Patent ID: 9244975
Filing Date: 2016-01-26
CPC Classification: G06F

Claim Text:
1. A computer-readable non-transitory medium having instructions for performing a query of a multi-level file system having a total number of folders, wherein the instructions are capable of being executed by a processor that is in communication with the file system to perform steps comprising the steps of: (a) determining by the processor querying a root level of the file system, a number of folders and a number of files at the root level of the multi-level file system, in which the number of levels is unknown and each level has at least one file or folder and at least one level has a plurality of folders and the multi-level file system can have one or more files at any level; (b) arbitrarily selecting by the processor, one of the root level folders to be a currently-selected folder; (c) determining by the processor querying the currently-selected folder, a number of sub-folders and a number of files contained in the currently-selected folder; (d) arbitrarily selecting by the processor, one of the sub-folders in the currently-selected folder to be the currently-selected folder; (e) repeating steps (c) and (d) until the currently-selected folder contains no further sub-folders, whereby steps (b)-(e) are performed for fewer than the total number of folders to thereby achieve approximate processing of aggregate and top-k queries over the file system; and (f) calculating by the processor, an estimate of a total number of files in the multi-level file system based on the determinations at steps (a) and (c), wherein the non-transitory medium does not refer to a New Technology File System with a master file table, and whereby steps (c), (d) and (e) drills down a single path of folders and sub-folders, and further comprising repeating steps (a)-(e) for a different root level folder to drill down a different single path of folders and sub-folders.