System and method for consistent timestamping in distributed computer databases
US5212788A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 22, 1990 |
| Grant date | May 18, 1993 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 22, 2010 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S707/99952
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A distributed database system has a plurality of databases located at distinct nodes, at least one of the databases comprising a timestamping database. Distributed transactions are committed using a two phase protocol. During the first phase, each cohort to the transaction votes to commit or abort the transaction, and also votes an earliest time and a latest time at which the transaction is to be committed. If all the cohorts vote to commit the transaction and the intersection of the voted time ranges is not empty, then the transaction is committed during the second phase of the protocol. A transaction time is selected from the intersection of the voted time ranges and is used to timestamp all updated data that is durably stored when the transaction is committed. Before the first phase of the two phase commit protocol, each transaction read or write locks data at each node for which it needs read or write access. Whenever a transaction enters the first phase of the commit protocol, read locks for that transaction can be converted into delay locks. Any transaction which obtains a write lock on delay locked data is a "delayed transaction". The delayed transaction votes a time range w…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.