Group-Based Data Archiving for Storage Space Conservation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional archiving systems fail to effectively archive related data elements, such as emails in a conversation thread, leading to storage inefficiencies and user frustration, as they archive data without considering relationships between elements.
Innovation Solution
The system identifies related data elements by shared properties, applies an archiving policy to determine eligibility for archiving, and archives the entire group, creating a single reference to conserve storage space and improve management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of substance
If conventional archiving systems archive data elements individually based on age criteria, then storage space is conserved on source systems, but related data elements may be partially archived leading to user frustration and loss of contextual information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges related data elements into groups based on relationship criteria (e.g., conversation threads, project associations). By treating related elements as a unified unit, the system ensures that archiving decisions apply to entire groups rather than individual items, preventing partial archiving that would break contextual relationships and preserve complete information sets.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary identification and grouping of related data elements before applying archiving criteria. By pre-establishing relationships and determining group eligibility in advance, the system ensures that when archiving decisions are made, all related elements are already organized as a complete unit, preventing loss of contextual information.
2Ease of operation
If conventional archiving systems create discrete links to each archived data element, then individual access to archived items is enabled, but the number of links continually increases consuming additional storage space
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual links into a single group link that represents an entire group of archived data elements. This single link provides access to all related items simultaneously, maintaining ease of operation for individual access while dramatically reducing the number of links required and conserving storage space on endpoint devices.
3Productivity
If archiving systems apply archiving policies to individual data elements, then archiving decisions can be made independently for each item, but the system cannot determine whether entire groups of related elements are eligible for archiving
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary identification and grouping of related data elements before applying archiving criteria. By pre-establishing relationships and determining group eligibility in advance, the system ensures that when archiving decisions are made, all related elements are already organized as a complete unit, preventing loss of contextual information.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms that monitor and track the archiving status of grouped data elements. This feedback ensures that archiving decisions are applied consistently across entire groups and provides verification that related elements are archived together, maintaining both productivity and reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer-implemented method for archiving related items may include: 1) identifying a data element on a computing device, 2) identifying at least one additional data element on the computing device that is related to the data element, the data element and the additional related data element collectively representing a group of related data elements, 3) determining, by applying an archiving policy to the group of related data elements, that the entire group of related data elements is eligible for archiving, and then 4) archiving the group of related data elements. Corresponding systems and computer-readable media are also disclosed.