Distributed Document Server Cross-Reference Consistency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in providing consistent cross-referencing between electronic documents stored on distributed storage servers, particularly when multiple users edit documents that cross-reference each other, leading to asynchronous updates and potential inconsistencies.
Innovation Solution
A method where a first document server loads a consistent copy of a referenced second document from a second storage server by obtaining data related to operations committed after a specific revision number, applying these operations to update the document, and responding to queries based on both the original and updated documents, thereby ensuring consistency across distributed storage servers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If documents are stored on distributed storage servers for collaborative editing, then multiple users can edit documents simultaneously, but consistency of cross-references between documents becomes difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by obtaining operations committed after a revision number before responding to queries. When a query is received, the system proactively fetches updated operations from the second document server and applies them to the cached copy, ensuring the cross-reference data is current before the query is processed, thus maintaining consistency without blocking collaborative editing
Solution Approach 2:
The first document server acts as an intermediary between the distributed storage servers and the client. It maintains a cached copy of the second document and applies received operations to this cache, mediating between the asynchronous updates from the second server and the read requests for cross-reference data, thereby ensuring consistency while enabling parallel operations
2Reliability
If the first document server loads the entire second document to ensure consistency, then cross-reference accuracy improves, but communication overhead and latency increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts only the necessary updates (operations committed after a specific revision number) from the second document server rather than loading the entire second document. This selective extraction of changed operations reduces network communication overhead and latency while still ensuring the cached copy reflects all relevant updates for accurate cross-referencing
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are described to provide consistent cross-reference between electronic documents from distributed storage servers. A first document server may receive a query relating to a first document referencing a second document. The first document is stored on the first document server, and the second document is stored on a second document server. The first document server may obtain data relating to a copy of the second document associated with a revision number. The first document server may then send, to the second document server, an update request including the revision number, and then receive from the second document server, data relating to operations that have been committed to the second document after a time associated with the revision number. The first document server may apply the operations that have been committed to the second document to update the copy of the second document, and respond to the query based on a previously stored copy of the first document and the updated copy of the second document.