Method for reducing a data repository

• US 7,734,592 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2006
• Issued: 06/08/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/04/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Beichter, Friedrich
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo; Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US11/325,676
• Publication Number:
  US 20060149772A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,616 Days
• Field of Search: 707 1- 10, 707100-1041, 707200-206, 707609-686, 707687-704, 707790-812
• US Class Current: 707/640
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for reducing a data repository with a plurality of sequentially ordered records. Each record is characterized by an identifier and comprises one or more data attributes and/or one or more links. The method includes the step of choosing a first record as base record and verifying whether the identifier of the sequentially next record can be generated from the base record by applying an identifier generating function. As a next step it is verified whether the data attributes and/or the links of the sequentially next record are identical with the data attributes and/or the links of the base record or can be generated from the base record by applying an attribute generating function and/or link generating function. If the above conditions are satisfied, a counter in the base record is incremented and the sequentially next record is deleted. The above steps are repeated for the subsequent records until the above conditions and are not satisfied for any record.

Claims

1. A method for reducing a data repository with a plurality of sequentially ordered records, wherein each record is characterized by an identifier and comprises one or more data attributes and/or one or more links, said method comprising the steps of:

a) choosing a first record as a base record;

b) verifying whether the identifier of a sequentially next record can be generated from the base record by applying an identifier generating function;

c) verifying whether the data attributes and/or links of the sequentially next record are identical with the data attributes and/or links of the base record or can be generated from the base record by applying an attribute generating function and/or link generating function;

d) if the conditions b) and c) are satisfied, incrementing a counter in the base record and deleting the sequentially next record; and

e) repeating the steps b), c) and d) for the subsequent records without resetting the counter until the conditions b) and c) are not satisfied for any record so that, upon completion of steps b), c) and d) for such records, the counter indicates the number of additional records that can be generated from the base record by applying one or more generating functions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method includes the further step of:

f) setting that record which at first does not satisfy the conditions c) and d) as a new base record.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the value of the counter is stored within the base record.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the value of the counter is stored within an unused place of the base record.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said method is applicable for reducing an input/output definition file.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data attributes comprise constant values.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein one of said one or more links is a reference to one or more other records within the same or different directories.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data repository comprises a set of directories.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the directories are structured in a hierarchical way, so that the one directory may be a subdirectory of another directory.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the directories are connected by references from records in one directory to records of another directory.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein a record is uniquely identified within a directory by its identifier.