System and method for improved media identification in a storage device

• US 7,603,518 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2005
• Issued: 10/13/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: CommVault Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Kottomtharayil, Rajiv
• Primary Examiner(s): Verbrugge; Kevin
• Assistant Examiner(s): CARDWELL, ERIC
• Application Number:
  US11/313,267
• Publication Number:
  US 20070140525A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,394 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 711/115
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for improved identification of removable storage media. A scanner may be used to read an identifier, such as a barcode, on a removable storage media. In the event that the scanner reads the identifier incorrectly due to a defect in the barcode, such as a damaged label, misaligned identifier, or because the scanner is incapable of reading the identifier type or the scanner'"'"'s field of view is incorrect, a media management component receives the scanned identifier data and matches it to a known set of media identifiers to create a subset of matching identifier data. A closest matching media identifier may be identified from the subset of matching identifier data. An index may be updated with information indicating the closest matching media identifier and a location of the removable storage media.

Claims

1. A method for automatically identifying removable storage media, the method comprising:

receiving data representing a portion of an identifier for a removable storage medium;

comparing the received data with data representing a set of known identifiers for removable storage media;

identifying two or more known identifiers among the set of known identifiers that partially match the received identifier based on the comparison; and

determining that the data representing the portion of the identifier is associated with one identifier from the identified two or more known identifiers.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the portion of the identifier includes a portion of a barcode.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the portion of the identifier is associated with a portion of a radio frequency identification tag.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying two or more known identifiers includes matching a predefined number of characters of the portion of the identifier to portions of known identifiers.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying two or more known identifiers includes matching a pattern of characters of the portion of the identifier and to portions of known identifiers.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving data indicating a location of the removable storage medium; and

updating an index entry associated with the one identifier to include the location of the removable storage medium.

7. A method for maintaining an index of removable storage media items associated with a data storage library, the method comprising:

receiving data indicating an identifier for a removable storage media item;

receiving data indicating a location of the removable storage media item;

determining the identifier does not exactly match a known identifier;

identifying a set of known identifiers to generate a subset of identifiers that partially match the identifier;

determining at least one known identifier of the subset of identifiers satisfies a match criteria; and

updating an index entry associated with the determined known identifier of the subset of identifiers to include the data indicating the location of the removable storage media item.

8. A computer readable medium including computer executable code, which when executed causes a computer to perform a method for automatically identifying a removable storage media identifier associated with a data storage library, the method comprising:

receiving data indicating an unknown identifier for a removable storage medium, wherein the identifier is not included in an index of identifiers associated with the data storage library;

comparing the received unknown identifier with a set of identifiers known to be associated with the data storage library;

identifying a subset of known identifiers among the set of known identifiers that at least partially match the received unknown identifier; and

determining at least one known identifier from the subset of known identifiers that closely matches the received unknown identifier.

9. A method for identifying a data storage medium associated with a data storage library, the method comprising:

receiving information associated with an identifier for a data storage medium, wherein the received information is not associated with an identifier associated with a data storage medium known to a data storage library;

comparing the received information to a set of identifiers for data storage media known to the data storage library;

determining the received information partially matches a threshold number of identifiers for data storage media known to the data storage library;

for every partially matched identifier, identifying match criteria satisfied by the partially matched identifier with respect to the received information; and

determining the partially matched identifier is the identifier for the data storage medium based on the identified match criteria.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the match criteria includes a threshold number of unique matching characters between the received information and the partially matched identifier.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the match criteria includes a character pattern match between the received information and the partially matched identifier.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the match criteria includes a character position match between the received information and the partially matched identifier.

13. A system for identifying data storage media associated with a data storage library, the system having one or more tangible components, the system comprising:

a reception component, wherein the reception component is configured to receive from a scanner information identifying data storage media and identifying a location of the data storage media;

an index component, wherein the index component is configured to retrieve information from an index associating identifiers with data storage media known to the data storage library; and

an identification component, wherein the identification component is configured to (1) identify the scanned data storage media when determining the received scanner information matches an identifier associated with a known data storage medium, and (2) identify the scanned data storage media when determining the received scanner information partially matches two or more identifiers associated with known data storage media.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein determining the received scanner information partially matches two or more identifiers associated with known data storage media includes:

determining that the received scanner information partially matches at least a threshold number of identifiers.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein identifying the scanned data storage media when determining the received scanner information partially matches two or more identifiers associated with known data storage media includes:

for every partially matched identifier, determining match criteria satisfied by the partially matched identifier with respect to the received scanner information; and

associating the received scanner information with the partially matched identifier that satisfies the most match criteria.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the index component is configured to update the index associating identifiers with data storage media to include the identified location information of the data storage media.