G06F 16/10 - Definition

Definition statement

This subclass covers:

Details of file systems and file servers.

In particular, all aspects of generating, accessing or managing files.

Relationship between large subject matter areas

G06F 16/10 covers all aspects related to files where the internal structure and size of a file is independent of the underlying physical storage system used to store the file. This characteristic distinguishes this group from the technical field G06F 3/06 which covers all aspects of storing and managing data in physical storage systems where the used storage containers, e.g. volumes, LUNs, blocks, sectors, etc., depend on the individual physical storage system. Thus, G06F 3/06 covers the use of storage oriented or storage dependent data containers whereas G06F 16/10 covers the use of application oriented and storage independent data containers. In other words, files and directories provide a logical storage organisation on top of a physical storage layout.

Informative references

Attention is drawn to the following places, which may be of interest for search:

Details of block level storage systems	G06F 3/06
Details of error detection and correction	G06F 11/14
Addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means, e.g. caches	G06F 12/0802
Protecting data against unauthorised access or modification	G06F 21/00

Special rules of classification

The classification system of G06F 16/10 is organised in two dimensions. Subgroups G06F 16/11 to G06F 16/17 define different functional aspects of a standard file system. These functional aspects define the first dimension. The subgroup G06F 16/18 defines additional aspects of different file system types. These file system types represent the second dimension. Double classification for functional aspects according to the first dimension and for additional aspects of different file system types according to the second dimension may be considered if a contribution in both dimensions is present.

Glossary of terms

In this subclass, the following terms or expressions are used with the meaning indicated:

Data backup	A copy of data created by replicating persistent data from a given storage medium (not from a volatile memory) at a particular point in time for the purpose of potentially later recovering said data in the state it was at said particular point in time. The recovery can either occur through restoration of said replicated data onto a storage medium or memory, or by using the memory/medium onto which the copy was created. A backup of data is typically used to at least partially correct or restore lost or corrupted data, although it is accepted that the restored state usually is not identical to the state when the data loss occurred, i.e. some data may be unrecoverable.
File	A file is an abstract data container used in file systems to manage a set of data. The internal structure of a file is normally not known by the file system, i.e. the file is opaque from the viewpoint of the file system. The internal structure and size of a file is defined by the application generating and using the file but is independent of the underlying physical storage system used to store the file.
File system	A file system (or filesystem) is a means to organise data expected to be retained after a program terminates by providing procedures to store, retrieve and update data.
Hierarchical Storage Management (HSM)	A particular case of data migration wherein the target medium is lower in a hierarchical storage system, and is used for less frequently used data or for data that is no longer actively used. The target medium is suitable for longer term storage, is slower and has lower cost per unit of data. In contrast to backup, HSM systems do not provide an additional instance of the data.
Data migration	Moving data from one memory or storage medium to another without effectively replicating it since ultimately only one copy persists. Examples: transferring data from a disk to another one having different reliability, performance or cost properties.
Data replication	The act of creating several instances of the same data of which at least two are available in the absence of errors and modifications of the original data. The different instances may be stored on different locations of a given storage medium or memory or they may be stored on physically distinct media or memories. The concept of replication is independent of the purpose it is used for. E.g. replication may be used for potential restoration of data, for load balancing and performance improvement, for fault tolerance, or for increasing the availability of data, etc. Data replication can occur at different levels of abstraction, e.g. at database level, at file system level, at the level of disk/storage I/O operations or at the level of (main) memory pages or even individual memory write instructions