Google patents database system to track unused data chunks
This filing describes a method for managing large distributed databases by tracking which data pieces are still in use. It uses a two-step process to count references and identify when a data chunk is no longer needed by any object.
In the filing’s own words
The present application relates to systems and methods for efficiently managing a data storage. The database may be a distributed database in which objects include references to a plurality of distributed data chunks. These data chunks can be referenced by a plurality of objects, and the system is configured to efficiently identify when one or more data chunks are no longer referenced by any object within the system. The system can be configured to have a two-layer architecture in which back-references for the data chunks are collected and a total count of back-references are determined. These two-layers can be based on an incremental identification of back-references, and each layer can be horizontally partitioned.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A system for database maintenance comprising: memory having metadata for a plurality of objects that each reference one or more data chunks within a database; one or more processors that are configured to: identify one or more incremental changes in references to one or more identified data chunks within the metadata; add or delete an entry within a chunk-reference table based on the identified one or more incremental changes; alter a reference count for the one or more identified data chunks within a reference-count table based on the chunk-reference table; and identify whether any entry within the reference-count table has a reference count of zero.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Google LLC)
- Official title
- Horizontally Partitionable Reference Counting System
- Publication number
- US20260300236A1
- Application number
- 19093512
- Filed
- Mar 28, 2025
- Published
- Oct 1, 2026
- Inventors
- 9
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 16/21 Physics & computingMore 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.