Patent EP0259912A1 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0259912A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
File backup facility for a community of personal computers
Assignee: Hewlett Packard Ltd
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Filing: 1987-08-18
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2007-08-18
Abstract
Abstract A file backup facility is provided for a community of personal computers (PC1-3) linked to a central station (10) that includes a mass storage device (14). The backup facility enables a user to select files for backup to the mass storage device (14) and then subsequently to restore selected ones of the backed-up files. Concurrent backup from several personal computers is permitted with the files subject to backup being divided into blocks and the blocks interleaved for storage on the mass storage device (14). The selection of files for backup or restore is effected by presenting to the user a directory listing all relevant subdirectories and files and permitting the user to select/deselect files individual or by directory.
Inventors
- 👤 Paul Bartlett
- 👤 Steven Lieske
- 👤 Mark Simms
- 👤 Tracey Hains
- 👤 Patrick Walker
- 👤 Lesley Winsborrow
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-06 20:21
CPC Classifications
G; G06; G06F; G06F11/00; G06F11/07; G06F11/14; G06F11/1446; G06F11/1458; G06F11/1464
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 13
Claim 1
Independent Claim
261 words
A personal-computer community comprising a plurality of independently-operable personal computers (PC 1-3), a central station (10), and a communications arrangement (11) communicating each personal computer (PC) with the central station, each personal computer being arranged to operate under a file-based operating system to store and retrieve working files from a non-volatile storage area (16) associated with that personal computer, the operating system maintaining a directory of said files, characterised in that, in order to provide a file backup facility for the personal computers: - the central station (10) is provided with a mass storage device(14), - each personal computer (PC) is operative a) in a backup mode, to enable user-selection of files for backup and to transmit the selected files to the central station (10), and b) in a restore mode, to enable user-selection of files to be restored from backup, to request and receive the files selected for restore from the central station (10), and to update the operating system file directory with an entry corresponding to each restored file; and - the central station (10) is arranged to store files transmitted thereto in said mass storage device (14) and to return selected files when so requested; said central station (10) comprising a multi-tasking computer operative (12) to handle the file backup requirements of several said personal computers (PC) concurrently and to transfer files to said mass storage device (14) in the central station (10) in the form of data blocks, the central station when backing up several personal computers concurrently, interleaving blocks from files of different personal computers (PC).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
261 words
A personal-computer community comprising a plurality of independently-operable personal computers (PC 1-3), a central station (10), and a communications arrangement (11) communicating each personal computer (PC) with the central station, each personal computer being arranged to operate under a file-based operating system to store and retrieve working files from a non-volatile storage area (16) associated with that personal computer, the operating system maintaining a directory of said files, characterised in that, in order to provide a file backup facility for the personal computers: - the central station (10) is provided with a mass storage device(14), - each personal computer (PC) is operative a) in a backup mode, to enable user-selection of files for backup and to transmit the selected files to the central station (10), and b) in a restore mode, to enable user-selection of files to be restored from backup, to request and receive the files selected for restore from the central station (10), and to update the operating system file directory with an entry corresponding to each restored file; and - the central station (10) is arranged to store files transmitted thereto in said mass storage device (14) and to return selected files when so requested; said central station (10) comprising a multi-tasking computer operative (12) to handle the file backup requirements of several said personal computers (PC) concurrently and to transfer files to said mass storage device (14) in the central station (10) in the form of data blocks, the central station when backing up several personal computers concurrently, interleaving blocks from files of different personal computers (PC).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
37 words
A personal-computer community according to claim 1, wherein said mass storage device is a tape device (14), the central station (10) further comprising a disc memory device (13) for buffering file block transfer to the tape device.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
18 words
A personal computer community according to claim 1, wherein said data blocks are of a predetermined maximum size.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
137 words
A personal-computer community according to claim 2, wherein for each personal computer (PC) requiring backup, the central station(10) is operative to run a respective backup task (143) for receiving file blocks from that personal computer and transferring them to said disc memory device (13); the central station (10) being further operative to run a tape handler process (142) for transferring file blocks from the disc memory device (13) to the tape device (14), the identity of file blocks to be transferred from the disc device (13) to the tape device (14) being held in a block table (144B) to which entries are added as a said backup task (143) transfers blocks to the disc device (13) and from which entries are cancelled upon transfer of said blocks from the disc device (13) to the tape device (14).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
66 words
A personal-computer community according to claim 4, wherein the tape handler process (142) is arranged to defer transfer of file blocks held on the disc device (13) to the tape device (14) until a minimum amount of data is ready to be transferred, the tape handler process ascertaining the amount of data to be transferred to the tape device (14) by referencing the block table (144B).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
49 words
A personal-computer community according to claim 2, wherein for each personal computer (PC), a backup directory (30-33) of files backed up from that computer (PC) is maintained within the community, said backup directory including information relating each file block of a backed up file to its position on tape.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
60 words
A personal-computer community according to claim 2, wherein the central station (10) is arranged to handle file restoration to one personal computer (PC) only at a time, the file blocks of the files selected for restore being read off from the tape device (14) in the order in which they occur on tape whereby to facilitate the tape read process.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
49 words
A personal-computer community according to claims 6 and 7 in combination, wherein the order of occurrence on tape of the file blocks to be restored is determined at the time of restore by reference to the relevant backup directory containing information on the tape position of the file blocks.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
61 words
A personal-computer community according to claim 2, wherein for each personal computer (PC) a backup directory (30-33) of files backed up from that computer is maintained within said community, the arrangement being such that when in its restore mode, each personal computer (PC) has its backup directory present and is operative to display the contents thereof to the user for selection.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
101 words
A personal-computer community according to claim 2, wherein for each personal computer (PC), a backup directory (30-33) of files backed up from that computer is maintained within said community, the directory for each computer including version data of each file at backup; the arrangement being such that when in its backup mode, each personal computer (PC) has its backup directory present and is operative to compare information on the operating-system files selected for backup with the information in said backup directory and to backup only those files which either do not appear in the backup directory or have different version data.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
99 words
A personal-computer community according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the central station (10) is arranged to keep said backup directories on said disc device (13), the central station (10) being further arranged to pass a copy of the backup directory (30-33) relevant to a particular personal computer (PC) to that computer upon request therefrom, and each personal computer (PC) being operative to request the central station (10) to forward the relevant backup directory where the latter is not present in the computer when it is to operate in a said mode requiring its backup directory to be present.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
37 words
A personal-computer community according to claim 11, wherein the request from a personal computer (PC) for a copy of its backup directory is given priority by the central station (10) over any current backup or restore operations.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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