Time Bucket Aggregation for Storage Performance Analysis

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current systems face inefficiencies in calculating top contributors to a storage system's performance due to high communication overhead between data processors and databases, as they often require frequent and scattered data point retrieval, leading to gaps in metric data analysis.

Innovation Solution

A method that groups contiguous data points into time buckets based on timestamps, minimizing database queries by processing and storing these buckets, which reduces communication and enhances calculation efficiency for identifying top contributors.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If frequent and scattered data point retrieval is performed to calculate top contributors, then calculation accuracy is improved, but communication overhead between data processors and databases increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecalculation accuracyVSAvoidcommunication overhead
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent combines multiple scattered data point retrievals into a single bulk retrieval operation by aggregating time bucket requests. Instead of querying the database separately for each data point needed for top contributor calculations, the system merges these into one comprehensive query that fetches all required time buckets in advance, thereby maintaining calculation accuracy while dramatically reducing communication overhead.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary action by pre-fetching and caching time bucket data before top contributor calculations are needed. Data processors retrieve and store time bucket information in advance, so when calculation requests arrive, the data is already available in memory rather than requiring database queries at calculation time. This eliminates the need for frequent scattered retrievals while ensuring accurate calculations can proceed.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Loss of information

If multiple separate data point queries are executed to ensure complete metric data coverage, then data completeness is improved, but processing time increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata completenessVSAvoidprocessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges multiple separate data point queries into a single bulk query operation. Instead of executing individual queries for each metric data point across different time buckets, the system combines these into one comprehensive query that retrieves all necessary data in a single database round-trip, thereby maintaining complete metric data coverage while significantly reducing total processing time.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary data retrieval by fetching complete time bucket information in advance before calculations are needed. This pre-fetching ensures all metric data points are available in memory when processing begins, eliminating the need for time-consuming sequential queries during the actual calculation phase while guaranteeing data completeness.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Measurement precision

If individual data points are retrieved and processed separately, then data processing accuracy is improved, but system productivity decreases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata processing accuracyVSAvoidsystem productivity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges individual data point processing operations into bulk processing of time buckets. Instead of retrieving, validating, and processing each data point separately through multiple database round-trips, the system retrieves complete time buckets in bulk and processes all data points within memory using efficient array operations, thereby maintaining processing accuracy while dramatically improving system productivity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

Solution Approach 2:

The system performs preliminary bulk retrieval of time bucket data before processing begins. By fetching all required data points in advance and loading them into memory, the system enables subsequent processing operations to work with complete datasets without repeated database access, maintaining accuracy through comprehensive data availability while boosting productivity through efficient in-memory processing.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentUS11301442B2Method and system for using array level time buckets to efficiently calculate top contributors using relevant performance metric
Publication Date: 2022.04.12 EMC IP HLDG CO LLC
  • US11301442B2 patent drawing
  • US11301442B2 patent drawing
  • US11301442B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A method for managing data includes obtaining, by a data processor, a time bucket calculation request, and in response to the time bucket calculation request: obtaining a plurality of data points from a database based on a period of time, wherein the period of time is specified in the time bucket calculation request, processing each data point in the plurality of data points based on a timestamp of each data point and a data point interval, generating a plurality of time buckets based on the processing, and storing the plurality of time buckets in the database.