Discardable files

• US 8,849,856 B2
• Filed: 12/22/2009
• Issued: 09/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Western Digital Israel Limited (Western Digital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: SanDisk IL Ltd. (Western Digital Corporation)
• Inventors: Hahn, Judah Gamliel
• Primary Examiner(s): Beausoliel, Jr., Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Pham, Michael
• Application Number:
  US12/645,194
• Publication Number:
  US 20100153452A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,743 Days
• Field of Search: 707/783, 707/754
• US Class Current: 707/781
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/1737 for reducing power consumption or coping with limited storage space, e.g. in mobile devices saving storage space on storage devices G06F3/0608; power saving in storage systems G06F3/0625

Abstract

The present application includes methods and system for managing a storage device. In one implementation, a storage allocator that is present in a host or a storage device receives a request to store a file in a storage area of the storage device. The storage allocator marks the file as discardable in a file system structure associated with the storage device and updates a primary file allocation table (“FAT”) to associate a cluster chain that is allocated to the file with the file. The storage allocator additionally updates a discardable FAT or a database to reflect a physical location of the file, or may generate one or more location files that store the physical location of the file. The storage allocator then manages the storage area device based on the FAT and a discardable FAT, database, or one more location files indicating the physical location of the file.

Claims

1. A method for managing operations associated with a discardable file, the method comprising:

in a host to which a storage device is operatively coupled;

associating a discardable file with an owner user ID of a first application that creates or downloads the discardable file, wherein the discardable file comprises unsolicited content that has not been requested by a user of the storage device and where the discardable file comprises a file that has been marked as discardable in a file system structure associated with the storage device and has been assigned a discarding priority level in advance of storing the discardable file;

defining, with the first application associated with the owner user ID, a set of permissions for an additional user ID that is associated with the discardable file, where the additional user ID is associated with a second application and the set of permissions define whether the second application may access the discardable file and one or more actions that the second application may take with respect to the discardable file;

receiving, from the second application associated with the additional user ID, a request to perform a conversion operation associated with the discardable file to convert the discardable file to a user file, where a user file is a file that a user of the storage device willingly stores in the storage device;

determining whether the second application associated with the additional user ID may perform the conversion operation based on the set of permissions; and

managing the conversion operation to convert the discardable file to a user file based on the determination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first application associated with the owner user ID downloads the discardable file to the storage device.

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

modifying an attribute associated with the discardable file.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the attribute comprises at least one of a conversion lock identifier, a time stamp, a consumption intent universal resource indicator, and a priority level.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the operation comprises:

reading an attribute associated with the discardable file.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the attribute comprises at least one of a conversion lock identifier, a time stamp, a consumption intent universal resource indicator, and a priority level.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the discardable file comprises preview data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the discardable file is distinct from preview data.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional user ID is a shared user ID associated with multiple users.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional user ID is a shared user ID associated with multiple applications.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein managing the conversion operation to convert the discardable file to a user file based on the determination comprises:

prohibiting the second application associated with the additional user ID from converting the discardable file to a user file.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein managing the conversion operation to convert the discardable file to a user file based on the determination comprises:

allowing the second application associated with the additional user ID to convert the discardable file to a user file.

17. The method of claim 1, where the conversion operation to convert the discardable file to a user file comprises storing the converted user file in the storage device as a user file.

13. A storage system comprising:

a communication interface; and

a storage allocator for managing a file system associated with a storage device,

the storage allocator including a processor for managing operations associated with a discardable file that is stored in the storage device;

wherein the processor is configured to;

associate the discardable file with an owner user ID of a first application that creates or downloads the discardable file, wherein the discardable file comprises unsolicited content that has not been requested by a user of the storage device and where the discardable file comprises a file that has been marked as discardable in a file system structure associated with the storage device and has been assigned a discarding priority level in advance of storing the discardable file;

define, with the first application associated with the owner user ID, a set of permissions for an additional user ID that is associated with the discardable file, where the additional user ID is associated with a second application and the set of permissions define whether the second application may access the discardable file and one or more actions that the second application may take with respect to the discardable;

receive, from the second application associated with the additional user ID, a request over the communication interface to perform a conversion operation associated with the discardable file to convert the discardable file to a user file, where a user file is a file that a user of the storage device willingly stores in the storage device;

determine whether the second application associated with the additional user ID may perform the conversion operation based on the set of permissions; and

manage the conversion operation to convert the discardable file to a user file based on the determination.

14. The storage system of claim 13, wherein to manage the operation associated with the discardable file, the processor is configured to allow the second application associated with the additional user ID to read preview data associated with the discardable file.

15. The storage system of claim 13, wherein the additional user ID is a shared user ID associated with multiple users.

16. The storage system of claim 13, wherein the additional user ID is a shared user ID associated with multiple applications.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein to manage the conversion operation, the processor is further configured to store the converted user file in the storage device as a user file.