Method for generating and reconstructing in-place delta files

Claim 3

The method of claim 1, further comprising the following steps: creating a plurality of copies of the in-place reconstructible delta file; and transmitting the copies to a plurality of servers, the servers being source computers for the in-place reconstructible delta file.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1, further comprising the following step: detecting one or more conflicts in at least one region of the in-place reconstructible delta file where the in-place reconstructible delta file may be first written to and then later read from.

Claim 5

The method of claim 3, further comprising the following step: rearranging an order of the read and write commands such that the in-place reconstructible delta file is first read from and then later written to.

Claim 6

The method of claim 4, wherein the rearranging step further comprises the following step: converting the in-place reconstructible delta file into a revised in-place reconstructible delta file that lacks conflicts.

Claim 7

The method of claim 3, further comprising the following step: converting copy commands to add commands.

Claim 8

The method of claim 3, further comprising the following steps: performing a copy command in an overlapping data region starting from a left region and ending at a right region.

Claim 9

The method of claim 3, further comprising the following step: performing copy commands in an overlapping data region starting from a right region and ending at a left region.

Claim 10

The method of claim 1, further comprising the following steps: maintaining a progress counter at the target computer to track the number of executed read and write commands; re-transmitting the in-place reconstructible delta files after a system failure; counting read and write commands until the counted value matches the progress counter; discarding the counted read and write commands; and using the in-place reconstructible delta file at the target computer to rebuild the new version of the file in-place by building the new version in a same region of the memory of the target computer in which the prior version resides.

Claim 13

The apparatus of claim 10, farther comprises: (c) means, performed by the computer, for: creating a plurality of copies of the in-place reconstructible delta file; and transmitting the copies to a plurality of servers, the servers being source computers for the in-place reconstructible delta file.

Claim 14

The apparatus of claim 10, further comprises: means, performed by the computer, for detecting one or more conflicts in at least one region of the in-place reconstructible delta file where the in-place reconstructible delta file may be first written to and then later read from.

Claim 15

The apparatus of claim 12, further comprises: means, performed by the computer, for rearranging an order of the read and write commands such that the in-place reconstructible delta file is first read from and then later written to.

Claim 16

The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the means of rearranging further comprises converting the in-place reconstructible delta file into a revised in-place reconstructible delta file that lacks conflicts.

Claim 17

The apparatus of claim 12, further comprises means, performed by the computer, for converting copy commands to add commands.

Claim 18

The apparatus of claim 12, further comprises means, performed by the computer, for performing a copy command in an overlapping data region starting from a left region and ending at a right region.

Claim 19

The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising means, performed by the computer, for performing copy commands in an overlapping data region starting from a right region and ending at a left region.

Claim 20

The apparatus of claim 10, further comprises: (c) means, performed by the computer for: maintaining a progress counter at the target computer to track the number of executed read and write commands; re-transmitting the in-place reconstructible delta files after a system failure; counting read and write commands until the counted value matches the progress counter; discarding the counted read and write commands; and using the in-place reconstructible delta file at the target computer to rebuild the new version of the file in-place by building the new version in a same region of the memory of the target computer in which the prior version resides.

Claim 21

An article of manufacture comprising a program storage medium readable by a computer, the medium tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for generating in-place reconstructible delta files on a source computer and reconstructing the in-place delta files on a target computer, the method comprising the steps of: creating an in-place reconstructible delta file on the source computer, wherein the in-place reconstructible delta file comprises a plurality of changes made between a prior version of a file and a new version of a file and a plurality of read and write commands and wherein the source computer discards the prior version of the file and the new version of the file after generating the in-place reconstructible delta file; storing the prior version of the file in a memory of the target computer; and at the target computer, using the in-place reconstructible delta file from the source computer to rebuild the new version of the file in-place by building the new version in a same region of the memory of the target computer in which the prior version resides.

Claim 22

An article of manufacture comprising a program storage medium readable by a computer, the medium tangibly embodying one or more programs of instructions executable by the computer to perform method steps for generating in-place reconstructible delta files on a source computer and reconstructing the in-place delta files on a target computer, the method comprising the steps of: creating an in-place reconstructible delta file on the source computer, wherein the in-place reconstructible delta file comprises a plurality of changes made between a prior version of a file and a new version of a file and a plurality of read and write commands and wherein the source computer discards the prior version of the file and the new version of the file after generating the in-place reconstructible delta file; storing the prior version of the file in a memory of the target computer; and at the target computer, using the in-place reconstructible delta file from the source computer to rebuild the new version of the file in-place by building the new version in a same region of the memory of the target computer in which the prior version resides.

Claim 23

The article of manufacture of claim 19, further comprising the following steps: creating a plurality of copies of the in-place reconstructible delta file; and transmitting the copies to a plurality of servers, the servers being source computers for the in-place reconstructible delta file.

Claim 24

The article of manufacture of claim 19, further comprising the following step: detecting one or more conflicts in at least one region of the in-place reconstructible delta file where the in-place reconstructible delta file may be first written to and then later read from.

Claim 25

The article of manufacture of claim 21, further comprising the following step: converting copy commands to add commands.

Claim 26

The article of manufacture of claim 21, further comprising the following steps: performing a copy command in an overlapping data region starting from a left region and ending at a right region.

Claim 27

The article of manufacture of claim 21, further comprising the following step: performing copy commands in an overlapping data region starting from a right region and ending at a left region.

Claim 28

The article of manufacture of claim 21, further comprising the following step: rearranging an order of the read and write commands such that the in-place reconstructible delta file is first read from and then later written to.

Claim 29

The article of manufacture of claim 25, wherein the rearranging step further comprises the following step: converting the in-place reconstructible delta file into a revised in-place reconstructible delta file that lacks conflicts.

Claim 30

The article of manufacture of claim 19, further comprising the following steps: maintaining a progress counter at the target computer to track the number of executed read and write commands; re-transmitting the in-place reconstructible delta files after a system failure; counting read and write commands until the counted value matches the progress counter; discarding the counted read and write commands; and using the in-place reconstructible delta file at the target computer to rebuild the new version of the file in-place by building the new version in a same region of the memory of the target computer in which the prior version resides.