Descriptor-Based File Backup System for Storage Efficiency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for managing file rights and identities in computer systems are inefficient, leading to redundant file storage, increased backup sizes, and difficulties in ensuring file uniqueness, which complicates data backup and configuration management.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that use descriptors, combining file metadata and cryptographic signatures to uniquely identify files, allowing for efficient storage and authentication without comparing files bit-for-bit, and enabling secure authentication even if the file is not possessed, by using a descriptor-based system that manages file rights and identities.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If full backup of entire computer system contents is performed, then complete data backup is achieved, but backup size becomes very large
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the backup process into multiple phases: initial full backup, followed by incremental backups that only capture changes. This allows complete data protection while reducing subsequent backup sizes by focusing only on modified files and data blocks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts and backs up only the changed portions of data in incremental backups, rather than copying entire files or system images again. This extraction approach maintains backup completeness for changed data while dramatically reducing backup volume.
2Ease of operation
If separate copies of files are maintained for each user, then file rights management is simplified, but storage efficiency decreases and redundant storage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple user file copies into a single shared backup repository where identical files are stored only once. File rights and access permissions are managed through metadata and access control lists rather than physical file separation, achieving both storage efficiency and rights management.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of maintaining physical separate copies of files for each user, the patent uses virtual copying through file descriptors, pointers, and reference mechanisms. Users can access their authorized files from the shared repository without requiring duplicate physical storage, eliminating redundant storage while preserving access rights.
3Productivity
If crc-32 checksum is used for file comparison, then processing speed is improved, but file uniqueness cannot be reasonably guaranteed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses cryptographic hash functions as intermediary verification mechanisms that provide both speed and uniqueness guarantee. These hash functions process files efficiently while producing unique identifiers that reliably distinguish different files, serving as a mediator between speed and accuracy requirements.
4Quantity of substance
If shared backup system is implemented to eliminate duplicate files, then storage efficiency improves, but determining file rights becomes complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves file rights complexity by adding a metadata dimension to the shared backup system. Instead of complicating the file storage structure, it attaches rights information, access control lists, and user permissions as metadata layers on top of the unified file repository, separating rights management from physical file organization.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is capable of determining the rights to a file based on providing a descriptor. The descriptor can be calculated using an algorithm, which may be cryptographic and/or non-cryptographic. The descriptor may further be based on the file contents, metadata of the file, other file data, or any combination thereof to uniquely identify the file in a shared file repository. Since the descriptor is generated based on file data it will be the same regardless of which user generates it. Accordingly, only one copy of the file needs to be maintained in the shared file repository, thereby reducing the amount of network bandwidth required to assure the file is backed up and further reducing the amount of storage required to backup the files. This results in a vastly more efficient method of backup in terms of processing time, network bandwidth, and storage requirements.