Dispersed Secure Package Storage Using Encoded Key Slices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing computer storage systems face issues with memory device failures, particularly in commercial-grade devices using physical movement technologies, leading to data loss and security vulnerabilities, and redundant array of independent discs (RAID) solutions increase maintenance demands and unauthorized access risks.
Innovation Solution
A dispersed storage network (DSN) system that distributes data across geographically diverse locations using error coding and dispersal, ensuring data integrity and security through error correction coding, redundancy, and secure encryption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If data is stored in a single location using traditional memory devices, then storage capacity is maximized, but reliability deteriorates due to memory device failures and security vulnerabilities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides data into multiple segments and stores them across different storage units in a dispersed storage network. Each segment is encoded using error correction coding, so that no single storage unit holds the complete data. This segmentation approach improves reliability by eliminating single points of failure while maintaining storage capacity through distributed architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an encoding intermediary layer that processes data before storage. Error correction codes and encryption algorithms act as intermediaries between the data and storage units, adding redundancy and security without requiring changes to the underlying storage hardware. This mediator layer enhances reliability while keeping the storage system architecture relatively simple.
2Reliability
If RAID solutions are implemented to protect against data loss, then reliability improves through redundancy, but maintenance demands and unauthorized access risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments data across multiple independent storage units with error correction coding, eliminating the need for RAID's complex array management. Each storage unit operates independently, simplifying maintenance as individual units can be replaced or accessed without affecting the entire system, thus reducing maintenance overhead while maintaining data protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the redundancy parameter from RAID's fixed parity-based redundancy to flexible error correction coding schemes. This allows optimization of the balance between redundancy level and maintenance complexity, enabling systems to adjust error correction strength based on specific reliability requirements without following RAID's rigid maintenance schedules and procedures.
3Reliability
If error correction coding is applied to all data segments, then data integrity improves, but storage capacity decreases due to redundancy overhead
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs variable error correction coding parameters that can be adjusted based on data criticality and storage requirements. For less critical data, lower redundancy levels are used to maximize capacity, while critical data receives higher redundancy for enhanced integrity. This parameter flexibility resolves the contradiction by allowing optimization of the integrity-capacity trade-off for different data types.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different error correction coding schemes to different data segments based on their specific requirements. Critical segments receive stronger error correction with higher redundancy, while non-critical segments use lighter coding to preserve capacity. This local differentiation of quality resolves the contradiction by tailoring redundancy to actual data needs rather than applying uniform overhead to all data.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for execution by a computing device of a storage network includes appending at least a decode threshold number of encoded key slices of a set of encoded key slices to at least some encrypted data segments of a plurality of encrypted data segments to produce secure packages. The method further includes error encoding, in accordance with error encoding parameters, the secure packages to produce sets of encoded data slices, where a first secure package of the secure packages is dispersed storage error encoded using an error encoding function of the error encoding parameters to produce a first set of encoded data slices of the sets of encoded data slices. The method further includes outputting the sets of encoded data slices for storage in memory of the storage network.