Amazon Assigned Sixteen Patents

Data retrieval from heterogeneous storage systems
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,189,515) developed by Tamilmani, Karthik, Redmond, WA, and Kalki, Santosh, Sammamish, WA, for a “data retrieval from heterogeneous storage systems.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Techniques are described for retrieving data stored in disparate datastores that support different or heterogeneous storage systems. A report description may be received from a user, the report description including multiple query templates for generating queries to retrieve data from the disparate datastores. The report description may be analyzed to determine input parameters for generating the queries. A user interface may be dynamically generated to solicit input values corresponding to the input parameters. On receiving the input values, the system may generate and execute the queries of the query plan, and combine the results based on result combination information included in the report description.“

The patent application was filed on March 8, 2013 (13/791,453).

Frequent data set captures for volume forensics
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,189,343) developed by Brandwine, Eric Jason, Haymarket, VA, for a “frequent data set captures for volume forensics.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Techniques, including systems and methods, take frequent captures of data sets for the purpose of forensic analysis. The data set captures are taken at the block level in various embodiments. Data set captures are used to instantiate forensic storage volumes that are attached to computing instances. The computing instances can access data in the forensic storage volumes at a state corresponding to a specified capture time. A user can select different capture times to re-instantiate the forensic storage volume to see how the forensic storage volume changed between captures.“

The patent application was filed on December 17, 2014 (14/574,247).

Transferring data for remote storage
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,167,313) developed by Bacco, Edward M., Bainbridge Island, WA, for a “methods and system for transferring data for remote storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method of transferring video data for storage at a remote location includes storing the video data recorded at a site to a local storage device at the site. The local storage device is coupled to a remote storage device by way of a network connection. Available bandwidth of the network connection between the local storage device and the remote storage device is automatically monitored. Upon one or more predetermined criteria being met for available bandwidth, video data from the local storage device is transferred to the remote storage device over the network connection. The time of initiation of transfer of the video data or the rate of transfer of the video data over the network connection may be based on the available bandwidth of the network connection at one or more times.“

The patent application was filed on October 27, 2011 (13/283,417).

Distributed storage system with web services client interface
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,166,863) developed by Vermeulen, Allan H., Seattle, WA, Atlas, Alan B., Bellevue, WA, Barth, David M., Cormie, John David, Fischman, Ami K., Sorenson, III, James Christopher, and Wagner, Eric M., Seattle, WA, for a “distributed storage system with web services client interface.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A distributed, web-services based storage system. A system may include a web services interface configured to receive, according to a web services protocol, a given client request for access to a given data object, the request including a key value corresponding to the object. The system may also include storage nodes configured to store replicas of the objects, where each replica is accessible via a respective unique locator value, and a keymap instance configured to store a respective keymap entry for each object. For the given object, the respective keymap entry includes the key value and each locator value corresponding to replicas of the object. A coordinator may receive the given client request from the web services interface, responsively access the keymap instance to identify locator values corresponding to the key value and, for a particular locator value, retrieve a corresponding replica from a corresponding storage node.“

The patent application was filed on March 8, 2013 (13/791,414).

Inexpensive deletion in data storage system
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,165,002) developed by Lazier, Colin L., Seattle, WA, for a “inexpensive deletion in a data storage system.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems and methods are provided herein for storing data to enable inexpensive and/or guaranteed deletion of data. In various embodiments, a customer specifies a data deletion indication associated with a data object to be stored, specifying when and/or how to delete the data object. Such a data deletion indication may be based, for example, on a regulatory compliance requirement. Based at least in part on the data deletion indication, the storage system may select, from a plurality of storage devices, a storage device to store the data object. Data objects with similar data deletion indications may be stored in the same storage device. In some embodiments, a data object stored in a storage device using the methods described herein may be deleted as part of the deletion of all or a portion of the storage device near a time specified by the data deletion indication of the data object.“

The patent application was filed on June 27, 2012 (13/535,195).

Cross-region recovery of encrypted, erasure-encoded data
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,158,927) developed by Franklin, Paul David, Lake Forest Park, WA, and Donlan, Bryan James, Seattle, WA, for a “cross-region recovery of encrypted, erasure-encoded data.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Reliable and efficient storage and reconstruction of secure data files is provided. Encrypted fragments are generated by exclusive-OR, XOR) based erasure-encoding and XOR encryption of data files. At least some of the encrypted fragments, and preferably at least two copies of such encrypted fragments, are stored at two or more locations, such as but not limited to two or more servers in two or more regional storage systems. Fragments are retrieved from one or more of the multiple locations and the original data file is reconstructed, even if different encryption techniques have been used. If not enough valid fragments from that original data file can be identified then hash values, checksums, seeds, and other techniques may be used to distinguish files and to identify related or identical files which may be used to reconstruct the data file.“

The patent application was filed on June 24, 2013 (13/925,497).

Verified hardware-based erasure of data on distributed systems
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,152,505) developed by Brooker, Marc J., Richardson, David R., Seattle, WA, Parthasarathy, Madhuvanesh, Renton, WA, and Certain, Tate Andrew, Seattle, WA, for a “verified hardware-based erasure of data on distributed systems.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems, methods and related processes for securely erasing and/or rendering permanently inaccessible data stored on storage systems securely erased is described. Such storage systems may, in some aspects, integrate hardware capable of secure erasure. In some aspects, a cryptographically-based system is utilized.“

The patent application was filed on March 29, 2012 (13/434,580).

Versioning-capable data storage devices
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,141,309) developed by Brooker, Marc J., Richardson, David R., Seattle, WA, Parthasarathy, Madhuvanesh, Renton, WA, and Certain, Tate Andrew, Seattle, WA, for a “versioning-capable data storage devices.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data storage device is modified or adapted to support the storage and retrieval of versioned data sets. In some embodiments, the modified or adapted data storage device is capable of writing and tracking multiple data sets per logical location, and is capable of retrieving a specific versioned data set upon receiving a read request for that version of the data set.“

The patent application was filed on March 29, 2012 (13/434,749).

Managing secure content in content delivery network
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,130,756) developed by Richardson, David R., Abrar, Mustafa I., Johnson, Don, Cormie, John, Marshall, Bradley E., and Cavage, Mark Joseph, Seattle, WA, for a “managing secure content in a content delivery network.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A system, method, and computer readable medium for managing secure content by CDN service providers are provided. A network storage provider stores one or more resources on behalf of a content provider. A CDN service provider obtains client computing device requests for secure content. Based on processing first signature information, the CDN service provider determines whether the secure content is available to the client computing device. If the CDN service provider does not maintain the requested content, the CDN service provider transmits a request to the network storage provider. Based on second signature information and an identifier associated with the CDN service provider, the network storage provider processes the request based policy information associated with the identifier.“

The patent application was filed on March 11, 2013 (13/794,415).

Image-based object location
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,129,179) developed by Wong, Peter C., Seattle, WA, for a “image-based object location.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Disclosed herein are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable storage media for identifying objects within images. Analysis are performed, comparing metadata, tags, and similarity of images, to determine trends and similarity. Based on these trends and similarities, metadata and tags are copied and generated, with the associated images then being more closely associated with one another. These images can then be organized in more meaningful and useful formats. The associated objects can also be used to provide a user with information about an object located in an image provided by a user, where the information can include location, pricing, availability, or other such information that can be determined from the metadata, tags, and other information associated with the images.“

The patent application was filed on May 10, 2012 (13/468,944).

Correlated failure zones for data storage
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,110,797) developed by Lazier, Colin L., Seattle, WA, for a “correlated failure zones for data storage.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Techniques for optimizing data storage are disclosed herein. In particular, methods and systems for implementing redundancy encoding schemes with data storage systems are described. The redundancy encoding schemes may be scheduled according to system and data characteristics. The schemes may span multiple tiers or layers of a storage system. The schemes may be generated, for example, in accordance with a transaction rate requirement, a data durability requirement or in the context of the age of the stored data. The schemes may be designed to rectify entropy-related effects upon data storage. The schemes may include one or more erasure codes or erasure coding schemes. Additionally, methods and systems for improving and/or accounting for failure correlation of various components of the storage system, including that of storage devices such as hard disk drives, are described.“

The patent application was filed on June 27, 2012 (13/535,281).

Triggered data shelving to different storage system and storage deallocation
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,110,600) developed by Brooker, Marc J., Lee, Kerry Q., Seattle, WA, Leshinsky, Yan V., Kirkland, WA, and Grieman, Jonathon E. B., Vancouver, Canada, for a “triggered data shelving to a different storage system and storage deallocation.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A data volume may be shelved based at least in part on statistical triggers associated with the data, a user of the data, or a system configured to store and/or manage the data. Upon receiving a request to detach a data volume from a computing device, a determination of whether the data volume should be shelved may be made. In some aspects, the data volume may be shelved by moving the data to another storage system, storing an identifier of the data volume, and de-allocating space associated with the shelved data such that the shelved data is no longer maintained in the storage system. Further, in some aspects, upon a request to attach the data volume, the data may be moved back, the original identifier may be re-assigned to the data volume, and the data volume may be re-attached to the computing device.“

The patent application was filed on March 19, 2012 (13/424,290).

Disk sector failure prediction
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,105,308) developed by Brooker, Marc J., Seattle, WA, for a “system and method for disk sector failure prediction.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A system and method for predicting the likelihood of failure of the individual sectors of a magnetic storage disk based upon the monitoring of adjacent sector performance in responding to access requests. The prediction for a specific target sector’s fidelity can be made through the gathering of sector performance data that occurs during normal read/write actions to the adjacent sectors, without a recent access request necessarily being made to the target sector. Scrubbing of the sectors can also be directed based upon the needed sector access data for target sector fidelity prediction.“

The patent application was filed on June 23, 2014 (14/311,888).

Archival data organization and management
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,092,441) developed by Patiejunas, Kestutis, Lazier, Colin L., Sorenson, III, James Christopher, Seigle, Mark C., and Claiborn, Christian L., Seattle, WA, for a “archival data organization and management.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods and systems are provided herein that facilitate cost-effective, scalable and reliable archival data organization and management. In an embodiment, data are redundantly encoded and stored to provide data reliability. Further, encoded data may be stored in self-describing storage entities that provide information describing data stored therein. Information provided by self-describing storage entities may be used to construct a limited map that is usable to facilitate data placement and data location services during data storage and retrieval. Data reliability and durability is provided because information about data stored in the system is mostly contained in the storage entities themselves. Cost efficiency is provided because only a limited map is provided for efficiency purposes instead of a potentially large global index data structure.“

The patent application was filed on August 8, 2012 (13/570,029).

Adjusting membership of data replication group
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,069,827) developed by Rath, Timothy Andrew, Seattle, WA, Kulesza, Jakub, Bellevue, WA, and Lutz, David A., Renton, WA, for a “system and method for adjusting membership of a data replication group.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A system that implements a data storage service may store data on behalf of storage service clients. The system may maintain data in multiple replicas of partitions that are stored on respective computing nodes in the system. A master replica for a replica group may increment a membership version indicator for the group, and may propagate metadata, including the membership version indicator) indicating a membership change for the group to other members of the group. Propagating the metadata may include sending a log record containing the metadata to the other replicas to be appended to their respective logs. Once the membership change becomes durable, it may be committed. A replica attempting to become the master of a replica group may determine that another replica in the group has observed a more recent membership version, in which case logs may be synchronized or snipped, or the attempt may be abandoned.“

The patent application was filed on January 17, 2012 (13/352,060).

Virtual data storage service with sparse provisioning
Amazon Technologies, Inc., Reno, NV, has been assigned a patent (9,053,004) developed by Paterson-Jones, Roland, Seattle, WA, Jain, Sachin, Issaquah, WA, and Certain, Tate Andrew, Seattle, WA, for a “virtual data storage service with sparse provisioning.”

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Virtual data stores may be sparsely provisioned by virtual data storage services in a manner that controls risk of implementation resource shortages. Relationships between requested data storage space size, data storage server capacity, allocated data storage space size and/or allocated data storage space utilization may be tracked on a per data store, per customer, per data storage server, and/or a per virtual data storage service basis. For each such basis, a set of constraints may be specified to control the relationships. The set of constraints may be enforced during implementation resource allocation, and by migration of data storage space portions to different implementation resources as part of a sparse provisioning load balancing. Sparse provisioning details may be made explicit to virtual data storage service customers to varying degrees including explicit, aggregate on a per customer basis, and aggregate on a per virtual data storage service basis.“

The patent application was filed on October 6, 2014 (14/507,752).