The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 09, 2016
Filed:
May. 23, 2013
Netapp, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Ling Zheng, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Blake H. Lewis, Los Altos Hills, CA (US);
Daniel W. Ting, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Robert M. English, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Stephen L. Manley, Pleasanton, CA (US);
NetApp, Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
A method for sharing data blocks in a hierarchical file system in a storage server includes allocating a plurality of data blocks in the file system, and sharing data blocks in the file system, without using a persistent point-in-time image, to avoid duplication of data blocks. A method for identifying data blocks that can be shared includes computing a fingerprint for each of multiple data blocks to be written to a storage facility and storing the fingerprint with information identifying the data block in an entry in a set of metadata. The set of metadata is used to identify data blocks which are duplicates.