Continuous data protection over intermittent connections, such as continuous data backup for laptops or wireless devices
First Claim
1. A system for replicating changes to data stored on a portable device to a data target, the system comprising:
- at least one processor;
at least one data store configured to store data and coupled to the at least one processor;
a change detector configured to, when the portable device is not communicatively coupled to the data target;
receive an indication indicating that the portable device is not communicatively coupled to the data target; and
in response to the indication, detect changes to data stored in the data store;
a change logger configured to;
when the change detection component detects a change to data stored in the data store, receive an indication from the change detector indicating the change to the data; and
in response to the indication, store information in a data structure that indicates the detected change to the data; and
a change replicator configured to, when the portable device is communicatively coupled to the data target;
receive an indication indicating that the portable device is communicatively coupled to the data target;
in response to the indication, access the information stored in the data structure; and
copy the change to the data indicated by the information to the data target.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A portable data protection system is described for protecting, transferring or copying data using continuous data protection (CDP) over intermittent or occasional connections between a computer system or mobile device containing the data to be protected, transferred or copied, called a data source, and one or more computer systems that receive the data, called a data target. CDP can be broken down logically into two phases: 1) detecting changes to data on a data source and 2) replicating the changes to a data target. The portable data protection system uses a method that performs the first phase continuously or near continuously on the data source, and the second phase when a connection is available between the data source and the data target.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. A system for replicating changes to data stored on a portable device to a data target, the system comprising:
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at least one processor; at least one data store configured to store data and coupled to the at least one processor; a change detector configured to, when the portable device is not communicatively coupled to the data target; receive an indication indicating that the portable device is not communicatively coupled to the data target; and in response to the indication, detect changes to data stored in the data store; a change logger configured to; when the change detection component detects a change to data stored in the data store, receive an indication from the change detector indicating the change to the data; and in response to the indication, store information in a data structure that indicates the detected change to the data; and a change replicator configured to, when the portable device is communicatively coupled to the data target; receive an indication indicating that the portable device is communicatively coupled to the data target; in response to the indication, access the information stored in the data structure; and copy the change to the data indicated by the information to the data target. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method for tracking modifications made to data objects stored on a portable data processing device, the method comprising:
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determining when the portable device is connected to a data target, wherein the portable device stores data objects, and wherein the data target is configured to store copies of data objects from the portable device; and when it is determined that the portable device is not connected to a data target, then at the portable device performing the operations of; receiving an indication of a modification made to a data object stored on the portable device, wherein the data object is a file having blocks of data; determining information associated with the modification made to the data object; and storing the associated information in a data structure, wherein the data structure is configured to enable retrieval of the associated information from the data structure and to enable determination of the modification made to the data object based on the associated information, and, wherein the data structure is a bitmap, and further wherein; receiving an indication of a modification includes receiving an indication of a modification made to a portion of the file; determining information associated with the modification includes determining certain blocks corresponding to the portion of the file to which the modification was made; and storing the associated information includes changing bits corresponding to the determined set of blocks in the bitmap.
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6. At least one tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, which when executed by at least one data processing device, tracks modifications made to data objects stored on a portable data processing device, comprising:
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upon determining that the portable device is not in communication with a data target, then at the portable device performing the process of; determining information associated with a modification made to a data object stored on the portable device; and storing the associated information in a data structure, wherein the data structure is configured; to enable retrieval of the associated information from the data structure, and to enable determination of the modification made to the data object based on the associated information; wherein the portable device includes a data protection monitor configured to monitor modifications to data objects stored on the portable device, and further wherein receiving an indication of a modification includes; monitoring a modification to a data object, wherein the monitoring is performed by the data protection monitor; and storing an indication of the modification monitored by the data protection monitor. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for controlling a computer system to replicate changes from a portable computing system to a data storage system, the method comprising:
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accessing a data structure storing information identifying portions of data objects stored on a portable computing system, wherein modifications were made to the portions of the data objects, wherein the portable computing system includes a data store having blocks, and wherein the information identifying portions of data objects includes information identifying modified blocks, and based on information from the data structure, determining the portions of data objects to which modifications were made; and for each determined portion of a data object, copying the modification made to the portion of the data object from the portable computing system to the data storage system; wherein determining the portions of data objects to which modifications were made includes determining modified blocks, and at least one of;
offsets within the modified blocks at which the modifications begin and lengths of modified data within the modified blocks; andfor each determined portion of a data object, copying the modification includes copying at least one of;
the data within the modified block at the determined offset and length of modified data from the portable computing system to the data storage system. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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Specification