Deletion in electronic backups

• US 8,745,523 B2
• Filed: 06/08/2007
• Issued: 06/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: McInerney, Peter, Cisler, Pavel, Hart, David, Weiss, Eric, Ulrich, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): LEGGETT, ANDREA C.
• Application Number:
  US11/760,662
• Publication Number:
  US 20080307333A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,552 Days
• Field of Search: 715/810, 715/764, 715/783
• US Class Current: 715/783
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1448 Management of the data involved in backup or backup restore
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1451 by selection of backup contents
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2201/84 Using snapshots, i.e. a logical point-in-time copy of the data

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for storing and restoring digital data. In some implementations, a method is provided. The method includes displaying a current view, initiating a history view, the history view including two or more visual representations of corresponding earlier versions of the current view, identifying a selection of an item in a visual representation, receiving an input to delete the selected item, and deleting each instance of the selected item in the history view. Other embodiments of this aspect include corresponding systems, apparatus, computer program products, and computer readable media.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

displaying a current view of a user interface window;

initiating a history view, the history view including a history interface having two or more visual representations of user interface windows corresponding to earlier versions of the current view of the user interface window, where the two or more visual representations are associated with prior states of the current view of the user interface window for two or more respective backup archives;

identifying a selection of an item displayed in a first visual representation of the user interface window in the history view;

receiving an input to delete the selected item; and

deleting each instance of a plurality of instances of the selected item in the history view in response to the received input, wherein the plurality of instances include an initial backup instance of the item and one or more incremental instances containing updates to the initial instance.

2. The method of claim 1, the deleting each instance comprises:

identifying each version of the item represented within the history view; and

deleting the item data associated with each instance.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prompting the user to confirm delete when receiving an input to delete a selected item in the history view.

4. The method of claim 1, where each instance of the selected item is deleted in the history view while maintaining the instance of the selected item in the current view.

5. A method comprising:

displaying a current view of a user interface window including one or more items;

identifying a selection of an item in the current view of the user interface window;

receiving an input to delete the selected item; and

automatically deleting the selected item and each instance of a plurality of backup instances of the item within a backup archive, the plurality of backup instances including an initial backup instance of the item and one or more incremental elements containing updates to the initial instance.

6. The method of claim 5, where receiving the input to delete the selected item includes receiving an input to delete all versions of the selected item.

7. The method of claim 5, where displaying the visual representation of the current view includes displaying a visual representation of previously deleted items.

8. A system comprising:

one or more processors operable to interact with computer-readable storage media in order to perform operations including;

displaying a current view of a user interface;

initiating a history view, the history view including a history interface having two or more visual representations of user interface windows corresponding to earlier versions of the current view of the user interface window, where the two or more visual representations are associated with prior states of the current view of the user interface window for two or more respective backup archives;

identifying a selection of an item displayed in a first visual representation of the user interface window in the history view;

receiving an input to delete the selected item; and

deleting each instance of a plurality of instances of the selected item in the history view in response to the received input, wherein the plurality of instances include an initial backup instance of the item and one or more incremental instances containing updates to the initial instance.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein deleting each instance comprises:

identifying each version of the item represented within the history view; and

deleting the item data associated with each instance.

10. The system of claim 8, where each instance of the selected item is deleted in the history view while maintaining the instance of the selected item in the current view.

11. A system comprising:

one or more processors operable to interact with computer-readable storage media in order to perform operations including;

displaying a current view of a user interface window including one or more items;

identifying a selection of an item in the current view of the user interface window;

receiving an input to delete the selected item; and

automatically deleting the selected item and each instance of a plurality of backup instances of the item within a backup archive, the plurality of backup instances including an initial backup instance of the item and one or more incremental elements containing updates to the initial instance.

12. The system of claim 11, where receiving the input to delete the selected item includes receiving an input to delete all versions of the selected item.

13. The system of claim 11, where displaying the visual representation of the current view includes displaying a visual representation of previously deleted items.

14. A method comprising:

displaying a current view of a user interface window;

initiating a history view, the history view including a history interface having two or more snapshots presenting views corresponding to earlier versions of the current view of the user interface window and associated with corresponding backup data;

identifying a selection of an item displayed in one of the snapshots in the history view;

receiving an input to delete the selected item; and

deleting each instance of the selected item in the history view.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein deleting each instance comprises:

identifying each version of the item represented within the history view; and

deleting the item data associated with each instance.

16. The method of claim 14, where each instance of the selected item is deleted in the history view while maintaining the instance of the selected item in the current view.