Cloud Storage Gateway API for Multi-System Data Aggregation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users face inconvenience when accessing and managing data across multiple cloud-based storage systems, as they need to authenticate and interact with each system individually, leading to increased network bandwidth and resource usage, as well as a complex user experience.
Innovation Solution
A cloud storage management system exposes a storage system-independent API that transforms data requests into system-specific requests, allowing a single authentication and operation across multiple cloud-based storage systems, reducing the need for individual interactions and optimizing resource usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a user accesses multiple cloud-based storage systems individually, then each system can be managed with its own specific interface, but the user must authenticate and interact with each system separately, increasing complexity and resource usage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a gateway service as an intermediary between the user's application and multiple cloud storage systems. This gateway receives storage system-independent requests, translates them into system-specific requests, and manages authentication centrally. The gateway acts as a mediator that handles the complexity of interacting with multiple different storage systems, allowing users to access diverse cloud storage through a unified interface without needing to understand or manage each system's specific protocols and authentication mechanisms separately.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal gateway service that can handle multiple types of cloud storage systems through a single interface. The gateway exposes storage system-independent APIs that work across different cloud storage providers, making the system universally applicable to various storage systems. This multi-functional gateway eliminates the need for users to interact with each storage system individually, as it can route requests to any connected storage system through standardized operations.
2Ease of operation
If individual cloud storage systems are accessed separately, then each system's specific interface can be used, but network bandwidth and resources are consumed repeatedly for authentication and data transfer
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway service performs preliminary authentication with multiple cloud storage systems on behalf of the user before actual data operations are needed. By establishing authentication tokens and sessions in advance through the gateway, the system avoids repeated authentication requests when accessing data across different storage systems. This preliminary action reduces network bandwidth consumption by eliminating redundant authentication handshakes and setup operations for each individual storage system access.
3Ease of operation
If a consolidated user interface navigates users to specific cloud storage system interfaces, then users can see multiple systems in one place, but users still need to use separate interfaces for actual data management
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway service acts as a persistent intermediary that handles all data management operations directly, rather than merely navigating users to separate interfaces. When the user performs data operations through the consolidated interface, the gateway translates these operations into appropriate system-specific requests and executes them, returning results through the unified interface. This eliminates the need for users to switch between different storage system interfaces, maintaining both centralized access and efficient data management in a single interaction flow.
Data Source
AI summary
A service exposes a storage system-independent application programming interface (API) and receives a data request from an application over the API. The service transforms the storage system-independent data request into a storage system-specific data request and executes it against an identified cloud-based storage system. The service can execute the request against multiple cloud-based storage systems and then return aggregated results to the application through the storage system-independent API.