Variable-Length Record Reverse Reading via Size Metadata
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing data storage systems are inefficient for reverse navigation of variable-length data records, as they are not designed to facilitate easy scanning or reading in reverse order, making it difficult to locate recent records or specific information.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of variable-length quantity (VLQ) encoding to store record lengths, followed by an additional 'size of the size' byte when necessary, allows for efficient reverse reading by providing metadata that enables quick identification of record beginnings and lengths during reverse traversal.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If data is stored sequentially with variable-length records, then storage efficiency is improved, but reverse navigation capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by storing the length of each variable-length record immediately after the record data during the writing phase. This pre-stored length information enables efficient reverse navigation without requiring complex parsing or scanning of variable-length records, thus resolving the contradiction between storage efficiency and reverse navigation capability
Solution Approach 2:
The record length serves as an intermediary element between the variable-length record data and the navigation mechanism. By storing this intermediate metadata (record length) alongside the data, the system enables both efficient sequential storage and straightforward reverse navigation, as the length information acts as a mediator that simplifies the navigation process
Data Source
AI summary
A system, method, and apparatus are provided for facilitating reverse reading of sequentially stored variable-length data records. Each record is stored with accompanying size metadata that identifies the size or length of the record. Further, if the length of a given record is greater than a threshold (e.g., 127 bytes when the length is stored with variable-length quantity encoding), such that more than one byte (or other storage unit) is needed to store the record length, an additional byte (or other unit) is configured to store the size/length of the record length (e.g., the number of bytes required to store the record length). The most significant bit of the additional byte is set to 1, so that during reverse reading, the location and size of the record length value can be quickly determined.