Method and system for electronic file lifecycle management

• US 20080263112A1
• Filed: 06/23/2008
• Published: 10/23/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/18/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: KOM Software Inc.
• Original Assignee: KOM Inc.
• Inventors: Liyansky, Abel L., Shaath, Kamel, Fu, Yaqun, Jelvis, Alexei, Parthasarathy, Vinay
• Granted Patent: US 8,782,009 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/204
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/125 characterised by the use of retention policies retention policies for HSM systems G06F16/185
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/185 Hierarchical storage management [HSM] systems, e.g. file migration or policies thereof details of archiving G06F16/11
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing

Abstract

A method and system for managing a file lifecycle is disclosed. The method incorporates a virtual file cabinet having virtual drawers. Files are moved from drawer to drawer throughout their lifecycle in accordance with policies associated with each drawer. The files are moved automatically and as such, a file'"'"'s lifecycle is managed from file creation to file deletion in an automated fashion. By using an archiving device such as magneto optical storage media, the files are automatically moved to their final archived location in an archiving drawer once certain policies of their present drawer are met. The system is an electronic system employing the inventive method.

Claims

1-13. -13. (canceled)

14. A method of managing a file lifecycle comprising the steps of:

providing a virtual cabinet having a plurality of virtual drawers, each virtual drawer associated with at least a storage medium and a single drawer associated with storage media of a similar nature;

providing a plurality of policies, a policy associated with each virtual drawer;

storing the file in a virtual drawer by storing the file on at least a storage medium associated with the virtual drawer;

at intervals, determining from the policy associated with the virtual drawer an action dictated by the policy; and

,

performing the dictated action on the file.

15. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 14 wherein the action includes the step of deleting the file from the virtual drawer.

16. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 15 wherein the policies relate to the storage medium and to dates stored in association with each file.

17. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 16 comprising the step of storing in association with each file an expiration indicator indicative of when the file is to be transferred.

18. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 17 wherein the expiration indicator includes a date on which to delete the file from the drawer in accordance with the action dictated by the policy.

19. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 17 wherein the expiration indicator includes a minimum time before which the file is to be maintained in its current drawer.

20. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 15 wherein the action includes the step of transferring the file from the virtual drawer to another different virtual drawer within the cabinet.

21. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 20 wherein step of transferring the file includes the step of archiving the file within an archiving virtual drawer.

22. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 15 wherein step of deleting the file includes the steps of determining based on a policy associated with the drawer and based on data stored in association with the file a mode of deletion, and deleting the file in accordance with the determined mode.

23. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 22 wherein the modes of deletion include secure deletion and insecure deletion.

24. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 14 wherein files stored in the virtual cabinet are stored within a same virtual storage medium and wherein files stored within each drawer from the plurality of virtual drawers are stored on the one or more similar storage media associated with said drawer.

25. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 24 wherein a single virtual drawer forms part of a plurality of virtual cabinets.

26. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 14 wherein the step of determining an action comprises the steps of:

determining from the policy a condition;

evaluating each file to determine a presence of the condition; and

,

when the condition is met, providing an action associated with the condition as the determined action.

27. A method of managing a file lifecycle comprising the steps of:

providing a virtual cabinet having a plurality of virtual drawers, each virtual drawer associated with at least a storage medium and a single drawer associated with storage media of a similar nature;

providing a plurality of policies, a policy associated with each virtual drawer;

storing the file in a virtual drawer by storing the file on at least a storage medium associated with the virtual drawer;

upon receiving an access request to access the file, determining from the policy associated with the virtual drawer an action dictated by the policy; and

,

performing the dictated action on the file.

28. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 27 wherein the determined action comprises the step of storing in association with each file an expiration indicator indicative of when the file is to be transferred, the expiration indicator determined based on the policy.

29. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 28 wherein the expiration indicator includes a date on which to delete the file from the drawer in accordance with the action dictated by the policy.

30. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 28 wherein the expiration indicator includes a minimum time before which the file is to be maintained in its current drawer.

31. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 27 wherein the action includes the step of transferring the file from the virtual drawer to another different virtual drawer within the cabinet.

32. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 31 wherein step of transferring the file includes the step of retrieving the file from an archiving virtual drawer and storing it in another virtual drawer.

33. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 27 comprising the steps of:

determining based on a policy associated with the drawer and based on data stored in association with the file whether the file is to be deleted;

determining based on a policy associated with the drawer and based on data stored in association with the file a mode of deletion for the file; and

deleting the file in accordance with the determined mode.

34. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 33 wherein the modes of deletion include secure deletion and insecure deletion.

35. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 27 wherein files stored in the virtual cabinet are stored within a same virtual storage medium and wherein files stored within each drawer from the plurality of virtual drawers are stored on the one or more similar storage media associated with said drawer.

36. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 35 wherein a single virtual drawer forms part of a plurality of virtual cabinets.

37. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 27 wherein the step of determining an action comprises the steps of:

determining from the policy a condition;

evaluating the accessed file to determine a presence of the condition; and

,

when the condition is met, providing an action associated with the condition as the determined action.

38-46. -46. (canceled)

47. A method of managing a file lifecycle comprising the steps of:

requesting a file to be stored in a virtual cabinet in a virtual volume;

evaluating the file storage criteria based on cabinet policies of the virtual cabinet to determine a physical location wherein the file is to be stored; and

storing the file in the determined physical location.

48. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 47 wherein the cabinet policies relate to file types of the file to be stored.

49. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 48 wherein a virtual cabinet comprises a virtual drawer and wherein a virtual drawer forms part of more than one virtual cabinet.

50. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 49 wherein the virtual cabinet forms a context within a context based file lifecycle management system and wherein a file created within a context of a virtual cabinet being subject to the policies of said virtual cabinet.

51. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 47 wherein the step of storing the file comprises the step of storing the file in association with the virtual cabinet.

52. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 51 wherein the file is governed by policies of the associated virtual cabinet and wherein some actions dictated by those policies are performed on the file throughout its lifecycle.

53. A method of managing a file lifecycle comprising the steps of:

selecting a virtual drawer within a virtual cabinet;

requesting a file to be stored in the virtual drawer;

evaluating the file storage criteria based on policies associated with the virtual cabinet; and

in accordance with the file storage criteria, storing the file in association with the virtual cabinet.

54. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 53 wherein the file is stored within the virtual drawer and is accessible within the virtual drawer within each of a plurality of virtual cabinets.

55. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 53 wherein the policies relate to duplication of file data within a plurality of files.

56. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 55 wherein the policies relate to load balancing for the virtual cabinet based on access to data that is stored in duplicate.

57. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 53 wherein the policies relate to one of replication, backup, mirroring, and redundancy of file data storage within the virtual cabinet.

58. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 57 wherein the policies relate to load balancing for the virtual cabinet based on access to data that is stored in more than one physical location.

59. A method of managing a file lifecycle according to claim 53 wherein the policies relate to one of version control.