BACKUP USER INTERFACE

• US 20140188808A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Wolf, Christopher, McIntyre, Kristen A., Cisler, Pavel, Misaki, Erika, Feldman, Daniel I., Weiss, Eric A., Blair, Richard B.
• Granted Patent: US 9,542,423 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/654
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1458 Management of the backup or restore process
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1469 Backup restoration techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/323 Visualisation of programs or trace data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/21 Design, administration or maintenance of databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/815 Virtual middleware or OS functionality using virtual machines to implement generic software techniques for error detection or fault masking G06F11/1484

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for storing data are disclosed. In some implementations, visual representations of files are generated for presentation in a backup user interface. The visual representations are generated from sparse file system metadata stored on the computing device, thus allowing faster navigating of the backup user interface. During a restore operation, the metadata can be used to retrieve the items from their physical storage locations. In some implementations, when the storage capacity of a backup storage device exceeds a threshold, the data for the N oldest backups are replaced with sparse file system metadata, which can be used to generate visual representations for presentation in the backup user interface.

Claims

1. A method of restoring backup data on a computing device, the method comprising:

receiving a request to restore an item from a backup;

determining that the item was previously purchased or downloaded from an online store; and

retrieving a copy of the item from the online store using information related to the purchase or download of the item,

where the method is performed by one or more hardware processors.

2. The method of claim 1, where receiving a request to restore an item further comprises:

displaying a backup user interface on a display of the computing device;

generating a visual representation of the item in the backup user interface using file system metadata; and

receiving input selecting the visual representation.

3. The method of claim 1, where determining that the item was previously purchased or downloaded from an online store further comprises:

associating a receipt file with the item, where the receipt file was generated during the purchase or download of the item.

4. The method of claim 1, where retrieving a copy of the item from the online store using information related to the purchase or download of the item, further comprises:

using information contained in the receipt file to establish a connection with a server in the online store and to download a copy of the item to the computing device.

5. A method of managing backups on a computing device, the method comprising:

determining that a backup storage device is low on storage capacity;

identifying N oldest backups, where N is a positive integer greater or equal to one;

removing data for items in the N oldest backups from the backup storage device;

replacing the removed data with metadata; and

generating visual representations of the items in one or more backup user interfaces using the metadata,

where the method is performed by one or more hardware processors.

6. The method of claim 5, where generating visual representations of the items in the one or more backup user interfaces using the metadata, includes performing a set operation between items of a current file system and items of a virtual file system or a set operation between items of two or more virtual file systems, to determine the contents of the visual representations.

7. A system for restoring backup data on a computing device, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory coupled to the one or more processors and configured to store instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving a request to restore an item from a backup;

determining that the item was previously purchased or downloaded from an online store; and

retrieving a copy of the item from the online store using information related to the purchase or download of the item.

8. The system of claim 7, where receiving a request to restore an item further comprises:

displaying a backup user interface on a display of the computing device;

generating a visual representation of the item in the backup user interface using file system metadata; and

receiving input selecting the visual representation.

9. The system of claim 7, where determining that the item was previously purchased or downloaded from an online store further comprises:

associating a receipt file with the item, where the receipt file was generated during the purchase or download of the item.

10. The system of claim 7, where retrieving a copy of the item from the online store using information related to the purchase or download of the item, further comprises:

using information contained in the receipt file to establish a connection with a server in the online store and to download a copy of the item to the computing device.

11. A system for managing backups on a computing device, the system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory coupled to the one or more processors and configured to store instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

determining that a backup storage device is low on storage capacity;

identifying N oldest backups, where N is a positive integer greater or equal to one;

removing data for items in the N oldest backups from the backup storage device;

replacing the removed data with metadata; and

generating visual representations of the items in one or more backup user interfaces using the metadata.

12. The system of claim 11, where generating visual representations of the items in the one or more backup user interfaces using the metadata, includes performing a set operation between items of a current file system and items of a virtual file system or a set operation between items of two or more virtual file systems, to determine the contents of the visual representations.

13. A method of managing backups on a computing device, comprising:

receiving a request to backup data on a computing device;

determining that at least some of the data to be backed up is retrievable from an online store; and

generating a backup of the data that omits the data that is retrievable from the online store.