SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR POLICY-DRIVEN FILE SEGMENTATION AND INTER-CLOUD FILE STORAGE AND RETRIEVAL

• US 20100325422A1
• Filed: 06/18/2009
• Published: 12/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Xerox Corporation (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Gnanasambandam, Shanmuga-nathan, Sharma, Naveen, Kibler, Wendell Lewis
• Granted Patent: US 8,464,075 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/153
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/122 using management policies backup systems G06F11/1446; file migration policies for HSM systems G06F16/185

Abstract

A file storage system includes one or more document input devices and a processor communicating with both a memory and the one or more document input devices. The processor executes a software application stored on the memory to separate a sensitive portion of a document from an insensitive portion of a document. A first type of cloud storage includes one or more storage devices in operable communication with the one or more document input devices. The first type of cloud storage is configured to store one or both of the separated portions with a level of encryption agreed upon by a user. A second type of cloud storage includes one or more storage devices in operable communication with the one or more document input devices. The second type of cloud storage is configured to store the insensitive portion of a document based on a consent of the user.

Claims

1. A file storage system comprising:

at least one document input device;

a processor communicating with both a memory and said at least one document input device, said processor executing a software application stored on the memory to separate a sensitive portion of at least, one document from an insensitive portion of the at least one document;

a first type of cloud storage including at least one storage device in operable communication with the at least one document input device and configured to store at least one of the separated portions of the at least one document with a level of encryption agreed upon by a user; and

a second type of cloud storage including at least one storage device in operable communication with the at least one document input device and configured to store the insensitive portion of the at least one document based on a consent of the user.

2. The file storage system according to claim 1, wherein said first type of cloud storage is internal relative to a firewall and the second type of cloud storage is external relative to the firewall.

3. The file storage system according to claim 1, wherein the separated portions are accessible through at least one of the first and second type of cloud storage based on a user credential, wherein the separated portions are utilized to generate the at least one document.

4. The file storage system according to claim 1, wherein storage of the at least one document is based on a user-defined policy.

5. The file storage system according to claim 1, wherein a level of security protecting the separated portions is customizable in accordance with a user-defined policy.

6. The file storage system according to claim 1, wherein the separated portions of the at least one document are replicated to generate a plurality of portions, each of the plurality of portions being bit-wise non-identical to respective portions of other replicas of the same document.

7. The file storage system according to claim 6, wherein each additional portion is stored at least one hop further from a point of consumption of the at least one document input device.

8. The file storage system according to claim 7, wherein a level of security protecting a portion increases as the number of hops from the point of consumption of the portion increases.

9. The file storage system according to claim 7, wherein an encryption key encrypting a portion is strengthened for each one hop further from the point of consumption of the portion.

10. The file storage system according to claim 7, wherein the portions include at least one constituent block of information, the at least one constituent block of information of a portion being incrementally smaller for each one hop further from the point of consumption of the portion.

11. The file storage system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an event handler operating on the first type of cloud storage and configured to poll the second type of cloud storage for at least one event queued thereon, wherein the event handler processes the at least one event in a queued sequence to facilitate communication of at least one portion of the at least one document from the second type of cloud storage to the first type of cloud storage.

12. The file storage system according to claim 11, wherein the at least one event is one of a direct request from a user for a stored document and a request from at least one other cloud storage for a stored document.

13. The file storage system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one document input device is an multifunction device (MFD) incorporated within a networked environment.

14. A method for storing documents in a distributed file system (DFS) having at least one document input device, the method comprising:

using the at least one document input device to process at least one document;

using a processor to execute programmable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium to separate a sensitive portion of the at least one document from an insensitive portion of the at least one document;

storing the separated portions on at least one of an internal cloud storage and an external cloud storage based on a sensitivity of the portion, the internal cloud storage and the external cloud storage being in operable communication with the at least one document input device; and

accessing the separated portions from at least one of the internal cloud storage and the external cloud storage based on a user credential to generate the at least one document.

15. A method according to claim 14, further comprising:

storing the at least one document based on a user-defined policy.

16. A method according to claim 14, further comprising:

customizing a level of security protecting the separated portions based on a user-defined policy.

17. A method according to claim 14, further comprising:

replicating the separated portions to generate a plurality of portions, each of the portions being bit-wise non-identical to respective portions of other replicas of the same document.

18. A method according to claim 17, further comprising;

storing each additional portion at least one hop further from a point of consumption of the at least one document input device, wherein a level of security protecting the additional portion increases as the number of hops from the point of consumption the additional portion is stored increases.

19. A computer-readable medium storing programmable instructions configured to be executed by at least one processor for performing a method of storing documents on a distributed file system (DFS) having at least one document input device, the method comprising:

using the at least one document input device to process at least one document;

executing the programmable instructions with the processor to separate a sensitive portion of the at least one document from an insensitive portion of the at least one document;

storing the separated portions on at least one of an internal cloud storage and an external cloud storage based on a sensitivity of the portion, the internal cloud storage and the external cloud storage being in operable communication with the at least one document input device; and

using a retrieval device to electronically access the separated portions from at least one of the internal cloud storage and the external cloud storage based on a user credential to generate the at least one document.

20. The computer-readable medium according to claim 19, further comprising:

replicating the separated portions to generate a plurality of portions, each of the portions being bit-wise non-identical to each other.