Google Assigned Seven Patents

Storing semi-structured data
Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,754,048) developed by Probst, Martin, Munich, Germany, for a “storing semi-structured data.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for storing semi-structured data. One of the methods includes maintaining a plurality of schemas, receiving a first semi-structured data item, determining that the first semi-structured data item does not match any of the schemas in the plurality of schemas, and in response to determining that the first semi-structured data item does not match any of the schemas in the plurality of schemas: generating a new schema, encoding the first semi-structured data item in the first data format to generate the first new encoded data item in accordance with the new schema, storing the first new encoded data item in the data item repository, and associating the first new encoded data item with the new schema.“

The patent application was filed on October 6, 2014 (14/507,690).

Storage of data in distributed storage system
Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,747,322) developed by Drobychev, Alexandre, San Jose, CA, Kesselman, Alexander, Sunnyvale, CA, Vickrey, Rebekah C., Dachille, Frank C., Mountain View, CA, and Datuashvili, George, Cupertino, CA, for a “storage of data in a distributed storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A distributed storage system has multiple instances. There is a plurality of local instances, and at least some of the local instances are at physically distinct geographic locations. Each local instance is configured to store data for a non-empty set of blobs in a plurality of data stores having a plurality of distinct data store types. In addition, each local instance stores metadata for the respective set of blobs in a metadata store distinct from the data stores. There is also a plurality of global instances. Each global instance is configured to store data for zero or more blobs in zero or more data stores and store metadata for all blobs stored at any local or global instance. The system selects one global instance to run a replication module that replicates blobs between instances according to blob policies. Some systems also include dynamic replication based on user needs.“

The patent application was filed on October 3, 2014 (14/506,530).

Efficient reference counting in content addressable storage
Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,747,320) developed by Kesselman, Alex, Sunnyvale, CA, for a “efficient reference counting in content addressable storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A process manages database storage. The process receives a first object comprising one or more content chunks. The first object is identified by a unique object ID and each content chunk has a unique offset within the first object. For each chunk, the process inserts a record into a reference table. The record includes a content hash and the object ID. The process stores each of the chunks in content storage. Later, the process obtains a request to delete a first chunk from storage. The first chunk has a corresponding first content hash. The process determines whether the reference table includes a reference record corresponding to the first content hash. When the reference table does not include any reference records corresponding to the first content hash, the process deletes the first chunk. When the reference table includes a corresponding reference record, the process does not delete the first chunk.“

The patent application was filed on February 23, 2016 (15/051,612).

Efficient data reads from distributed storage systems
Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,747,155) developed by Cypher, Robert, Saratoga, CA, Quinlan, Sean, Palo Alto, CA, Schirripa, Steven Robert, Haziet, NJ, Carmi, Lidor, New York, NY, and Schrock, Christian Eric, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, for a “efficient data reads from distributed storage systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “A method of distributing data in a distributed storage system includes receiving a file and dividing the received file into chunks. The chunks are data-chunks and non-data chunks. The method further includes grouping chunks into a group and determining a distribution of the chunks of the group among storage devices of the distributed storage system based on a maintenance hierarchy of the distributed storage system. The maintenance hierarchy includes hierarchical maintenance levels and maintenance domains. Each maintenance domain has an active state or an inactive state, and each storage device is associated with at least one maintenance domain. The method also includes distributing the chunks of the group to the storage devices based on the determined distribution. The chunks of the group are distributed across multiple maintenance domains to maintain an ability to reconstruct chunks of the group when a maintenance domain is in the inactive state.“

The patent application was filed on November 3, 2016 (15/342,717).

Remote storage auditing
Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,712,327) developed by Yu, Harlan, San Jose, CA, for a “system and method for remote storage auditing.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “The present invention relates to remote storage auditing. In another embodiment, a remote storage auditing system may include a first remote storage manager configured to be a data owner, a second remote storage manager configured to be a storage donor, and a remote storage auditor. The first remote storage manager sends a data block and a signed fingerprint for the data block to the second remote storage manager. The second remote storage manager verifies that the signed fingerprint is associated with the data block and stores the data block and signed fingerprint. The second remote storage manager calculates a fingerprint for a sub-block of the data block, and sends the fingerprint for the sub-block and signed fingerprint to the remote storage auditor. The remote storage auditor audits a sub-block of the data block and verifies the fingerprint for the sub-block and signed fingerprint.“

The patent application was filed on October 21, 2016 (15/299,779).

Platform for cloud application software
Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,710,621) developed by Thirthala, Sriram, and Ravindranath, Vinodh Kumar, Bangalore, India, for a “platform for cloud application software.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for determining distributing web applications. One of the methods includes associating at least one user account and at least one developer account with an application execution system, the at least one user account including user data. A web application is transferred from the developer account into a shared area accessible by the at least one user account. A request is received to associate the web application with the user account from the shared area. The web application is associated with the user account, wherein the web application is configured to access the user data of the user account, and wherein access to the user data of the user account is based on authentication associated with the user account. The installed web application is executed using the user data to create user results based on the user data.“

The patent application was filed on April 11, 2016 (15/096,143).

Non-volatile memory operations
Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, has been assigned a patent (9,697,358) developed by Serebrin, Benjamin Charles, Sunnyvale, CA, and McCune, Jonathan M., Santa Clara, CA, for a “non-volatile memory operations.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: “An apparatus includes an interface module, a controller, a key storage module, where the key storage module is configured to store a key, and a non-volatile storage module that is configured to store data. The non-volatile storage module has a first partition and a second partition, where the first partition is designated as a read-only storage area for the data and the second partition is designated as a write-only storage area for new data. The first partition is re-designated as the write-only storage area for other new data and the second partition is re-designated as the read-only storage area for the new data in response to the new data being written to the second partition with a signature and the controller verifying the signature using the key stored in the key storage module.“

The patent application was filed on June 13, 2013 (13/917,261).