Method and system for efficient file archiving and dearchiving in a DMD system

• US 6,581,076 B1
• Filed: 03/29/2000
• Issued: 06/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/29/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hsiao, Eric, Ching, Jennie, Lee, Peter S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mizrahi, Diane D.
• Application Number:
  US09/538,563
• Time in Patent Office: 1,175 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/104.1, 707/204, 709/328, 711/118, 711/161, 713/201
• US Class Current: 707/667
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/04 Studio equipment; Interconnection of studios
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/06 Arrangements for scheduling broadcast services or broadcast-related services
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99955 Archiving or backup

Abstract

Aspects for efficient archiving and dearchiving for a digital media distributor are presented. The aspects include a tape library for storing archived storage items, an archive server coupled to and managing the tape library, and a central site server coupled to the archive server and including a stage manager component. The stage manager component performs an archive operation to the archive server in response to a store request by grouping storage items according to predefined group categories and performs a dearchive operation from the archive server in response to a retrieve request by sorting storage items according to storage order within the predefined group categories.

Claims

1. A method for achieving efficient archiving and dearchiving in a digital media distributor system, the method comprising:

performing an archive operation to a tape server in response to a store request by grouping storage items according to predefined group categories; and

performing a dearchive operation from the tape server in response to a retrieve request by sorting storage items according to storage order within the predefined group categories.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein storage items further comprise digital spots.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the predefined group categories further comprise groups of affiliates.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the steps of performing an archive operation and a dearchive operation occur with a stage manager component of the digital media distributor system.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein performing an archive operation occurs during a second pass by the stage manager in processing the store request.

6. The method of claim 4 further comprising utilizing a private disk area for storing the storage items for grouping.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein performing an archive operation further comprises processing a predefined group category with a largest number of storage items to be archived first.

8. An efficient archiving and dearchiving system supporting digital media distribution, the system comprising:

a tape library for storing archived storage items;

an archive server coupled to and managing the tape library; and

a central site server coupled to the archive server and including a stage manager component, the stage manager component performing an archive operation to the archive server in response to a store request by grouping storage items according to predefined group categories; and

performing a dearchive operation from the archive server in response to a retrieve request by sorting storage items according to storage order within the predefined group categories.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the storage items further comprise digital spots.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the predefined group categories further comprise groups of affiliates.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the stage manager component acts as a client to the archive server.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the stage manager component performs the archive operation during a second pass in processing the store request.

13. The system of claim 8 wherein the stage manager component further utilizes a private disk area for storing the storage items for grouping.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein the stage manager component further processes a predefined group category with a largest number of storage items to be archived first.

15. A method for performing efficient archiving and dearchiving of digital spots in a digital media distributor system, the method comprising:

(a) storing spots on a private disk area;

(b) processing the spots in batches according to predefined group categories;

(c) archiving the spots according to the predefined group categories; and

(d) utilizing the predefined group categories for efficient spot retrieval in a dearchive operation.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising utilizing a stage manager component to perform steps (a), (b), (c), and (d).

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising utilizing the stage manager component to perform purge, delete, preview, and replace tasks.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising utilizing the stage manager component as a client to an archive server.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising utilizing the archive server to perform daily maintenance of archived spots.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the predefined group categories comprise groups of affiliates.