Claims
- 1. A method for managing data comprising:
producing a probabilistically unique identifier for a digital sequence; and comparing said probabilistically unique identifier to a list of other identifiers with their corresponding digital sequences.
- 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
adding said probabilistically unique identifier to said list if said probabilistically unique identifier is not previously in said list.
- 3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
removing said probabilistically unique identifier from said list if said probabilistically unique identifier is previously in said list.
- 4. The method of claim 2 further comprising:
adding said digital sequence corresponding to said probabilistically unique identifier to said list.
- 5. The method of claim 3 further comprising:
removing said digital sequence corresponding to said probabilistically unique identifier from said list.
- 6. The method of claim 4 further comprising:
adding a correspondence between said digital sequence and said probabilistically unique identifier for that sequence.
- 7. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of producing comprises:
hashing said digital sequence to produce said probabalistically unique identifier.
- 8. The method of claim 7 wherein said step of hashing is carried out by means of an industry standard digest algorithm,
- 9. The method of claim 8 wherein said step of hashing is carried out by one of an MD4, MD5, SHA or SHA-1 algorithm.
- 10. The method of claim 1 wherein said step of producing comprises:
generating a checksum for said digital sequence to produce said probabilistically unique identifier.
- 11. The method of claim 1 wherein said digital sequence is descriptive meta data of at least one other digital sequence.
- 12. The method of claim 1 wherein said digital sequence is descriptive meta data of at least one probabilistically unique identifier.
- 13. The method of claim 1 wherein said digital sequence describes a method that represents at least one digital sequence.
- 14. A method for managing data comprising:
dividing a digital sequence into a plurality of shorter digital sequences; and producing probabilistically unique identifiers for each said plurality of shorter digital sequences; and comparing said probabilistically unique identifiers to a list of other identifiers.
- 15. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of:
dividing said digital sequence into a plurality of shorter digital sequences; and producing a like plurality of probabilistically unique identifiers corresponding to each of said plurality of shorter digital sequences.
- 16. The method of claim 14 further comprising;
comparing each plurality of identifiers to said list.
- 17. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of dividing produces said shorter digital sequences having individually variable lengths.
- 18. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of dividing is based on the content of said digital sequence.
- 19. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of dividing is based on meta data describing said digital sequence.
- 20. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of dividing produces said shorter digital sequences having substantially invariable lengths.
- 21. The method of claim 14 wherein said step of producing said like plurality of probabilistically unique identifiers comprises:
individually hashing said shorter digital sequences to produce said like plurality of probabilistically unique identifiers.
- 22. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of:
adding said plurality of shorter digital sequences and said corresponding like plurality of probabilistically unique identifiers to said list.
- 23. The method of claim 14 further comprising the step of:
removing said plurality of shorter digital sequences and said corresponding like plurality of probabilistically unique identifiers from said list.
- 24. The method of claim 9 further comprising the step of:
utilizing at least a portion of said probabilistically unique identifier as an indicator to a location in said list for said step of comparing.
- 25. A computing environment comprising:
at least one list for maintaining portions of digital sequences and corresponding probabilistically unique identifiers for each of said portions of said digital sequences; at least one new digital sequence; at least one partitioning mechanism for dividing said new digital sequence into a plurality of shorter digital sequences and producing a probabilistically unique identifier for each of said shorter digital sequences; and a comparison mechanism for determining if any one of said probabilistically unique identifiers for each of said plurality of shorter digital sequences is currently maintained in said list.
- 26. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said at least one list comprises a plurality or lists.
- 27. The computing environment of claim 26 wherein said plurality of lists, each contain a portion of said probabilistically unique identifiers.
- 28. The computing environment of claim 26 wherein at least one of said plurality of lists is physically displaced from others of said at least one list.
- 29. The computing environment of claim 26 wherein said plurality of lists is partitioned based on said probabilistically unique identifiers.
- 30. The computing environment of claim 28 wherein said plurality of lists are coupled by means of a network.
- 31. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said at least one list is physically displaced from said at least one partitioning mechanism.
- 32. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said list comprises a physically distributed database.
- 33. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said at least one partitioning mechanism and said at least one list are coupled by means of a network.
- 34. The computing environment of claim 33 wherein said network comprises a public network such as the internet.
- 35. The computing environment of claim 34 wherein said at least one partitioning mechanism and said at least one list are physically distributed.
- 36. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said probabilistically unique identifiers are produced by means of a hash function.
- 37. The computing environment of claim 36 wherein said hash function comprises an industry standard digest algorithm.
- 38. The computing environment of claim 37 wherein said hash function comprises one of MD4, MD5 SHA or SHA-1 algorithms.
- 39. The computing environment of claim 36 wherein said probabilistically unique identifiers are produced by means of a checksum.
- 40. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said digital sequences are of variable length.
- 41. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said digital sequences are of invariable length.
- 42. The computing environment of claim 31 wherein said comparison mechanism is operative to utilize at least a portion of said probabilistically unique identifiers for each of said plurality of said shorter digital sequences as a locator correlated with said list partitions.
- 43. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said digital sequence comprises a data file.
- 44. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said digital sequence comprises a data stream.
- 45. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said digital sequence comprises an executable file.
- 46. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said digital sequence comprises a database record.
- 47. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said digital sequence comprises a database index.
- 48. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said digital sequence comprises a digital device image.
- 49. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said digital sequence comprises a network packet.
- 50. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein said digital sequence comprises a digitized analog signal.
- 51. The computing environment of claim 25 wherein any of said probabilistically unique identifiers and corresponding ones of said plurality of shorter digital sequences not determined to be maintained in said at least one list are added to said at least one list.
- 52. A computer program product comprising:
a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for managing data, said computer program product comprising: computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect producing a probabilistically unique identifier for a digital sequence; and computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect comparing said probabilistically unique identifier to a list of other identifiers corresponding to other digital sequences.
- 53. The computer program product of claim 52 further comprising:
computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect adding said probabilistically unique identifier to said list if said probabilistically unique identifier is not previously in said list.
- 54. The computer program product of claim 53 further comprising:
computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect adding said corresponding digital sequence to said list.
- 55. The computer program product of claim 52 wherein said computer readable program code devices configured to cause said computer to effect producing comprises:
computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect hashing said digital sequence to produce said probabilistically unique identifier.
- 56. The computer program product of claim 55 wherein said computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect hashing is carried out by means of an industry standard digest algorithm.
- 57. The computer program product of claim 56 wherein said computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect hashing is carried out by one of an MD4, MD5, SHA or SHA-1 algorithm.
- 58. The computer program product of claim 52 wherein said computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect producing comprises: computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect generating a checksum for said digital sequence to produce said probabilistically unique identifier.
- 59. The computer program product of claim 52 further comprising:
computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect creating a directory list containing said probabilistically unique identifier for said digital sequence.
- 60. The computer program product of claim 52 further comprising:
computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect dividing said digital sequence into a plurality of shorter digital sequences; and computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect producing a like plurality of probabilistically unique identifiers corresponding to each of said plurality of shorter digital sequences.
- 61. The computer program product of claim 60 wherein said computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect dividing produces said shorter digital sequences having individually variable length.
- 62. The computer program product of claim 60 wherein said computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect dividing produces said shorter digital sequences having substantially invariable length.
- 63. The computer program product of claim 60 wherein said computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect producing said like plurality of probabilistically unique identifiers comprises:
computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect individually hashing said shorter digital sequences to produce said like plurality of probabilistically unique identifiers.
- 64. The computer program product of claim 60 further comprising:
computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect adding said plurality of shorter digital sequences and said corresponding like plurality of probabilistically unique identifiers to said list.
- 65. The computer program product of claim 52 further comprising:
computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect utilizing at least a portion of said probabilistically unique identifier as an index into a table of locations for said list for said step of comparing.
- 66. A method for establishing an identifier for at least a portion of a digital sequence comprising:
performing a function on said at least a portion of said digital sequence to produce a probabilistically unique symbol therefore; establishing a correspondence between said at least a portion of said digital sequence and said probabilistically unique symbol; and utilizing said probabilistically unique symbol as said identifier.
- 67. The method of claim 66 wherein said identifier and said corresponding at least a portion of said digital sequence are maintained in at least one data list.
- 68. The method of claim 67 wherein at least a portion of said identifier is utilizable as a pointer to a location of said corresponding at least a portion of said digital sequence within said at least one data list.
- 69. The method of claim 66 wherein said at least a portion of said digital sequence comprises at least a portion of a data file and said identifier is uniquely related to a content of said at least a portion of said data file.
- 70. The method of claim 66 wherein said at least a portion of said digital sequence comprises at least a portion of a data stream and said identifier is uniquely related to a content of said at least a portion of said data stream.
- 71. The method of claim 66 wherein said at least a portion of said digital sequence comprises at least a portion of an executable file and said identifier is uniquely related to a content of said at least a portion of said executable file.
- 72. The method of claim 66 wherein said step of performing a function is carried out by the step of:
hashing said at least a portion of said digital sequence to produce said probabilistically unique symbol.
- 73. The method of claim 72 wherein said step of hashing is carried out by means of an industry standard digest algorithm.
- 74. The method of claim 73 wherein said step of hashing is carried out by means of one of an MD4, MD5, SHA or SHA-1 algorithm.
- 75. A computer program product comprising:
a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied therein for establishing an identifier for at least a portion of a digital sequence comprising: computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect performing a function on said at least a portion of said digital sequence to produce a probabilistically unique symbol therefore; computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect establishing a correspondence between said at least a portion of said digital sequence and said probabilistically unique symbol; and computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect utilizing said probabilistically unique symbol as said identifier.
- 76. The computer program product of claim 75 wherein said identifier and said corresponding at least a portion of said digital sequence are maintained in at least one data list.
- 77. The computer program product of claim 76 wherein at least a portion of said identifier is utilizable as a pointer to a location of said corresponding at least a portion of said digital sequence within said at least one data list.
- 78. The computer program product of claim 75 wherein said at least a portion of said digital sequence comprises at least a portion of a data file and said identifier is uniquely related to a content of said at least a portion of said data file.
- 79. The computer program product of claim 75 wherein said at least a portion of said digital sequence comprises at least a portion of a data stream and said identifier is uniquely related to a content of said at least a portion of said data stream.
- 80. The computer program product of claim 75 wherein said at least a portion of said digital sequence comprises at least a portion of an executable file and said identifier is uniquely related to a content of said at least a portion of said executable file.
- 81. The computer program product of claim 75 wherein said computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect performing a function is carried out by:
computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect hashing said at least a portion of said digital sequence to produce said probabilistically unique symbol.
- 82. The computer program product of claim 81 wherein said computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect hashing is carried out by means of an industry standard digest algorithm.
- 83. The computer program product of claim 82 wherein said computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer to effect hashing is carried out by means of one of an MD4, MD5, SHA or SHA-1 algorithm.
- 84. A method for managing data comprising:
producing a probabilistically unique identifier for a digital sequence; and comparing said probabilistically unique identifier to a list of other identifiers corresponding to other digital sequences.
- 85. The method of claim 84 further comprising:
adding said probabilistically unique identifier to said list if said probabilistically unique identifier is not previously in said list.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED PATENT APPLICATIONS
[0001] The present invention claims priority from United States Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/183,762 for: “System and Method for Decentralized Data Storage” filed Feb. 18, 2000, the disclosure of which is herein specifically incorporated by this reference.
Provisional Applications (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60183762 |
Feb 2000 |
US |