Systems and methods of providing possible value ranges

• US 8,015,216 B2
• Filed: 07/08/2010
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emc IP Holding Company LLC (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Original Assignee: EMC Corporation (Dell Technologies Inc.)
• Inventors: Husted, Justin M., Passey, Aaron J., Godman, Peter J., Fachan, Neal T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cottingham; John R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Arjomandi; Noosha
• Application Number:
  US12/832,904
• Publication Number:
  US 20110016155A1
• Time in Patent Office: 425 Days
• Field of Search: 707/803, 715/700, 715/866
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1774 Locking methods, e.g. locking methods for file systems allowing shared and concurrent access to files
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/466 Transaction processing

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to incremental computing. Specifically, embodiments of the invention include systems and methods that provide for the concurrent processing of multiple, incremental changes to a data value while at the same time monitoring and/or enforcing threshold values for that data value. For example, a method is provided that determines whether multiple incremental changes to a data field could pass a threshold based on keeping track of a possible value range for the data field.

Claims

1. A method of determining whether multiple incremental changes to a data field could pass a threshold, comprising:

receiving at least one threshold related to a data field;

receiving a request to incrementally modify a data value of the data field, wherein the request to incrementally modify the data value of the data field comprises an incremental value associated with the data field and an operation type that indicates whether the request is to increment a possible value for the data field or to decrement the possible value for the data field;

determining, via execution of instructions by at least one processor, whether the request, in combination with a subset of other pending requests to incrementally modify the data value, could pass the at least one threshold; and

computing an updated boundary value of the possible value for the data field, wherein the possible value for the data field is based on the request and a previous boundary value, the previous boundary value determined from a subset of other pending requests to modify the data value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one threshold is a threshold for a maximum or minimum data value of the data field.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

computing a possible data value for the data field based on the request and a bound of possible values of the data field, the bound derived from the subset of the other pending requests; and

comparing the possible data value with the at least one threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is a request either to increment or to decrement the data value, and wherein the other pending requests are requests, respectively, either to increment or to decrement the data value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the data field is associated with at least one of the following:

a data storage system, a distributed storage system, a file system, and a distributed file system.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the request and the other pending requests are associated with uncommitted, concurrent transactions to write to a storage location associated with the data field.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one threshold is specific to at least one of the following:

an operation type associated with the request, the data field, and a subset of a combination of the request and the other pending requests.

8. The method of claim 1, if it is determined that the request could pass the at least one threshold, further comprising permitting or denying the request.

9. The method of claim 8, if permitting the request causes the at least one threshold to be passed, further comprising performing at least one of the following:

sending an advisory notice that the at least one threshold has been passed and permitting data values of the data field to be past the at least one threshold until a condition is met.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the condition is associated with an amount of time.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

determining whether the request, in combination with any subset of other pending requests to incrementally modify the data value, could pass the at least one threshold.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises:

determining whether the request, in combination with all of the other pending requests to incrementally modify the data value, could pass the at least one threshold.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the updated boundary value is an updated upper boundary value and the previous boundary value is a previous upper boundary value.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein if the request is a request to increment the possible value for the data field, computing the updated boundary value comprises incrementing the previous upper boundary value by the incremental value.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein if the request commits and if the request is a request to decrement the possible value for the data field, the method further comprises computing a readjusted upper boundary value by decrementing the updated upper boundary value by the incremental value.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein if the request aborts and if the request is a request to increment the possible value for the data field, the method further comprises computing a readjusted upper boundary value by decrementing the updated upper boundary value by the incremental value.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the updated boundary value is an updated lower boundary value and the previous boundary value is a previous lower boundary value.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein if the request is a request to decrement the possible value for the data field, computing the updated boundary value comprises decrementing the previous lower boundary value by the incremental value.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein if the request commits and if the request is a request to increment the possible value for the data field, the method further comprises computing a readjusted lower boundary value by incrementing the updated lower boundary value by the incremental value.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein if the request aborts and if the request is a request to decrement the possible value for the data field, the method further comprises computing a readjusted lower boundary value by incrementing the updated lower boundary value by the incremental value.

21. A system configured to determine whether multiple incremental changes to a data field could pass a threshold, the system comprising:

a storage device configured to store a system module and at least one threshold related to a data field; and

a processor configured to execute the system module, the system module configured to;

receive a request to incrementally modify a data value of the data field, wherein the request to incrementally modify the data value of the data field comprises an incremental value associated with the data field and an operation type that indicates whether the request is to increment a possible value for the data field or to decrement the possible value for the data field;

determine whether the request, in combination with a subset of other pending requests to incrementally modify the data value, could pass the at least one threshold; and

compute an updated boundary value of the possible value for the data field, wherein the possible value for the data field is based on the request and a previous boundary value, the previous boundary value determined from a subset of other pending requests to modify the data value.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the system module is further configured to permit or deny the request, if it is determined that the request could pass the at least one threshold.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the system module is further configured to perform at least one of the following, if permitting the request causes the at least one threshold to be passed:

send an advisory notice that the at least one threshold has been passed, and

permit data values of the data field to be past the at least one threshold until a condition is met.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the condition is associated with an amount of time.