BACKUP AND ARCHIVAL OF SELECTED ITEMS AS A COMPOSITE OBJECT

• US 20100318500A1
• Filed: 06/16/2009
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Jain, Kamal, Dickson, Mathew J., Virk, Navjot, Murphy, Elissa E.S., Simard, Patrice Y.
• Granted Patent: US 9,594,759 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/693
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/113 Details of archiving lifecycle management in storage systems G06F3/0649; backup systems G06F11/1446

Abstract

An archive of items, which are computing data accessed by a user, is created at a semantic object level. The object archiving may group seemingly disparate items as a composite object, which may then be stored to enable retrieval by the user at a later point in time. The composite object may include metadata from the various items to enable identifying the composite object, providing retrieval capabilities (e.g., search, etc.), and so forth. In some aspects, an archiving process may extract item data from an item that is accessed by a computing device. Next, the item may be selected by a schema for inclusion in a composite object when the item data meets criteria specified in the schema. The composite object(s) may then be stored in an object store as an archive (backup).

Claims

1. A method of archiving a composite object, the method comprising:

identifying an item that is a result of a computing activity;

analyzing the item based on a schema to determine whether the item shall be included in the composite object, the composite object including another item of a different type of data than a type of data of the item;

designating the item for archival in the composite object when the item is included in the schema;

generating a name for the item using at least one of metadata of the item or attributes of the item; and

transmitting the item in the composite object to a storage device for storage in a composite object archive.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the schema includes a set of instructions to selectively identify items for archival, the instructions for selecting items related to at least one of an email event or calendar event to create the composite object.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the storage device is included in an object store having a policy engine, the policy engine to schematize the composite object for retrieval.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the schema further packages items in the composite object prior to transmission to the storage device.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising populating metadata of the composite object with the metadata from the item.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the analyzing the item includes matching metadata of the items to metadata in the schema to identify matching metadata, and determining based on the matching metadata that the item is to be included in the composite object.

7. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory to store computer readable instructions executable by the one or more processors, the memory storing a schema agent configured to;

read a set of instructions that identify items for storage as a composite object, the items being a resultant of a computing action;

designate a first item of the items for archival with the composite object based on the instructions; and

migrate metadata of the items to the composite object to enable retrieval of the composite object.

8. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the instructions are at least one of formed by aggregating preferences from other users or custom defined by a user.

9. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the items include at least one website data item located remote from the memory.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the at least one website data item is created by creating a snapshot of computing data.

11. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the memory is further stores a policy engine configured to:

designate a storage type of each of the items in the composite object; and

store the composite object for retrieval at a later point in time.

12. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the first item is archived with a second item, the second item having an originating storage location that is different than the originating storage location of the first item.

13. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein storing the composite object includes storing the composite object in an object store that is located remote from a client computing device having the one or more processors.

14. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the memory stores a user interface module configured to cause a display of the stored composite object using a substantially chronological feed that lists at least a portion of the items in the composite object.

15. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to performs acts comprising:

extracting item data from an item accessed by a computing device, the item data including at least one of metadata or attributes of the item;

selecting the item when the item data criteria specified in a schema, the schema configured to designate items for inclusion in a composite object; and

storing the item in a storage media based on a storage policy implemented by a policy engine, the storage policy to perform at least one of;

store a duplicate copy of the item,

store a pointer to the item,

perform compression of the item, and

move the item to the storage media and delete the original copy of the item.

16. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the acts further comprise replacing a redundant item in the storage media with a pointer mapped to a duplicate copy of the item.

17. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the schema includes instructions that are generated via an ontological analysis of item grouping from other users that interact with items of a same type as the item.

18. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the acts further comprise creating an identifier for the item using at least a portion of the item data.

19. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the acts further comprise indexing the composite object with at least a portion of the item data to enable retrieval of the composite object.

20. The one or more computer-readable media as recited in claim 15, wherein the computer-readable media is stored on a client computing device and executed locally to store the composite object in local memory.