Redundant data forwarding storage

• US 8,909,738 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2013
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Distributed Media Solutions, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Tajitshu Transfer LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Fein, Gene, Merritt, Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): DENNISON, JERRY B
• Application Number:
  US13/906,124
• Publication Number:
  US 20130262632A1
• Time in Patent Office: 558 Days
• Field of Search: 709/218
• US Class Current: 709/218
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]

Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, for redundant data forwarding are described. In one respect, the method includes intermittently forwarding the portion of the data among the first memory and memories of other nodes in the first network without storing the portion of data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the first network. The method may also include intermittently forwarding the first copy of the portion of the data among the second memory and memories of other nodes in the second network without storing the first copy of the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the second network.

Claims

1. A computerized method comprising:

receiving a request from a source node to store data, wherein the source node is outside of a first network of interconnected nodes that are configured to store one or more portions of the data and the source node is outside of a second network of interconnected nodes that are configured to store one or more portions of the data, each of the interconnected nodes in the first network and the second network comprising a memory;

directing at least a portion of the data to a first memory of a first node in the first network;

directing a first copy of the portion of the data to a second memory of a second node in the second network;

intermittently forwarding the portion of the data among the first memory and memories of other nodes in the first network without storing the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the first network, wherein the interconnected nodes in the first network to which the portion of the data is forwarded are determined dynamically based at least in part on status of one or more of the interconnected nodes in the first network or previous paths used for forwarding one or more portions of the data; and

intermittently forwarding the first copy of the portion of the data among the second memory and memories of other nodes in the second network without storing the first copy of the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the second network, wherein the interconnected nodes in the second network to which the first copy of the portion of the data is forwarded are determined dynamically,

wherein physical storage devices include one or more of hard disks, magnetic disks, magnetic tape, magneto optical disks, or optical disks.

2. The computerized method of claim 1 further comprising:

directing a second copy of the portion of the data to a third memory of a third node in a third network of interconnected nodes; and

intermittently forwarding the second copy of the portion of the data among the third memory and memories of other nodes in the third network without storing the second copy of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the third network.

3. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein each of the networks comprise one or more of a private network and a public network.

4. The computerized method of claim 1 wherein at least one of said intermittently forwarding of the portion of the data and said intermittently forwarding of the first copy of the portion of the data comprises:

determining a first address of a first available node in the first network to receive the portion of the data based on one or more first factors;

determining a second address of a second available node in the second network to receive the first copy of the portion of the data based on one or more second factors;

sending a first message to a first specific node of the first network associated with memory that contains the portion of the data, the first message comprising the first address of the first available node and a request to forward the portion of the data; and

sending a second message to a second specific node of the second network associated with memory that contains the first copy of the portion of the data, the second message comprising the second address of the second available node and a request to forward the first copy of the portion of the data.

5. The computerized method of claim 4 wherein the one or more first factors and the one or more second factors comprise network traffic analysis and available memory.

6. The computerized method of claim 1 wherein at least one of said intermittently forwarding of the portion of the data and said intermittently forwarding of the first copy of the portion of the data comprises:

detecting presence of the portion of the data in a first specific memory of a first specific node of the first network;

forwarding the portion of the data to a second specific memory of a second specific node in the first network without storing the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes of the first network;

detecting presence of the first copy of the portion of the data in a third specific memory of a third specific node of the second network; and

forwarding the first copy of the portion of the data to a fourth specific memory of a fourth node in the second network without storing the first copy of the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes of the second network.

7. The computerized method of claim 6 further comprising:

associating one or more specific users with the portion of the data; and

retrieving the portion of the data in response to receiving a retrieval request for the data from one of the specific users.

8. A non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store software code that is readable by a computing system having one or more processors, wherein the software code is executable on the computing system in order to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving a request to store data from a source node that is not part of a first network of interconnected nodes or a second network of interconnected nodes;

intermittently forwarding at least a portion of the data between memories of the interconnected nodes in the first network without storing the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the first network, wherein the interconnected nodes in the first network to which the portion of the data is forwarded are determined dynamically based at least in part on status of one or more of the interconnected nodes in the first network or previous paths used for forwarding one or more portions of the data; and

intermittently forwarding a first copy of the portion of the data between memories of the interconnected nodes in the second network without storing the first copy of the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the second network, wherein the interconnected nodes in the second network to which the first copy of the portion of the data is forwarded are determined dynamically,

wherein physical storage devices include one or more of hard disks, magnetic disks, magnetic tape, magneto optical disks, or optical disks.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein the operations further comprise intermittently forwarding a second copy of the portion of the data between memories of the interconnected nodes in a third network without storing the second copy of the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the third network.

10. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 wherein at least one of said intermittently forwarding of the portion of the data and said intermittently forwarding of the first copy of the portion of the data comprises:

determining a first address of a first node in the first network that is available to receive the portion of the data, wherein the determination is based on one or more factors;

sending a message to a specific node that is associated with memory that contains the portion of the data, the message comprising the address of the first node and a request to forward the portion of the data to the first node; and

applying a time stamp to the portion of the data in memory of the first node in the first network.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the one or more factors comprise network traffic analysis and available memory.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein at least one of said intermittently forwarding the data of the portion of the data and said intermittently forwarding of the first copy of the portion of the data further comprises:

detecting a presence of the portion of the data in a memory of the specific node;

and

forwarding the portion of the data to memory of the first node in the first network from the memory of the specific node of the first network that contains the portion of the data without storing the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes of the first network.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 wherein the operations further comprise:

associating one or more specific users with the portion of the data; and

retrieving the portion of the data in response to receiving a request for the data from one of the specific users.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10 wherein the first copy of the portion of the data is sent to a private network selected by a user or user application.

15. A system comprising:

at least two networks of interconnected nodes, each node comprising a memory and each node being configured to receive one or more portions of data or a copy of one or more portions of the data from other memories of nodes within the respective network,

wherein each of the interconnected nodes is further configured to intermittently forward the portion of the data or the copy of the portion of the data among the memories of the interconnected nodes of the respective network without storing the portion of the data or the copy of the portion of the data on any physical storage device associated with the interconnected nodes of the respective network, and

wherein the interconnected nodes to which the portion of the data or the copy of the portion of the data is forwarded are determined dynamically based at least in part on status of one or more of the interconnected nodes or previous paths used for forwarding one or more portions of the data or a copy of one or more portions of the data,

wherein physical storage devices include one or more of hard disks, magnetic disks, magnetic tape, magneto optical disks, or optical disks.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein at least one node of the interconnected nodes is adapted to encrypt the portion of the data or the copy of the portion of the data.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein at least one node of the interconnected nodes is adapted to intermittently forward a second copy of the portion of the data between memories of the interconnected nodes in a third network without storing the second copy of the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the third network.

18. A computer system comprising:

a computer memory;

at least one network interface configured to allow the computer system to communicate with two or more networks of interconnected nodes, each of the interconnected nodes in the two or more networks comprising a memory; and

a processor configured to;

direct at least a portion of data to a first memory of a node in a first network from a source node, wherein the source node is not in the two or more networks; and

initiate intermittent forwarding of the portion of the data among the first memory and other memories of interconnected nodes of the first network without storing the portion of the data on any physical storage device of the interconnected nodes in the first network,

wherein the interconnected nodes in the first network to which the portion of the data is forwarded are determined dynamically based at least in part on status of one or more of the interconnected nodes in the first network or previous paths used for forwarding one or more portions of the data,

wherein physical storage devices include one or more of hard disks, magnetic disks, magnetic tape, magneto optical disks, or optical disks.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the processor of the computer system is further configured to:

detect a presence of the portion of the data in a first specific memory of a first specific node in the first network;

determine based on one or more factors an address of a second memory of a second node in the first network, wherein the second memory is available to receive the portion of the data; and

send a message to the first specific node in the first network, the message comprising an address of the second memory and a request to forward the portion of the data to the second memory.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to:

associate one or more specific users with the portion of the data; and

retrieve the portion of the data in response to receiving a request for the data from one of the specific users.