US6158019A — System and apparatus for merging a write event jo…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 78 words

A method for creating an event map from an event journal, comprising the steps of: reading each of a plurality of write event entries from an event journal; generating a current event marker for each of the plurality of write event entries; and determining if an overlap condition exists between a latest current event marker and an existing current event marker and if an overlap condition exists, removing the overlap condition to represent the latest current event marker.

Claim 2

Independent Claim 78 words

A method for creating an event map from an event journal, comprising the steps of: reading each of a plurality of write event entries from an event journal; generating a current event marker for each of the plurality of write event entries; and determining if an overlap condition exists between a latest current event marker and an existing current event marker and if an overlap condition exists, removing the overlap condition to represent the latest current event marker.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 34 words

The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining and removing the overlap condition includes comparing the latest current event marker and the existing current event marker to identify an overlapped portion.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 37 words

The method according to claim 1, wherein the event journal includes the plurality of write events stored in a computer memory device, the computer memory device having an array of storage units each having a predetermined address.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 55 words

The method according to claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of write events includes at least an event address and an event data, the event address representing a location of the write event in the computer memory device and the event data including a content of the storage units occupied by the write event.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 67 words

The method according to claim 1, wherein the current event marker includes at least a marker origin address, a marker event span and a marker data pointer, the marker origin address representing a location in the computer memory device, the marker event span representing a number of occupied storage units, and the marker data pointer representing a pointer to an event data in the computer memory device.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 24 words

The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of storing each of the plurality of current event markers in a sorted list.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 26 words

The method according to claim 2, wherein the step of removing the overlap condition includes one of deleting the overlapped portion and revising the overlapped portion.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 30 words

The method according to claim 3, wherein the array of storage units stores one of bytes in a computer file, blocks in a computer disk and records in a database.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 68 words

The method according to claim 1, wherein the event journal is stored on a backup computer system, the backup computer system being coupled to a primary computer system, and further comprising the step of storing each current event marker on the backup computer system, and wherein the steps of generating the current event marker and determining and removing the overlap condition are performed on the backup computer system.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 38 words

The method according to claim 1, wherein the steps of generating the current event marker and determining if an overlap condition exists are performed immediately after the step of reading each of the plurality of write event entries.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 84 words

The method according to claim 4, further comprising the step of, when a write event entry occurs only at a block boundary and an event size equals a block size, storing each current event marker in an array of storage marker pointers containing one of a null value and the marker data pointer, the null value indicating an original storage block not changed by a write event entry and the marker data pointer indicating the original data block changed by the write event entry.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 51 words

The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of dividing the event journal into a plurality of segments and wherein the step of reading each of the plurality of write events includes reading each of the plurality of write events for a respective one of the plurality of segments.

Claim 14

Independent Claim 83 words

A method of fulfilling a read request for an updated storage using an original storage, an event journal and an event map, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a read request, the read request including a data position and a read size; identifying, from the read request and via the event map, portions of the read request to be provided by the event journal and portions of the read request to be provided by the original storage; and fulfilling the read request.

Claim 15

Independent Claim 83 words

A method of fulfilling a read request for an updated storage using an original storage, an event journal and an event map, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a read request, the read request including a data position and a read size; identifying, from the read request and via the event map, portions of the read request to be provided by the event journal and portions of the read request to be provided by the original storage; and fulfilling the read request.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 61 words

The method according to claim 13, wherein the data position represents an offset from an origin of the updated storage and the read size represents a number of storage units to be read from the updated storage, the updated storage containing a data content of the original storage and subsequent changes to the original storage via a plurality of write events.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 46 words

The method according to claim 13, wherein the original storage includes a computer memory device having an array of storage units each having a predetermined address, the event journal being stored in the computer memory device, the event journal including a plurality of write event entries.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 56 words

The method according to claim 15, wherein each of the plurality of write event entries includes at least an event address and an event data, the event address representing a location of the write event in the computer memory device and the event data including a content of the storage units occupied by the write event.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 80 words

The method according to claim 16, wherein the event map is created from the event journal via: reading each of the plurality of write event entries from the event journal; generating a current event marker for each of the plurality of write event entries; and determining if an overlap condition exists between a latest current event marker and an existing current event marker and if an overlap condition exists, removing the overlap condition to represent the latest current event marker.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 67 words

The method according to claim 17, wherein the current event marker includes at least a marker origin address, a marker event span and a marker data pointer, the marker origin address representing a location in the computer memory device, the marker event span representing a number of occupied storage units, and the marker data pointer representing a pointer to an event data in the computer memory device.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 12 words

The method according to claim 13, wherein the original storage is empty.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 16 words

The method according to claim 13, wherein the original storage includes a read only storage device.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 37 words

The method according to claim 13, wherein the step of fulfilling the read request includes reading the requested data from a respective one of the original storage and the event map as determined via the identifying step.

Claim 24

Dependent Claim 37 words

The method according to claim 21, wherein the step of fulfilling the read request further includes reading each contiguous segment of the original storage and recording a result of the read request on a second storage media.

Claim 25

Dependent Claim 22 words

The method according to claim 22, wherein the second storage media includes one of a streaming backup tape and a seekable disk.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 40 words

The method according to claim 13, wherein the original storage resides on a streaming tape and the streaming tape is not repositioned during the step of fulfilling the read request except to skip overlaid data segments from the event journal.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 16 words

The method according to claim 22, wherein the event journal includes a plurality of event journals.

Claim 28

Independent Claim 71 words

A method for converting an event journal into a delta, comprising the steps of: generating an event map from an event journal; identifying, via the event map, a mismatching segment between an original storage and an updated storage; recording a mismatch marker for each mismatching segment; identifying, via the event map, a matching segment between the original storage and the updated storage; and recording a match marker for each matching segment.

Claim 29

Independent Claim 71 words

A method for converting an event journal into a delta, comprising the steps of: generating an event map from an event journal; identifying, via the event map, a mismatching segment between an original storage and an updated storage; recording a mismatch marker for each mismatching segment; identifying, via the event map, a matching segment between the original storage and the updated storage; and recording a match marker for each matching segment.

Claim 30

Dependent Claim 53 words

The method according to claim 26, wherein each match marker represents a position and a size of a matching segment in the original storage and the updated storage and each mismatch marker represents a position, a size and a data content of a mismatching segment between the original storage and the updated storage.

Claim 31

Dependent Claim 43 words

The method according to claim 26, wherein the step of identifying a mismatching segment includes identifying the mismatching segment as a function of an entry in the event map using a marker data pointer to supply a data content from the event journal.

Claim 32

Dependent Claim 43 words

The method according to claim 26, wherein the step of identifying a matching segment includes identifying an omission from the event map and wherein the step of recording a match marker includes recording the match marker for each omission in the event map.

Claim 33

Dependent Claim 47 words

The method according to claim 26, wherein the updated storage is stored on a first storage device and wherein a copy of the original storage and the recorded markers are stored on a second storage device, the second storage device providing a backup of the updated storage.

Claim 34

Dependent Claim 29 words

The method according to claim 26, wherein the mismatch marker represents a size and a data content of a mismatching segment between the original storage and the updated storage.

Claim 35

Dependent Claim 32 words

The method according to claim 26, wherein the mismatch marker represents a position, a size and a marker data pointer of a mismatching segment between the original storage and the updated storage.

Claim 36

Dependent Claim 30 words

The method according to claim 30, wherein the first storage device is located on a first computer system and the second storage device is located on a second computer system.

Claim 37

Dependent Claim 34 words

The method according to claim 26, wherein the event journal includes a plurality of event journals, and wherein the generating, identifying and recording steps are performed for each of the plurality of event journals.

Claim 38

Dependent Claim 25 words

The method according to claim 26, wherein the event journal is recorded on a client server and the markers are recorded on a backup server.

Claim 39

Dependent Claim 38 words

The method according to claim 26, further comprising the step of dividing the event journal into a plurality of segments and wherein the steps of generating, identifying and recording are performed for each of the plurality of segments.

Claim 40

Dependent Claim 30 words

The method according to claim 1, wherein the event journal includes synchronization information and further comprising the step of identifying a termination condition as a function of the synchronization information.

Claim 41

Dependent Claim 34 words

The method according to claim 1, wherein the event journal includes a plurality of event journals and the steps of reading, generating and determining are performed for each of the plurality of event journals.

Claim 42

Dependent Claim 19 words

The method according to claim 1, wherein the event journal includes synchronization information comprising a plurality of checkpoint events.

Claim 43

Dependent Claim 32 words

The method according to claim 39, wherein each of the plurality of write event entries is associated with one of the plurality of checkpoint events by its offset in the event journal.

Claim 44

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method according to claim 39, wherein each of the plurality of write event entries is explicitly associated with one of the plurality of checkpoint events by a checkpoint event binding.

Claim 45

Dependent Claim 20 words

The method according to claim 39, further including generating an event map for each of the plurality of checkpoint events.

Claim 46

Dependent Claim 35 words

The method according to claim 42, the event map comprises one or more write event markers generated from the plurality of write event entries bound to at least one of the plurality of checkpoint events.

Claim 47

Dependent Claim 27 words

The method according to claim 41, further comprising generating an event map for write event entries referenced by at least one of the plurality of checkpoint events.

Claim 48

Dependent Claim 17 words

The method according to claim 3, wherein the computer memory device includes a journal computer memory device.

Claim 49

Dependent Claim 17 words

The method according to claim 4, wherein the computer memory device includes a primary computer memory device.

Claim 50

Dependent Claim 31 words

The method according to claim 46, wherein the write event address is a multiple of a block size, and wherein the write event data is a multiple of a block size.

Claim 51

Dependent Claim 25 words

The method according to claim 47, further comprising mapping a pointer in a mapped pointer array to an element of the primary computer memory device.

Claim 52

Dependent Claim 15 words

The method according to claim 48, wherein the pointer is initialized to a null value.

Claim 53

Dependent Claim 32 words

The method according to claim 47, wherein the step of determining and removing an overlap condition includes dividing the event address by the block size and accessing corresponding mapped pointer array member.

Claim 54

Dependent Claim 18 words

The method according to claim 50, further comprising installing the event address in the mapped pointer array member.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2003-12-05	2004-06-05	2004-12-05	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2007-12-05	2008-06-05	2008-12-05	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2011-12-05	2012-06-05	2012-12-05	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

System and apparatus for merging a write event journal and an original storage to produce an updated storage using an event map

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