 Time limited access, e.g. to a computer or data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/913 Multimedia
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing digital assets in a distributed computing environment are described. Meta-data for the digital assets is stored separately from the digital assets. Meta-data for some of the digital assets is copied and stored at a central location. Meta-data for the digital assets is generated by clients of the system.

Claims

1. A method of copying digital assets having an associated expiration date in a distributed computing environment, the method comprising:

(a) providing a date range;

(b) enumerating digital assets as file system elements having an associated expiration date in the provided date range; and

(c) storing the enumerated digital assets on a storage medium that is removable from the distributed computing environment.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein providing a date range comprises providing the date range using a system call.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising copying the enumerated digital asset to another storage medium.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing a date range comprises providing a desired expiration date range.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the providing a date range comprises providing a flag in addition to a desired expiration date range, the flag indicating the opposite of the desired expiration date range.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein at least step (b) is performed by a file system filter driver.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein at least step (b) is performed by a plug-in module.

8. A system for coping digital assets having an associated expiration date in a distributed computing environment, the system comprising:

a computing device in communication with a network of the distributed computing environment, the computing device receiving a date range, enumerating digital assets as file system elements having an associated expiration date in the provided date rang, and storing the enumerated digital assets on a storage medium that is removable from the distributed computing environment e.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the date range is provided using a system call.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the enumerated digital assets are copied to another storage medium.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the date range indicates a desire expiration date range.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the date range include a flag in addition to a desired date range , the flag indicating the opposite of the desired date range.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein the computing device comprises a filter driver.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein the computing device comprises a plug-in module.

15. A computer readable medium having executable instructions thereon to copy digital assets having an associated date expiration date in a distributed computing environment, the computer readable medium comprising:

(a) instructions to receive a date range;

(b) instructions to enumerating digital assets as file system elements having an associated expiration date in the provided date range; and

(c) instruction to store the enumerated digital assets on a storage medium that is removable from the distributed computing environment.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the instructions to receive a date range comprise instructions to receive the date range using a system call.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 15 further comprising instructions to copy the enumerated digital asset to another storage medium.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the instructions to provide a date range comprises instructions to provide a desired expiration date range

19. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the instructions to provide a date range comprise instructions to provide a flag in addition to a desired expiration date range, the flag indicating the opposite of the desired expiration date range.