Microsoft patents cloud storage system that sorts data by age
This filing describes a method for organizing data in cloud servers by separating recent, frequently used files from older, less active ones. Recent data is kept on fast local drives, while older data is moved to shared storage and grouped into sorted lists based on how old the files are. This structure allows the system to find specific files quickly without moving the data around.
In the filing’s own words
According to examples, a cloud platform implementing a tiered storage that decouples Request Units from storage is disclosed. Data received from partitions that are characterized by corresponding partition keys is stored to the local storage medium of a virtual machine (VM) as hot data. The received data is formatted as immutable segments and stored to a disaggregated storage medium shared by a plurality of VMs. The immutable segments are grouped into sorted runs within the disaggregated storage medium and are further assigned to different levels. The hot data is deleted from a local storage medium when time-to-cold (TTC) criteria are met. The cold data can be accessed for document retrieval via a search key that includes a partition key and a documentID. Additional Request Units can be allocated or de-allocated for a portion of the cold data without moving the cold data.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. An apparatus, comprising a processor; and a memory on which are stored machine-readable instructions that when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: store, as cold data in a disaggregated storage medium, immutable segments from Virtual Machines (VMs), wherein the immutable segments include documents from partitions that are characterized by corresponding partition keys; format the cold data into sorted runs, wherein a sorted run includes at least one of the immutable segments that is arranged in non-overlapping search key ranges and wherein search keys correspond to the documents and a search key of a document includes corresponding partition key and a documentID of the document; assign the sorted runs to corresponding levels of multiple levels based on timestamps of the sorted runs; and generate metadata maps that store metadata identifying the immutable segments and the sorted runs including the immutable segments.
Facts
- Company
- Microsoft (Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC)
- Official title
- HYBRID TIERED STORAGE FOR CLOUD PLATFORMS
- Publication number
- US20260300412A1
- Application number
- 19702608
- Filed
- Jun 9, 2026
- Published
- Oct 1, 2026
- Inventors
- 8
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06F 16/93 Physics & computingG06F 9/45558 Physics & computingG06F 16/322 Physics & computingG06F 16/3331 Physics & computingG06F 16/9035 Physics & computingG06F 2009/45562 Physics & computingMore from Microsoft 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.