Maintaining a relationship between two different items of data

• US 9,189,536 B2
• Filed: 08/05/2009
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: MIOsoft Corporation
• Original Assignee: MIOsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Barabas, Albert B., Siepmann, Ernst M., van Gulik, Mark D. A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Miranda
• Application Number:
  US12/535,834
• Publication Number:
  US 20100153397A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,295 Days
• Field of Search: 707/704, 707/999.201
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2308 Concurrency control transaction processing G06F9/466
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2329 using versioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/278 Data partitioning, e.g. horizontal or vertical partitioning
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/289 Object oriented databases
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

Data is stored persistently. At least two different items of the data are stored in two different non-conflicting regions or two different physical clusters. A relationship is maintained between the two different items of data. The relationship enables a process to reach any one of the data items from the other data item. Consistency of the relationship is maintained notwithstanding updates of either or both of the items.

Claims

1. A method comprising

maintaining a database that stores data persistently, at least two different items of the data in the database being stored in two different non-conflicting regions or two different physical clusters having characteristics such that conflicting accesses to data can be prevented within one of the regions or clusters without preventing simultaneous accesses to data in the other of the two regions or clusters,

accepting jobs for concurrent execution by processors, some of the jobs requiring execution as a group and requiring access by one of the processors to data that is stored persistently in a non-conflicting region or a physical cluster in the database, others of the jobs requiring access by processors to other non-conflicting regions or other physical clusters, each of the jobs in the group including associated information that defines participation of the job in the group, and

each of the processors refraining from executing any of the jobs in the group until it determines from the associated information that all of the jobs in the group have been accepted and execution can proceed for all of the jobs in the group.

2. The method of claim 1, in which the jobs that are accepted for execution as a group are created by branching of other jobs.

3. The method of claim 1 in which the information associated with the jobs of a group is generated at the time of creation of the jobs.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the data carried by each job in the group comprises a tag that identifies the job as participating in the group.

5. The method of claim 1 in which the data carried by each job in the group comprises a quorum fraction that represents the job'"'"'s proportion of participation in the group.

6. The method of claim 1 in which

the jobs are received for execution in an order, and further comprising

causing each of the processors to execute at least some of the jobs other than in the order in which the jobs are received for execution.

7. The method of claim 6 in which the at least some of the jobs to be executed by one of the processors are replaced by a single aggregated job.

8. The method of claim 6 in which each of the processors determines an order in which to process the at least some of the jobs based on physical locations of the persistently stored data on disk that must be accessed by the jobs.

9. The method of claim 1 in which at least some of the jobs to be executed by a processor are redundant, and the processor does not execute the redundant jobs.

10. The method of claim 1 comprising the processors executing the accepted jobs in parallel and independently of each other.