Patent · US Active

Block-level single instancing

US8578120B2 · kind B2 · utility

728Cited by
174References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateDec 28, 2009
Grant dateNov 5, 2013
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 4, 2032

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F2201/84
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Described in detail herein are systems and methods for single instancing blocks of data in a data storage system. For example, the data storage system may include multiple computing devices (e.g., client computing devices) that store primary data. The data storage system may also include a secondary storage computing device, a single instance database, and one or more storage devices that store copies of the primary data (e.g., secondary copies, tertiary copies, etc.). The secondary storage computing device receives blocks of data from the computing devices and accesses the single instance database to determine whether the blocks of data are unique (meaning that no instances of the blocks of data are stored on the storage devices). If a block of data is unique, the single instance database stores it on a storage device. If not, the secondary storage computing device can avoid storing the block of data on the storage devices.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.