System and method for classifying objects

#The present invention relates generally to managing and controlling data storage resources. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems, methods and apparatuses for filtering and classifying objects in file systems or file based data storage media utilizing metadata and/or content of the files and other objects stored in the file systems or file-based data storage media.

#Today's computers require memory to hold or store both the steps or instructions of programs and the data that those programs take as input or produce as output. This memory is conventionally divided into two types, primary storage and secondary storage. Primary storage is that which is immediately accessible by the computer or microprocessor, and is typically though not exclusively used as temporary storage. It is, in effect, the short term memory of the computer.

#Similarly, secondary storage can be seen as the long-term computer memory. This form of memory maintains information that must be kept for a long time, and may be orders of magnitude larger and slower. Secondary memory is typically provided by devices such as magnetic disk drives, optical drives, and so forth. These devices present to the computer's operating system a low-level interface in which individual storage subunits may be individually addressed. These subunits are often generalized by the computer's operating system into “blocks,” and such devices are often referred to as “block storage devices.”

#A more complete understanding of the present invention and the advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like reference numbers indicate like features.

#FIG. 1 depicts a block diagram illustrating a synchronous integration flow of a classification pipeline according to one embodiment of the present invention.

#FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram illustrating an asynchronous integration flow of a classification pipeline according to one embodiment of the present invention.

#The present invention and various features and advantageous details thereof will now be described with reference to the exemplary, and therefore non-limiting, embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Descriptions of known programming techniques, computer software, hardware, network communications, operating platforms and protocols may be omitted so as not to unnecessarily obscure the invention in detail. It should be understood, however, that the detailed description and the specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only and not by way of limitation. Various substitutions, modifications, additions and/or rearrangements within the spirit and/or scope of the underlying inventive concept will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.

#Before describing embodiments of the invention in detail, it might be helpful to clarify a few terms used in this disclosure. A “file classification” can have one or more file attributes and can be associated with one or more volumes. A volume is a mountable share where objects (e.g., subject files) reside on a server. A file attribute is an entity, an instance of a file classification or file system metadata. The term “file system metadata” or its acronym “FSMD” encompasses file system attributes that embodiments of the invention maintain about files. An exemplary list of file system attributes implementing embodiments of the invention can be found in the User's Guide, StoredIQ Appliance 4.0, July 2006 edition, pp. 106-125, attached as appendix A to the present application. FSMD may comprise metadata such as access and creation times, file size, etc. A content-based entity is an instance of data, type of entity, location of entity, or data match. Examples of entities can be found in the aforementioned User's Guide.

#Attention is now directed to systems, methods and apparatuses for a classification pipeline configured to provide a set of tagging and extraction services. The classification pipeline disclosed herein may be embodied in computer-executable program instructions residing on computer-readable media. In one embodiment, a system implementing the classification pipeline disclosed herein is programmed with computer-executable program instructions for extracting and/or analyzing the data of files or other objects in the filesystem (collectively referred to as objects) or metadata pertaining to these objects, in order that the objects may be classified and/or certain actions taken based on the classification of the object. Actions (e.g., executing a business policy, harvesting metadata, generating a report, etc.) may be taken based upon the classification of the object or based upon metadata associated with the objects.