Luis A Cabrera

US Patent:

56447663, Jul 1, 1997

Filed:

Aug 23, 1996

Appl. No.:

8/697397

Inventors:

Henry Robert Coy - Boca Raton FL
Robert M. Rees - San Jose CA
Luis Felipe Cabrera - San Jose CA

Assignee:

International Business Machines Corporation - Armonk NY

International Classification:

G06F 1300
G06F 1200

US Classification:

395620

Abstract:

A system and method are provided for preserving spacial and temporal locality of sets of related objects when moving the sets within a storage hierarchy via a common server. The appropriate meta data is gathered to track the spacial and temporal locality of the sets of objects being moved within the storage hierarchy and the algorithm uses the meta data to preserve the spacial and temporal locality when moving the objects. A collection of logically clustered data objects is identified. The logical cluster is then moved down through the storage hierarchy together to be stored in less costly storage devices. The logical cluster of data objects is then retrievable more efficiently as a whole when requested.