Method and apparatus for providing an object-oriented file structuring system on a computer
First Claim
1. An article of manufacture comprising:
- a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied thereon for causing a computer to provide a file structuring system for storing a file on a computer system, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising;
computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to provide a file to be stored in said computer system comprising a plurality of objects, each object having an object length and an object type;
said object comprising a prefix, a suffix, and contents,said prefix and said suffix each having a bracket length,said prefix and said suffix each defining said object length,said prefix defining the position of said suffix and comprising a keybyte and a prefix remainder,said suffix defining the position of said prefix and comprising a suffix remainder and said keybyte, wherein said suffix remainder and said prefix remainder contain the same information;
computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus list of focus entries of said file when said file is open;
computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to access said objects while said objects are in focus.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides an object-oriented file structuring system. The invention provides a method of defining DATA objects and CONTAINER objects and SYSTEM objects that facilitates navigation through a file structuring system. Notation and nomenclature are defined for building files composed of CONTAINERs and DATA and SYSTEM objects and for defining relationships between and among files, CONTAINERs and DATA. A FOCUS LIST tracks objects of interest and aids in NAVIGATION. CONTAINER objects contain other objects. DATA objects enclose DATA in either machine-dependent or machine-independent value representations. Developers work with logical files and can freely create and modify the logical relationships of file objects. A RECONSTITUTION algorithm periodically updates the physical file to correspond to the logical file.
94 Citations
19 Claims
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1. An article of manufacture comprising:
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a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied thereon for causing a computer to provide a file structuring system for storing a file on a computer system, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to provide a file to be stored in said computer system comprising a plurality of objects, each object having an object length and an object type; said object comprising a prefix, a suffix, and contents, said prefix and said suffix each having a bracket length, said prefix and said suffix each defining said object length, said prefix defining the position of said suffix and comprising a keybyte and a prefix remainder, said suffix defining the position of said prefix and comprising a suffix remainder and said keybyte, wherein said suffix remainder and said prefix remainder contain the same information; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus list of focus entries of said file when said file is open; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to access said objects while said objects are in focus. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. An article of manufacture comprising:
a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied thereon for causing a computer to provide an object-oriented file structuring system for storing a file in a computer system, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to provide a file to be stored in said computer system comprising plurality of objects, each object having an object length, said file comprising a head and a tail; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to establish said head where physical location of said objects is consistent with the relative logical order of said objects; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to establish said tail as comprising objects representing modifications to said file; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus list of focus entries for said file when said file is open; each focus entry representing an object in said file; said objects including container objects, system objects, and data objects; system objects and data objects being contained in said container objects; container objects for containing data objects, system objects and other container objects; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to define an object as in focus when said object is accessed; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus entry for an object when it or any objects contained by it are in focus; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus entry for an object when it has been deleted prior to a reconstitution; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus entry for each object in said tail. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An article of manufacture comprising:
a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied thereon for causing a computer to provide an object-oriented file structuring system for accessing a file in a computer system, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a file to be stored in said computer system as a plurality of objects, each object having an object length, said file comprising a head and a tail; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to establish said head in which physical location of said objects is consistent with the relative logical order of said objects; said tail comprising objects representing modifications to said file; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus list of focus entries for said file when said file is open; each focus entry representing an object in said file; said objects including container objects, system objects, and data objects; data objects being contained in said container objects; container objects for containing data objects, system objects and other container objects; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to define an object as in focus when said object is accessed; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus entry for an object when it or any objects contained by it are in focus, said focus entry including position information of said object; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus entry for an object when it has been deleted prior to a reconstitution; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus entry for each object in said tail; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to define a process accessing said file as a handle; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to identify a destination of said handle as one of said objects of said file; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to determine if a focus entry exists in said focus list for said destination object; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to obtain a reference to said focus entry when said focus entry exits and using said position information to access said destination object; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to create a focus entry in said focus list for said destination object when a focus entry does not exist in said focus list for said destination object; computer readable program code configured to cause said computer to obtain a reference to said created focus entry and using said position information to access said destination object. - View Dependent Claims (19)
Specification