Data transmission utilizing route selection and dispersed storage error encoding

• US 8,612,821 B2
• Filed: 10/03/2011
• Issued: 12/17/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pure Storage, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Cleversafe Incorporated (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Grube, Gary W., Markison, Timothy W., Gladwin, S. Christopher, Dhuse, Greg, Baptist, Andrew, Volvovski, Ilya, Resch, Jason K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rizk, Sam
• Application Number:
  US13/251,587
• Publication Number:
  US 20120089885A1
• Time in Patent Office: 806 Days
• Field of Search: 714/752, 714/755, 714/758, 370/419, 370/463
• US Class Current: 714/752
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1028 Adjacent errors, e.g. error in n-bit (n>1) wide storage units, i.e. package error
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/1076 Parity data used in redundant arrays of independent storages, e.g. in RAID systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/182 Distributed file systems
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/05 using block codes, i.e. a predetermined number of check bits joined to a predetermined number of information bits H03M13/2906 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/1515 Reed-Solomon codes
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/29 combining two or more codes or code structures, e.g. product codes, generalised product codes, concatenated codes, inner and outer codes
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/373 with erasure correction and erasure determination, e.g. for packet loss recovery or setting of erasures for the decoding of Reed-Solomon codes
• CPC Class Codes: H03M 13/3761 using code combining, i.e. using combining of codeword portions which may have been transmitted separately, e.g. Digital Fountain codes, Raptor codes or Luby Transform [LT] codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/24 Multipath

Abstract

A method begins by a processing module obtaining a set of encoded data slices for transmission to a receiving entity via a network, wherein the set of encoded data slices represents data that has been dispersed storage error encoded. The method continues with the processing module dividing the set into a plurality of sub-sets of encoded data slices in accordance with an error coding distributed routing protocol. The method continues with the processing module determining a plurality of routing paths within the network in accordance with the error coding distributed routing protocol. The method continues with the processing module transmitting the plurality of sub-sets of encoded data slices via the plurality of routing paths to the receiving entity in accordance with the error coding distributed routing protocol.

Claims

1. A method comprises:

dividing data into a plurality of data segments;

dispersed storage error encoding the plurality of data segments to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices, wherein a set of encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices corresponds to a data segment of the plurality of data segments;

identifying a receiving entity for receiving the data via a transmission through a network;

selecting a set of routing paths from a plurality of routing paths to the receiving entity based on one or more of communication requirements for transmitting the data and routing path quality of service information to produce selected routing paths;

dividing the plurality of sets of encoded data slices into a plurality of sub-sets of encoded data slices in accordance with the selected routing paths; and

transmitting the plurality of sub-sets of encoded data slices via the selected routing paths to the receiving entity.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprises:

determining error coding dispersal storage function parameters based on at least one of a data characterization, a routing approach, a reliability requirement, a performance requirement, a lookup, a data encoding policy, a predetermination, a message, and a previous data encoding approach; and

dispersed storage error encoding the plurality of data segments in accordance with the error coding dispersal storage function parameters to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the set of routing paths comprises:

obtaining routing path quality of service information corresponding to the plurality of routing paths to the receiving entity; and

selecting the set of routing paths from the plurality of routing paths based on the routing path quality of service information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the dividing the plurality of sets of encoded data slices into the plurality of sub-sets comprises:

determining a number of sub-sets in accordance with an error coding distributed routing protocol, wherein the error coding distributed routing protocol includes at least one of routing path quality of service information, a partitioning function, a capacity estimate of the plurality of routing paths, a sub-set size indicator, a priority indicator, a security indicator, a performance indicator, an estimated routing path performance indicator, a lookup, and a message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the dividing the plurality of sets of encoded data slices into the plurality of sub-sets comprises:

creating a sub-set of the plurality of sub-sets of encoded data slices to include encoded data slices having one or more like pillar numbers.

6. A computer comprises:

an interface;

a memory; and

a processing module operable to;

divide data into a plurality of data segments;

dispersed storage error encode the plurality of data segments to produce a plurality of sets of encoded data slices, wherein a set of encoded data slices of the plurality of sets of encoded data slices corresponds to a data segment of the plurality of data segments;

identify a receiving entity for receiving the data via a transmission through a network;

select a set of routing paths from a plurality of routing paths to the receiving entity based on one or more of communication requirements for transmitting the data and routing path quality of service information to produce selected routing paths;

divide the plurality of sets of encoded data slices into a plurality of sub-sets of encoded data slices in accordance with the selected routing paths; and

transmit the plurality of sub-sets of encoded data slices via the selected routing paths to the receiving entity.

7. The computer of claim 6, wherein the processing module further functions to:

determine error coding dispersal storage function parameters based on at least one of a data characterization, a routing approach, a reliability requirement, a performance requirement, a lookup, a data encoding policy, a predetermination, a message, and a previous data encoding approach; and

dispersed storage error encode the plurality of data segments in accordance with the error coding dispersal storage function parameters to produce the plurality of sets of encoded data slices.

8. The computer of claim 6, wherein the processing module functions to select the set of routing paths by:

obtaining routing path quality of service information corresponding to the plurality of routing paths to the receiving entity; and

selecting the set of routing paths from the plurality of routing paths based on the routing path quality of service information.

9. The computer of claim 6, wherein the processing module functions to divide the plurality of sets of encoded data slices into the plurality of sub-sets by:

determining a number of sub-sets in accordance with an error coding distributed routing protocol, wherein the error coding distributed routing protocol includes at least one of routing path quality of service information, a partitioning function, a capacity estimate of the plurality of routing paths, a sub-set size indicator, a priority indicator, a security indicator, a performance indicator, an estimated routing path performance indicator, a lookup, and a message.

10. The computer of claim 6, wherein the processing module further functions to divide the plurality of sets of encoded data slices into the plurality of sub-sets by:

creating a sub-set of the plurality of sub-sets of encoded data slices to include encoded data slices having one or more like pillar numbers.