Data management system, primary server, and secondary server for data registration and retrieval in distributed environment

Abstract

A data management system that allows client terminals on a network to register records with search keywords to distributed data management servers and to retrieve them by entering a specific search keyword. The entire coverage area of the network is divided into a plurality of primary areas, and each primary area is further subdivided into a plurality of secondary areas. Primary and secondary servers are deployed over the network, one for each individual primary area and secondary area, respectively. The primary servers employ a primary hash function that processes a given search keyword to derive a primary server identifier indicating one of the primary servers that governs a particular primary area where the secondary server having a record relevant to the given search keyword is located. Further, the primary servers have a secondary hash function that processes a given search keyword to derive a specific secondary server identifier indicating one of the secondary servers that is located in the same primary area as their own and has a record relevant to the given search keyword. The secondary servers are also equipped with the same secondary hash function as the primary servers'. Those two hash functions are used in both data registration and data retrieval processes.