Methods and systems for managing data

• US 20070174310A1
• Filed: 12/21/2006
• Published: 07/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/25/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Andrew Carol, Dominic Giampaolo, Steve Zellers, Yan Arrouye
• Original Assignee: Andrew Carol, Dominic Giampaolo, Steve Zellers, Yan Arrouye
• Inventors: Giampaolo, Dominic, Arrouye, Yan, Zellers, Steve, Carol, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 7,873,630 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 16/164 File meta data generation
• 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 16/328 Management therefor

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing data, such as metadata or index databases. In one exemplary method, a notification that an existing file has been modified or that a new file has been created is received by an indexing software component, which then, in response to the notification performs an indexing operation, where the notification is either not based solely on time or user input or the notification includes an identifier that identifies the file. Other methods in data processing systems and machine readable media are also described.

Claims

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

mounting a storage device;

determining, automatically in response to the mounting, whether to index one or more files on the storage device or to add metadata of the one or more files to a metadata database.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein the determining comprises comparing a last time of usage or closing of an indexing database to an unmounting time or last write time of the storage device and also comprises comparing a first time of usage or opening of an indexing database after the unmounting time to a mounting time or first write time of the storage device.

3. A method as in claim 1 wherein the determining comprises evaluating whether files on the storage device have been modified since an indexing database for the files was last closed.

4. A method as in claim 3 wherein the evaluating comprises performing a time based comparison without examining a record for each file indexed in the indexing database.

5. 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:

mounting a storage device;

determining, automatically in response to the mounting, whether to index one or more files on the storage device or to add metadata of the one or more files to a metadata database.

6. A medium as in claim 5 wherein the determining comprises comparing a last time of usage or closing of an indexing database to an unmounting time or last write time of the storage device and also comprises comparing a first time of usage or opening of an indexing database after the unmounting time to a mounting time or first write time of the storage device.

7. A medium as in claim 5 wherein the determining comprises evaluating whether files on the storage device have been modified since an indexing database for the files was last closed.

8. A medium as in claim 7 wherein the evaluating comprises performing a time based comparison without examining a record for each file indexed in the indexing database.

9. A data processing system comprising:

means for mounting a storage device;

means for determining, automatically in response to the mounting, whether to index one or more files on the storage device or to add metadata of the one or more files to a metadata database.

10. A system as in claim 9 wherein the determining comprises comparing a last time of usage or closing of an indexing database to an unmounting time or last write time of the storage device and also comprises comparing a first time of usage or opening of an indexing database after the unmounting time to a mounting time or first write time of the storage device.

11. A system as in claim 9 wherein the determining comprises evaluating whether files on the storage device have been modified since an indexing database for the files was last closed.

12. A system as in claim 11 wherein the evaluating comprises performing a time based comparison without examining a record for each file indexed in the indexing database.

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

mounting a storage device;

evaluating, after the mounting, whether to automatically index or update a metadata database for one or more files on the storage device by evaluating whether files on the storage device have been modified or new files have been added since a database for the files on the storage device was last closed or written to.

14. A method as in claim 13 wherein the evaluating comprises performing at least one time based comparison without examining a record for each file indexed or updated in the database.

15. A method as in claim 14 wherein the evaluating further comprises a comparison of write counts.

16. A method as in claim 13 wherein the storage device is a removable storage device which is portable among systems.

17. 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:

mounting a storage device;

evaluating, after the mounting, whether to automatically index or update a metadata database for one or more files on the storage device by evaluating whether files on the storage device have been modified or new files have been added since a database for the files on the storage device was last closed or written to.

18. A medium as in claim 17 wherein the evaluating comprises performing at least one time based comparison without examining a record for each file indexed or updated in the database.

19. A medium as in claim 18 wherein the evaluating further comprises a comparison of write counts.

20. A medium as in claim 17 wherein the storage device is a removable storage device which is portable among systems.