Patent ID: 6760808
Filing Date: 2004-07-06
Classification: G06F,H04L,H04N,Y10S

Abstract:
A distributed data storage system for allowing one or more client systems to access data, comprising:a plurality of independent storage units for storing the data; wherein the data is stored on the plurality of storage units in files, wherein each file includes segments of data and redundancy information for each segment, wherein each segment has an identifier, and wherein, for each file, the segments and the redundancy information for each segment are distributed among the plurality of storage units; wherein each storage unit comprises: means for maintaining information associating the identifier of each segment stored on the storage unit with the location of each segment on the storage unit; means for receiving a request from one of the client systems for a segment of a file, wherein a request includes the identifier of the segment of the file; and means, operative in response to a request from one of the client systems for a segment of a file, for retrieving the requested segment of the file from the storage unit using the information associating the identifier of each segment stored on the storage unit with the location of each segment on the storage unit; and means for sending the requested segment to the client system.