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US 8,572,728 B2Granted
Initiation of storage device scans
AssigneeHewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
InventorNorman Brown
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Example embodiments relate to initiation of storage device scans based on a record of existing scans of the storage device. In particular, example embodiments include a mechanism that maintains a record of existing scans of the storage device including an entry for each scan initiated by one of a plurality of scanning processes. In some embodiments, the record of existing scans may then be accessed in determining whether to initiate or permit initiation of a new scan.
Claims6
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a computing device, the storage medium comprising:
- instructions for receiving an indication to initiate a new scan of a storage device accessible to the computing device;
- instructions for accessing a record of existing scans of the storage device to determine whether to initiate the new scan, the record of existing scans including an entry for each in-progress scan of the storage device and comprising, for each existing scan, an identifier of the scan, an identifier of the process that initiated the scan, an indicator specifying whether the scan is currently in progress, a date and time at which the scan initiated or will be initiated, and an estimated duration for completing the scan;
- instructions for initiating the new scan when the record of existing scans indicates that a total number of in-progress scans of the storage device is less than a predetermined threshold, and updating the record of existing scans to include an entry for the new scan when the new scan is initiated;
- and
- instructions for at least one of notifying a respective process of a particular time at which the respective process may attempt to initiate the new scan and notifying the respective process at a later time when the new scan can be started based on completion of one or more existing scans by other scanning processes, wherein:
- the record of existing scans identifies an estimated time of completion of each in-progress scan, and
- the instructions for initiating the new scan begin the new scan at an earliest estimated time of completion.
4 more elements
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a computing device, the storage medium comprising:
- instructions for receiving an indication to initiate a new scan of a storage device accessible to the computing device;
- instructions for accessing a record of existing scans of the storage device to determine whether to initiate the new scan, the record of existing scans including an entry for each in-progress scan of the storage device and comprising, for each existing scan, an identifier of the scan, an identifier of the process that initiated the scan, an indicator specifying whether the scan is currently in progress, a date and time at which the scan initiated or will be initiated, and an estimated duration for completing the scan;
- instructions for initiating the new scan when the record of existing scans indicates that a total number of in-progress scans of the storage device is less than a predetermined threshold, and updating the record of existing scans to include an entry for the new scan when the new scan is initiated;
- instructions for at least one of notifying a respective process of a particular time at which the respective process may attempt to initiate the new scan and notifying the respective process at a later time when the new scan can be started based on completion of one or more existing scans by other scanning processes;
- and
- instructions for estimating a scan duration of the new scan,
- wherein the instructions for updating the record of existing scans include the estimated scan duration in the entry for the new scan.
4 more elements
A computing device comprising:
- a processor;
- a storage device;
- a record of existing scans of the storage device initiated by a plurality of scanning processes, the record of existing scans identifying all scans of the storage device currently in progress and comprising, for each existing scan, an identifier of the scan, an identifier of the process that initiated the scan, an indicator specifying whether the scan is currently in progress, a date and time at which the scan initiated or will be initiated, and an estimated duration for completing the scan;
- and
- a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by the processor, the medium comprising:
- instructions for receiving a message from a respective process of the plurality of scanning processes, the message indicating that the respective process is to initiate a new scan,
- instructions for accessing the record of existing scans and initiating the new scan by the respective process when the record of existing scans indicates that a total number of scans of the storage device currently in progress is below a predetermined threshold, instructions for updating the record of existing scans with a new entry containing information regarding the new scan to be initiated by the respective process, instructions for notifying the respective process when analysis of the record of existing scans indicates that the new scan cannot be started immediately, and
- instructions for at least one of notifying the respective process of a particular time at which the respective process may attempt to initiate the new scan and notifying the respective process at a later time when the new scan can be started based on completion of one or more existing scans by other scanning processes.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.