US 8,275,804 B2Granted

Distributed data store with a designated master to ensure consistency

AssigneeApplied Minds, LLC

InventorsIan Swett, W. Daniel Hillis

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Abstract

One machine, i.e. computer, on a network, such as associated with a distributed database, e.g. a data store or a partition thereof, is designated as a master, which alone can issue system orderstamps for transactional operations, while other machines associated with the data store or partition thereof act as any of clients that submit transactions to the master, or as slaves that adhere to updates from the master. If a transactional operation on the distributed database is attempted on a client machine, and communication cannot be established with the master machine, the transaction fails. The distributed data store having such a master provides a method that decreases transaction time across the distributed database, and maintains consistent data between separate machines.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A method implemented across a network that is associated with one or more client machines, wherein the method comprises the steps of:

providing storage of data at a data store that is distributed between a plurality of computers, wherein at least one portion of the data is duplicated across at least two of the plurality of the computers;
sending a request to implement a transactional operation on the data store, wherein the transactional operation comprises an update of at least a portion of the data in the data store, and wherein the request is sent from a selected client machine to a master machine;
generating a system orderstamp at the master machine in response to the received request, wherein the orderstamp uniquely identifies the requested transactional operation;
communicating the system orderstamp from the master machine to the selected client machine and to each of the plurality of computers at which the data to be updated in response to the requested transactional operation is stored;
and
updating the data store in response to the requested transactional operation;
wherein the data remains consistent across the data store.

4 more elements

A system implemented across a network that is associated with one or more client machines, wherein the system comprises:

a data store for storing data, wherein the data store is distributed between a plurality of computers, wherein at least one portion of the data is duplicated across at least two of the plurality of the computers;
a request to implement a transactional operation on the data store, wherein the transactional operation comprises an update of at least a portion of the data in the data store, and wherein the request is sent from a selected client machine to a master machine;
a generation of a system orderstamp at the master machine in response to the received request, wherein the orderstamp uniquely identifies the requested transactional operation;
a communication of the orderstamp from the master machine to the selected client machine and to each of the plurality of computers at which the data to be updated in response to the requested transactional operation is stored;
and
a mechanism for updating the data store in response to the requested transactional operation;
wherein the data remains consistent across the data store.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 12/558,453Filed 11 Sep 2009 · continuation in part
Priority: 15 Dec 2004
Published: US 2010/0070473 A118 Mar 2010
Granted: 25 Sep 2012
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification4 codes

G06F 16/40
Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor: of multimedia data, e.g. slideshows comprising image and…
G06F 16/27
Of structured data, e.g. relational data: replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database…
G06F 16/278
Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system…: data…
G06F
Computing and data processing

Family

Application60/636,822Us provisional application · filed 15 Dec 2004
Application11/300,950Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 14 Dec 2005
US 2010/0070473 A1Pre-grant publication · published 18 Mar 2010
US 7,590,635 B2Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 2007/0011159 A1Published application
US 8,275,804 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.