Delegated reference count base file versioning
US8412688B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Sep 2, 2011 |
| Grant date | Apr 2, 2013 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Sep 2, 2031 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F16/128
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A snapshot copy facility maintains information indicating ownership and sharing of child nodes in the hierarchy of a file between successive versions by delegating reference counts to the parent-child relationships between the nodes, as indicated by pointers in the parent nodes. When a child node becomes shared between a parent node of the production file and a parent node of a snapshot copy, the delegated reference count is split among the parent nodes. This method is compatible with a conventional data de-duplication facility, and avoids a need to update reference counts in metadata of child nodes of a shared intermediate node upon splitting the shared intermediate node when writing to a production file.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.