DELETION IN DATA FILE FORWARDING FRAMEWORK

• US 20110125721A1
• Filed: 05/06/2009
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Distributed Media Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Tajitshu Transfer LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Merritt, Edward, Fein, Gene
• Granted Patent: US 8,452,844 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/692
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/14 Details of searching files based on file metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/162 Delete operations erasing in storage systems G06F3/0652

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for deletion in data file forwarding framework. A framework includes a network of interconnected computer system nodes in which data files are continuously forwarded from computer memory to computer memory without storing on any physical storage device in the network, a central server coupled to the network, and a deletion server coupled to the network.

Claims

1-10. -10. (canceled)

11. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing system, a request from an authorized user to delete a particular data file being continuously forwarded among memories of computing devices within the network, wherein a plurality of data files comprising the particular data file are stored in the network by continuously forwarding the plurality of data files among memories of the network computing devices without storing the plurality of data files on fixed storage mediums of the network computing devices;

searching, by the computing device, a data structure including information associated with respective data files of the plurality of data files for information associated with the particular data file;

determining, by the computing device, one or more memories storing the particular data file; and

transmitting, by the computing device, instructions to the network computing devices associated with the determined one or more memories to discontinue forwarding of the particular data file.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the request is received from a computing system operated by the authorized user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the computing system operated by the authorized user originally provided the particular data file for storage among the memories of the network computing devices.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

removing information associated with the particular data file from the data structure.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting instructions to the computing devices associated with the determined one or more memories to store other data files in the memory locations occupied by the particular data file.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the information associated with respective data files comprises file names for the respective data files.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein said determining comprises:

determining a hash mark for the particular data file; and

comparing the determined hash mark to hash marks associated with data files stored in memories of respective network computing devices.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein said determining comprises:

determining a unique identifier of the particular data file; and

transmitting the unique identifier to at least some of the network computing devices.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said determining further comprises:

determining a subset of the network computing devices that are most likely to have the data file stored on respective memories; and

transmitting the unique identifier to only the subset of the network computing devices.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a confirmation message from the network computing devices associated with the determined one or more memories indicating that the specific data file has been deleted.

21. A tangible computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions configured for execution by a computing device in order to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request from an authorized computing system to delete a particular data file being continuously forwarded among memories of computing devices within the network, wherein a plurality of data files are stored by continuously forwarding the data files among memories of the network computing devices without storing the data files on fixed storage mediums of the network computing devices;

searching a data structure including information associated with respective data files being continuously forwarded among memories of the network computing devices for information associated with the particular data file;

determining one or more memories storing the particular data file; and

transmitting instructions to the network computing devices associated with the determined one or more memories to not forward the particular data file.

22. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the authorized computing system comprises a computing system that provided the particular data file for storage among the memories of the network computing devices.

23. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise:

removing information associated with the particular data file from the data structure.

24. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the information associated with respective data files comprises file names for the respective data files.

25. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein said determining comprises:

determining a unique identifier of the particular data file;

transmitting the unique identifier to at least some of the network computing devices.

26. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a confirmation message from one or more computing devices associated with the determined one or more memories indicating that the data file has been deleted.

27. A computing system comprising:

a processor configured to execute instructions;

a computer readable medium storing instructions readable by the processor in order to cause the computing device to perform operations comprising;

receiving a request from an authorized computing system coupled to a network to delete a data file being continuously forwarded among memories of computing devices within the network, wherein the network stores a plurality of data files by continuously forwarding the data files among memories of the network computing devices without storing the data files on a fixed storage medium of the computing devices;

searching a data structure including information associated with respective data files being continuously forwarded among memories of the network computing devices for information associated with the particular data file;

determining one or more memories storing the data file; and

transmitting instructions to the network computing devices associated with the determined one or more memories to not forward the data file.

28. The computing system of claim 27, wherein the authorized computing system is operated by a user that provided the data file for storage among the memories of the network computing devices.

29. The computing system of claim 27, further comprising:

removing information associated with the data file from the data structure.

30. The computing system of claim 27, further comprising:

transmitting instructions to the network computing devices associated with the determined one or more memories to store other data files in the memory locations occupied by the data file.