Google patents database method that speeds up data writes
This patent describes a way for servers in a distributed database to assign timestamps to data writes instead of waiting for other servers to confirm them. By giving each piece of data a specific time value, the system ensures that clients wait until that time has passed before reading the data, which keeps the information consistent while allowing the server to move on to the next task.
In the filing’s own words
Throughput is preserved in a distributed system while maintaining concurrency by pushing a commit wait period to client commit paths and to future readers. As opposed to servers performing commit waits, the servers assign timestamps, which are used to ensure that causality is preserved. When a server executes a transaction that writes data to a distributed database, the server acquires a user-level lock, and assigns the transaction a timestamp equal to a current time plus an interval corresponding to bounds of uncertainty of clocks in the distributed system. After assigning the timestamp, the server releases the user-level lock. Any client devices, before performing a read of the written data, must wait until the assigned timestamp is in the past.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A server, comprising: a local clock; at least one input/output to communicate with other servers and clients in a distributed computing environment; and one or more processors configured to: receive a first request from a first client to write first data; assign a first value to the first data, the first value to be used by the clients to preserve causality; write the first data to a memory in the distributed computing environment; and communicate the first value to the clients in the distributed computing environment.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Google LLC)
- Official title
- High-throughput algorithm for multiversion concurrency control with globally synchronized time
- Patent number
- US12756756B2
- Application number
- 18748656
- Filed
- Jun 20, 2024
- Granted
- Oct 6, 2026
- Inventors
- 2
- Claims
- 17
Classified under
H04L 67/1097 Electricity & electronicsG06F 9/526 Physics & computingG06F 12/084 Physics & computingG06F 16/1767 Physics & computingG06F 16/2329 Physics & computingH04L 67/1095 Electricity & electronicsMore from Google in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.