US6826711B2 — System and method for data protection with multid…

Claim 1

Independent Claim 176 words

A data storage management system comprising: a plurality of storage devices, each storage device comprising a plurality of storage areas; a storage management control mechanism configured to receive a storage request associated with a data set; a communication system between the plurality of storage devices and the storage management mechanism; means for determining at least one digital representation of the data set; a write mechanism in the storage management control mechanism capable of writing the digital representation in at least one storage area; a read mechanism in the storage management control mechanism capable of reading the data set from the storage devices using the digital representation from the at least one storage area; wherein the storage management control mechanism includes mechanisms to govern the read mechanism to perform the act of reading the data set from at least three of a plurality of digital representations for the data set; and wherein the storage management control mechanism determines which data to report in response to a read request based on the consensus of the three digital representations.

Claim 2

Dependent Claim 176 words

A data storage management system comprising: a plurality of storage devices, each storage device comprising a plurality of storage areas; a storage management control mechanism configured to receive a storage request associated with a data set; a communication system between the plurality of storage devices and the storage management mechanism; means for determining at least one digital representation of the data set; a write mechanism in the storage management control mechanism capable of writing the digital representation in at least one storage area; a read mechanism in the storage management control mechanism capable of reading the data set from the storage devices using the digital representation from the at least one storage area; wherein the storage management control mechanism includes mechanisms to govern the read mechanism to perform the act of reading the data set from at least three of a plurality of digital representations for the data set; and wherein the storage management control mechanism determines which data to report in response to a read request based on the consensus of the three digital representations.

Claim 3

Dependent Claim 20 words

The data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital representation includes an unaltered data set.

Claim 4

Dependent Claim 23 words

The data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital representation includes a parity image of the data set.

Claim 5

Dependent Claim 32 words

The data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital representation includes at least one exclusive-or result of the data set with at least one other data set.

Claim 6

Dependent Claim 25 words

The data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital representation includes at least one binary complement result of data set.

Claim 7

Dependent Claim 33 words

The data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital representation includes the one's complement binary addition result of the data set with at least one other data set.

Claim 8

Dependent Claim 33 words

The data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital representation includes the one's complement binary subtraction result of the data set with at least one other data set.

Claim 9

Dependent Claim 33 words

The data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital representation includes the two's complement binary addition result of the data set with at least one other data set.

Claim 10

Dependent Claim 33 words

The data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the at least one digital representation includes the two's complement binary subtraction result of the data set with at least one other data set.

Claim 11

Dependent Claim 43 words

A data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the storage management control mechanism includes mechanisms that govern the read mechanism to perform the act of reading the data set from one of a plurality of digital representations for the given data set.

Claim 12

Dependent Claim 45 words

The data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the storage management control mechanism governs the read mechanism to perform the act of reading the data set from one of the plurality of storage devices containing a written digital representation of the given data set.

Claim 13

Dependent Claim 36 words

A data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the storage management control mechanism governs the read mechanism to select at least one the storage devices based upon reducing the time required to complete the operation.

Claim 14

Dependent Claim 44 words

A data storage management system of claim 1 wherein the storage management control mechanism governs the read mechanism to perform the read operation from at least one of the plurality of storage device devices such that inaccessible ones of the storage devices are avoided.

Claim 15

Dependent Claim 25 words

A data storage management system of claim 1 wherein at least some of the digital representations corresponding to the data set differ from each other.

Claim 16

Dependent Claim 113 words

A data storage management system comprising: a plurality of storage devices, each storage device comprising a plurality of storage areas; a storage management control mechanism configured to receive a storage request associated with a data set; a communication system between the plurality of storage devices and the storage management mechanism; means for determining at least one digital representation of the data set; and a write mechanism in the storage management control mechanism capable of writing the digital representation in at least one storage area; wherein the number of the storage areas used for writing a first data set differs from the number of the storage areas used for writing a second data set.

Claim 17

Dependent Claim 113 words

A data storage management system comprising: a plurality of storage devices, each storage device comprising a plurality of storage areas; a storage management control mechanism configured to receive a storage request associated with a data set; a communication system between the plurality of storage devices and the storage management mechanism; means for determining at least one digital representation of the data set; and a write mechanism in the storage management control mechanism capable of writing the digital representation in at least one storage area; wherein the number of the storage areas used for writing a first data set differs from the number of the storage areas used for writing a second data set.

Claim 18

Dependent Claim 115 words

A data storage management system for storing a plurality of data sets, the system comprising: a plurality of storage devices, each storage device comprising a plurality of storage areas; a storage management control mechanism configured to receive a storage request associated with a data set; a communication system coupling the plurality of storage devices and the storage management mechanism; and a plurality of parity groups defined within at least one storage area, the parity group comprising a logical combination of the plurality of data sets; wherein levels of parity protection of the plurality of parity groups varies for arbitrarily small subsets of data within the overall data set protected by the plurality of parity groups.

Claim 19

Dependent Claim 115 words

A data storage management system for storing a plurality of data sets, the system comprising: a plurality of storage devices, each storage device comprising a plurality of storage areas; a storage management control mechanism configured to receive a storage request associated with a data set; a communication system coupling the plurality of storage devices and the storage management mechanism; and a plurality of parity groups defined within at least one storage area, the parity group comprising a logical combination of the plurality of data sets; wherein levels of parity protection of the plurality of parity groups varies for arbitrarily small subsets of data within the overall data set protected by the plurality of parity groups.

Claim 20

Dependent Claim 27 words

The data storage mechanism of claim 16 wherein the parity group is dynamically configured by altering the membership of the group of the plurality of data sets.

Claim 21

Dependent Claim 34 words

The data storage mechanism of claim 16 wherein each of plurality of data sets is stored in a storage area that is separate from the storage area in which the parity group is defined.

Claim 22

Dependent Claim 27 words

The data storage mechanism of claim 16 wherein the storage management control mechanism dynamically modifies the parity group definition while the plurality of data sets remain available.

Claim 23

Dependent Claim 38 words

The data storage mechanism of claim 18 wherein the parity group is used to reconstruct primary data and to serve data requests in lieu of or in addition to serving the data requests directly from the primary data.

Claim 24

Independent Claim 82 words

A method of providing parity protection for a data set comprising the acts of: selecting a primary data element for entry; determining a desired degree of fault tolerance for the data element; selecting a number of non-intersecting parity groups to be associated with the primary data element; selecting a primary location for the primary data element; writing the data element to the primary location; updating the parity groups associated with the data element; and confirming the write operation and associated parity updates.

Claim 25

Independent Claim 82 words

A method of providing parity protection for a data set comprising the acts of: selecting a primary data element for entry; determining a desired degree of fault tolerance for the data element; selecting a number of non-intersecting parity groups to be associated with the primary data element; selecting a primary location for the primary data element; writing the data element to the primary location; updating the parity groups associated with the data element; and confirming the write operation and associated parity updates.

Claim 26

Dependent Claim 22 words

The method of claim 21 further comprising: reading the data element directly from its primary location in response to a read request.

Claim 27

Dependent Claim 22 words

The method of claim 21 further comprising: reading an image of the data element reconstructed from one of its associated parity groups.

Claim 28

Dependent Claim 41 words

The method of claim 21 further comprising: automatically maintaining, migrating, and reconstructing primary data and associated parity groups in response to detected network, server, disk, and human error while the data element remains available for reading from at least one source.

Claim 29

Independent Claim 99 words

A method of implementing data parity protection for a plurality of data sets comprising the acts of: providing a plurality of storage devices, each storage device comprising a plurality of storage areas; associating a parity group with each data set, each parity group comprising at least one of the plurality of data sets, wherein the act of associating a parity group with each data set comprises selecting a number of parity groups for each data set independently of the number of parity groups for each other data set; and dynamically altering the composition of the plurality of storage devices.

Claim 30

Independent Claim 99 words

A method of implementing data parity protection for a plurality of data sets comprising the acts of: providing a plurality of storage devices, each storage device comprising a plurality of storage areas; associating a parity group with each data set, each parity group comprising at least one of the plurality of data sets, wherein the act of associating a parity group with each data set comprises selecting a number of parity groups for each data set independently of the number of parity groups for each other data set; and dynamically altering the composition of the plurality of storage devices.

Claim 31

Dependent Claim 12 words

The method of claim 25 further comprising dynamically altering the parity group.

Claim 32

Dependent Claim 24 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the act of dynamically altering the composition of the plurality of storage devices comprises adding a storage device.

Claim 33

Dependent Claim 24 words

The method of claim 25 wherein the act of dynamically altering the composition of the plurality of storage devices comprises removing a storage device.

Claim 34

Dependent Claim 35 words

The method of claim 26 wherein the act of dynamically altering the parity group comprises adding an additional data set to the parity group without affecting availability of other data sets in the parity group.

Claim 35

Dependent Claim 34 words

The method of claim 26 wherein the act of dynamically altering the parity group comprises removing a data set from the parity group without affecting availability of other data sets in the parity group.

Claim 36

Dependent Claim 32 words

The method of claim 25 further comprising accessing data from a selected data set by reading from at least one parity group associated with the data set without reconstructing the data set.

Claim 37

Independent Claim 54 words

A method of providing parity protection for a data set comprising the acts of: determining a desired degree of fault tolerance for data element; selecting a number of non-intersecting parity groups to be associated with the data element; selecting a location for the data element; and writing the data element to the selected location.

Claim 38

Independent Claim 54 words

A method of providing parity protection for a data set comprising the acts of: determining a desired degree of fault tolerance for data element; selecting a number of non-intersecting parity groups to be associated with the data element; selecting a location for the data element; and writing the data element to the selected location.

Annuity Stage	Window Opens	Payment Deadline	Surcharge Period Until	Estimated Fee	Status
3.5 Years (Year 4)	2007-11-30	2008-05-31	2008-11-30	$2000.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
7.5 Years (Year 8)	2011-11-30	2012-05-31	2012-11-30	$3760.00	Window Closed / Lapsed
11.5 Years (Year 12)	2015-11-30	2016-05-31	2016-11-30	$7700.00	Window Closed / Lapsed

System and method for data protection with multidimensional parity

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