Microsoft Technology Licensing Assigned Twenty-Three Patents

Policy based hydration behavior in cloud storage synchronization
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,616,327) developed by Nichols, Jack Allen, Bothell, WA, and Averett, Ed, Bellevue, WA, for a “policy based hydration behavior in cloud storage synchronization.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Policy based hydration behavior in cloud storage synchronization is provided. In some examples, user intent and defined policy or policies may be examined by a synchronization engine to determine when a synchronization should be aborted and instead redirected to viewing the requested file from the cloud, thereby avoiding the download. The synchronization engine may include a web interface with the ability to display and edit different types of files in this fashion. In addition to redirecting to the cloud, hydration may be blocked entirely in other examples. In a further example, a selective synchronization dialog may be launched to allow the user specify select action(s). A policy that dictates the hydration behavior may be persisted and updated as needed. To implement the policy, required operations on the local machine may be intercepted.”

The patent application was filed on September 20, 2016 (15/271,185).

Protection feature for data stored at storage service
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,616,210) developed by Bailey, Steven, Bellevue, WA, Rodrigues, John D., Woodinville, WA, and Chelarescu, Filip, Kirkland, WA, for a “protection feature for data stored at storage service.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Cloud-based storage services are provided for storing data across multiple devices, where access to the data is subject to a first authentication process. Embodiments are directed to a data protection feature to prevent accidental deletion or modification of the data stored at the cloud via unintended user actions on the clients or actions by nefarious software or hackers. For example, a data protection feature for a portion of data stored at the storage service may be selected, where the feature includes elevation of the first authentication process. An attempted operation performed on the portion of data may be detected. If the attempted operation is deletion or modification of the portion of data, a second authentication process may be prompted to enable the attempted operation to be performed on the portion of data at the storage service. The second authentication process may be elevated compared to the first authentication process.”

The patent application was filed on August 19, 2016 (15/241,116).

Utilization based dynamic resource allocation
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,616,136) developed by Hassan, Amer A., Kirkland, WA, Penar, Russell A., Highlands Ranch, CO, and Gilbert, Michael T., Thornton, CO, for “utilization based dynamic resource allocation.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Methods and systems disclosed provide for dynamically allocating resources based on a utilization of a computing resource, such as a network or a stable storage device. In one aspect, a system including processing circuitry configured to perform operations, the operations including determining, at a first time, a utilization spike of a computing resource based on a utilization threshold, automatically adjusting the utilization threshold based on the determination, determining, during a time window, one or more second utilization spikes of the computing resource based on the adjusted utilization threshold, and dynamically reallocating resources in response to the determined one or more second utilization spikes meeting a first criterion.”

The patent application was filed on April 19, 2018 (15/957,479).

Rapid data protection for storage devices
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,615,967) developed by Basmov, Innokentiy, Redmond, WA, Nystrom, Magnus Bo Gustaf, Sammamish, WA, Ferguson, Niels T., Redmond, WA, and Semenko, Alex M., Issaquah, WA, for a “rapid data protection for storage devices.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A computing device uses a data encryption and decryption system that includes a trusted runtime and an inline cryptographic processor. The trusted runtime provides a trusted execution environment, and the inline cryptographic processor provides decryption and encryption of data in-line with storage device read and write operations. When a portion, (e.g., partition) of a storage device is defined, the trusted runtime generates an encryption key and provides the encryption key to the inline cryptographic processor, which uses the encryption key to encrypt data written to the portion and decrypt data read from the portion. Access to the portion can be subsequently protected by associating the key with authentication credentials of a user or other entity. The trusted runtime protects the encryption key based on an authentication key associated with the authentication credentials, allowing subsequent access to the encryption key only in response to the proper authentication credentials being provided.”

The patent application was filed on March 20, 2014 (14/221,105).

Detection of bulk operations associated with remotely stored content
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,614,042) developed by Bailey, Steven, Bellevue, WA, Glover, Andrew, Duvall, WA, Rodrigues, John D., Woodinville, WA, and Chelarescu, Filip, Kirkland, WA, for a “detection of bulk operations associated with remotely stored content.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Cloud-based storage services are provided for storing and/or sharing content across multiple devices, where the content is periodically synchronized between the devices and the storage service. Embodiments are directed to detection of bulk operations associated with content stored at a storage service to protect users both proactively and remedially from accidental and/or nefarious content alterations propagating to the storage service and/or other devices. A model may be created based on a usage pattern associated with the content, an attempted operation performed on the content may be detected, and the attempted operation may be compared to the model to determine whether the operation deviates from the usage pattern. If the attempted operation deviates from the usage pattern, a preservation policy for the content at the storage service may be modified and a notification of the attempted operation may be provided to obtain user approval.”

The patent application was filed on August 8, 2016 (15/230,580).

Quick filename lookup using name hash
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,614,032) developed by Pudipeddi, Ravisankar V, Ghotge, Vishal V, and Thind, Ravinder S, Redmond, WA, for a “quick filename lookup using name hash.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A method of updating a file record on at least one of a first one or more computer readable storage media including writing at least three contiguous DirectoryEntry data structures corresponding to a directory entry set, the directory entry set corresponding to a file, the writing occurring to the at least one of a first one or more computer readable storage media.”

The patent application was filed on September 2, 2015 (14/842,963).

Replication control among redundant data centers
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,599,676) developed by Kapadia, Arshish, Issaquah, WA, Outcalt, Peter Adam, Bellevue, WA, and Shealy, Paul Gaston, Sammamish, WA, for a “replication control among redundant data centers.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Systems, methods, and software for management of redundant data storage centers is provided herein. An exemplary method includes redundantly storing data records across the redundant data storage centers, with a first data storage center operating as a primary data storage center configured to respond to at least user input related to the data records. The method includes placing the first data storage center into an intermediate mode which comprises ceasing response to the user input by the first data storage center and executing pending operations related to previous user input received by the first data storage center, and designating the second data storage center as the primary data storage center configured to respond to at least further user input related to the data records.”

The patent application was filed on June 14, 2016 (15/181,799).

Auto-save operation for collaborative editing of electronic documents
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,599,526) developed by Milvaney, Douglas, Cambridge, MA, and Cohen, Barak, Redmond, WA, for an “auto-save operation for collaborative editing of electronic documents.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”To manage complexity related to automatically saving an electronic document while the electronic document is collaboratively edited, an end user application running on a local client computer, while participating in collaborative editing of a shared electronic document, is configured to automatically save the electronic document based on both local user activity and external user activity received from a collaboration system on a server computer. The collaboration system implements a save protocol that maintains consistency of the electronic document among the shared storage, remote client computers and the local client computer. The local client computer determines a save interval based on information about external user activity through the server computer, the activity of a user of the end user application on the local client computer. The performance specifications for local and shared storage and the computer network also can be considered.”

The patent application was filed on January 13, 2016 (14/995,149).

Meta-copysets for fault-tolerant data storage
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,599,520) developed by Lorch, Jacob Rubin, Huang, Cheng, Bellevue, WA, Huang, Peng, Baltimore, MD, and Ogus, Aaron W., Woodinville, WA, for “meta-copysets for fault-tolerant data storage.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A system includes determination of a plurality of meta-copysets of a plurality of storage devices, each of the meta-copysets including a first number of storage devices, determination of a first copyset of a second number of storage devices from a first one of the meta-copysets, where the second number is less than the first number, storage of first data in a fault-tolerant format using the first copyset, determination to migrate the first data from a first storage device of the first copyset, and, in response to the determination to migrate the first data, determine a second copyset of the second number of storage devices including a storage device from the first meta-copyset which is not in the first copyset, and the storage devices of the first copyset except for the first storage device of the first copyset and storage of the first data in a fault-tolerant format using the second copyset.”

The patent application was filed on May 25, 2018 (15/989,589).

Cache memory with reduced power consumption mode
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,591,978) developed by Lai, Patrick P., Fremont, CA, and Shearer, Robert Allen, Woodinville, WA, for a “cache memory with reduced power consumption mode.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Processors may include cache circuitry that is a significant source of power consumption. A cache is going to be placed into a lower power mode. Based at least in part on this anticipated transition, the contents of the cache data lines are copied into persistent storage. While the cache is in the lower power mode, the tag circuitry is kept operational. When an access request is made to the cache, a relatively fast lookup of the tag in the tag array can be made. The location where the associated cache line is stored in the persistent storage may be determined from the tag data. Upon a tag hit, the system is able to find the contents of the requested cache line in the persistent storage without returning the storage array of the cache to a fully operational state.”

The patent application was filed on May 30, 2017 (15/607,921).

Extending cluster allocations in extensible file system
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,585,868) developed by Pudipeddi, Ravisankar V, Bellevue, WA, Ghotge, Vishal V, Seattle, WA, Havewala, Sarosh C., Redmond, WA, Thind, Ravinder S., Sammamish, WA, Zbikowski, Mark J., Bellevue, WA, and Goebel, David A., Seattle, WA, for “extending cluster allocations in an extensible file system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”An extensible file system format for portable storage media is provided. The extensible file system format includes the specification of primary and secondary directory entry types that may be custom defined. The primary and secondary directory entry types can be further classified as critical and benign directory entries. The directory entry types can define whether a cluster chain corresponding to a file can be contiguously allocated.”

The patent application was filed on December 15, 2016 (15/380,341).

Distributed metadata management in distributed storage
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,585,627) developed by Huang, Cheng, Redmond, WA, Edwards, Andrew James, Bellevue, WA, Mainali, Shane K., Duvall, WA, Ogus, Aaron William, Oltean, Ioan, Redmond, WA, Simitci, Huseyin, Maple Valley, WA, Wang, Ju, Santa Clara, CA, Calder, Bradley Gene, Bellevue, WA, and Xu, Yikang, Redmond, WA, for a “distributed metadata management in a distributed storage system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”In various embodiments, methods and systems for implementing a distributed metadata management system in distributed storage systems are provided. A distributed storage system operates based on data storage resources,(e.g., extents and streams). The distributed metadata management system is implemented for extent and stream metadata to facilitate the scalability of metadata processing. The distributed storage system implements extent managers and stream managers that independently manage extent and stream metadata, respectively. The extent managers are associated with an extent table that stores extent metadata. The stream managers are associated with streams that store associations with extents. The distributed metadata management system can also utilize a bootstrap layer that leverages components of a legacy distributed storage system to facilitate distributed management of extent and stream metadata. The bootstrap layer is used to store the extent table as a system table and to persist the state of the stream manager as system streams.”

The patent application was filed on March 24, 2016 (15/080,465).

Virtual storage free space management
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,585,588) developed by Mehra, Karan, Sammamish, WA, Christiansen, Neal R., Bellevue, WA, and Paleologu, Emanuel, Kirkland, WA, for a “virtual storage free space management.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Virtual storage free space management techniques may calculate a data allocation value of a virtual storage entity based on a number of storage slabs allocated with data. The virtual storage free space management techniques may further analyze a physical storage entity to determine a storage allocation value associated with the physical storage entity. The storage allocation value may be obtained by summing the storage amount in bytes associated with each of the storage slabs of the physical storage entity that is allocated to one or more virtual storage entities. A free space value associated with the virtual storage entity may be determined based on the storage allocation value and the data allocation value.”

The patent application was filed on December 19, 2017 (15/847,797).

Cloud services integrated backup and restore
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,581,966) developed by Kalach, Ran, Bellevue, WA, Ramachandraiah, Giridharan Kasirala, Bothell, WA, Sampath, Sriram, Valiyaparambil, Manoj Karunakaran, Telangana, India, and Srivastava, Abhinav, Santa Clara, CA, for “cloud services integrated backup and restore.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A system includes determination of a resource stored in a cloud storage service, identification of a first cloud service associated with the resource, determination of a first pre-backup callback and a first post-backup callback associated with the first cloud service, transmission of the first pre-backup callback to the first cloud service, reception of a return of the first pre-backup callback from the first cloud service, transmission, in response to receipt of the return, of an instruction to the cloud storage service to backup the resource, and transmission of the first post-backup callback to the first cloud service.”

The patent application was filed on May 30, 2018 (15/992,719).

Flushing in file system
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,579,523) developed by Ren, Jinglei, Liang, Chieh-Jan Mike,and Moscibroda, Thomas, Beijing, China, for “flushing in file system.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”The subject matter described herein relates to a file system with adaptive flushing for an electronic device. The file system keeps data in memory much longer and its policy for flushing in-memory write cache to storage is application-aware and adaptive. More specifically, what parts of the cached data are ready for flushing could be determined according to the access characteristic of an application. In addition, when to do flushing can be selected flexibly at least partly based on user input interactions with an application of the electronic device or with the electronic device. Further, a multi-priority scheduling mechanism for scheduling data units that are ready to be flushed could be employed, which ensures fairness among applications and further improves flushing performance.”

The patent application was filed on August 15, 2014 (15/514,780).

Calibrating vibrational output device
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,573,136) developed by Niemi, Tuomas Erkki, Sammamish, WA, and Kuivalainen, Jani Samuli, Redmond, WA, for “calibrating a vibrational output device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Examples are disclosed herein that relate to avoiding mechanical noise from operation of a vibrational output device. One example provides a computing device including a processor and a storage device storing instructions executable by the processor to vary a drive voltage applied to a vibrational output device, receive acoustic data, and from the acoustic data detect a noise signal from the vibrational output device as the drive voltage is varied. The instructions are further executable to, based upon the detected noise signal, select an operational drive voltage for the vibrational output device, and operate the vibrational output device using the operational drive voltage.”

The patent application was filed on August 31, 2017 (15/693,024).

Reducing memory usage for long standing computations
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,565,110) developed by De Smet, Bart J. F., Bellevue, WA, and Rozell, Eric Anthony, Somerville, MA, for “reducing memory usage for long standing computations.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Representative embodiments disclosed compress expressions so they utilize less physical storage. An expression is placed in a standard representation, such as an expression tree. The system utilizes one or more rules to identify portions of the expression that are likely to be common to other expressions. The common portions are extracted from the expression tree as a template and the remaining portions are hoisted from the expression as unique portions. If the template does not already reside in a cache, the template is stored in the cache. A cache reference is obtained for the template and combined with the unique portions to create a bundle that reduces storage requirements for the expression. The original expression is recovered by retrieving the template from the cache using the cache reference and placing the hoisted unique portions into their original locations in the template.”

The patent application was filed on August 2, 2016 (15/226,674).

Composite SSD identification and optimization technologies
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,564,859) developed by Shu, Frank J., and Obr, Nathan S., Bellevue, WA, for “composite solid state drive identification and optimization technologies.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Technologies for an operating system identifying SSD and CSSD devices based on a corresponding descriptor, and for optimizing operating system functionalities with respect to the SSD/CSSD device. Optimizations include disabling non-SSD/CSSD functionalities, such as HDD defragmentation, and by enabling SSD/CSSD specific functionalities, such as write optimization storage functionalities.”

The patent application was filed on March 2, 2018 (15/910,919).

Tracking internal latencies for load balancing of file server
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,564,854) developed by Skjolsvold, Arild E., Kenmore, WA, and Ji, Xinhua, Redmond, WA, for “tracking internal latencies for load balancing of file server.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”A system for load-balancing partitions of file servers of a file storage service of a cloud computing system is provided. The system collects latency information relating to access requests to access storage that is partitioned. The access requests are processed by the file servers. Each file server is assigned partitions, which are indexes to the storage. For each file server, the system generates, from the latency information, partition statistics relating to partition latency associated with each partition assigned to that file server. For each partition, the system applies rules to the statistics to determine actions to take to mitigate performance problems. Each rule has a condition and an action. When the condition of the rule is satisfied based on the partition statistics for the partition, the system records an indication to take the action of the rule.”

The patent application was filed on April 11, 2017 (15/485,161).

Snapshot and replication of multi-stream application on multiple hosts at near-sync frequency
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (RE47,852) developed by Kotagiri, Sriravi, Newaskar, Rahul, Bhave, Ajay, Hyderabad, India, and Joshi, Yadnyesh, Mumbai, India, for “snapshot and replication of a multi-stream application on multiple hosts at near-sync frequency.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Storage access requests are received from one or more applications. Multiple servers update multiple virtual disks as directed by the storage access requests. The virtual disks store data that is write order dependent across the virtual disks. Logs are associated with the virtual disks. Information associated with each storage access request is stored in one of the logs. A cycle of log switching is performed. A write order consistent tracking coordinator coordinates the log switching with agents at the servers to maintain request ordering. Replication coordinators coordinate the application of the switched-out log files from primary storage to replica storage, creating a write-order consistent point on the replica side matching the primary side, and providing for failure resiliency regarding transfer of the logs. The replication logs may be received individually on the replica side from the servers on the primary side to enable highly scalable parallel/simultaneous transfers of the logs.”

The patent application was filed on October 3, 2018 (16/151,224).

State management in distributed computing
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,560,526) developed by Coskun, Mert, Kirkland, WA, and Tarta, Mihail, Sammamish, WA, for a “state management in distributed computing systems.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Various techniques for distributed storage of state information in a computing fabric are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method includes executing a software application at a computing device of a computing fabric, and thus resulting in a change to a portion of a copy of state information associated with the software application stored in the computing device. The method also includes automatically replicating the change to the portion of the copy of state information stored on the computing device to one or more other computing devices in the computing fabric. The one or more other computing devices individually contain a copy of the state information associated with the software application.”

The patent application was filed on September 21, 2018 (16/137,912).

Detection of bulk operations associated with remotely stored content by client device
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,558,619) developed by Rodrigues, John D., Woodinville, WA, Bailey, Steven, Bellevue, WA, Glover, Andrew, Duvall, WA, and Chelarescu, Filip, Kirkland, WA, for a “detection of bulk operations associated with remotely stored content by client device.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Cloud-based storage services are provided for storing and/or sharing content across multiple devices, where the content is periodically synchronized between the devices and the storage service. Embodiments are directed to detection of bulk operations associated with content stored at a storage service to protect users both proactively and remedially from accidental and/or nefarious content alterations propagating to the storage service and/or other devices. A model based on a usage pattern monitored and provided by a client device may be received at the client device from the storage service. An attempted operation performed on the content may be detected, and the attempted operation may be compared to the model to determine whether the operation deviates from the usage pattern. If the attempted operation deviates from the usage pattern, execution of the attempted operation and synchronization of the content with the storage service may be prevented until the attempted operation is approved.”

The patent application was filed on August 17, 2016 (15/238,934).

Garbage collection implementing erasure coding
Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA, has been assigned a patent (10,558,565) developed by Oltean, Ioan, Redmond, WA, Surla, Rushi Srinivas, Kenmore, WA, Devaraju, Jegan, Redmond, WA, Sah, Maneesh, Sammamish, WA, and Johnstone, Julia, Redmond, WA, for a “garbage collection implementing erasure coding.“

The abstract of the patent published by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office states: ”Provided is a system and method for converting active data identified by a garbage collection operation into erasure coded fragments. In one example, the method may include identifying data blocks in use and interspersed among garbage data blocks not in use in cloud storage based on a garbage collection operation, extracting object data from the identified data blocks in use into a data container while leaving object data of the garbage data blocks not in use, and fragmenting a predetermined amount of extracted object data stored within the data container, the fragmenting comprising converting the predetermined amount of object data into a plurality of fragments including data fragments storing portions of the data and parity fragments for reconstructing the data, and writing the plurality of fragments in a distributed manner among a plurality of storage nodes.”

The patent application was filed on May 29, 2018 (15/990,969).