Patents by Inventor Clifford T. Dibble

Clifford T. Dibble has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Seamless upgrades in a distributed database system
    Patent number: 8326800
    Abstract: Embodiments are directed to providing distributed database service upgrades of database server instances in a computer cluster using multiple database server instances and to monitoring and maintaining a distributed database service during upgrade. In an embodiment, each computer system in a computer cluster instantiates at least two different database server instances on each of the nodes in the cluster. The first database server instances are configured to operate using a current distributed database version and the second instances are configured to operate using a new, updated distributed database service version. The computer system receives an indication that the distributed database service is to be upgraded. Then, based on the received indication, the computer system migrates database replicas from the first database server instances to the second database server instances which operate the new, updated service version, substantially without user-visible downtime.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 18, 2011
    Date of Patent: December 4, 2012
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Conor John Cunningham, Ajay Kalhan, Clifford T. Dibble, Tomas Talius, Santeri Olavi Voutilainen, Jeffrey A. East, Alexandre Verbitski, Yixue Zhu
  • SEAMLESS UPGRADES IN A DISTRIBUTED DATABASE SYSTEM
    Publication number: 20120239616
    Abstract: Embodiments are directed to providing distributed database service upgrades of database server instances in a computer cluster using multiple database server instances and to monitoring and maintaining a distributed database service during upgrade. In an embodiment, each computer system in a computer cluster instantiates at least two different database server instances on each of the nodes in the cluster. The first database server instances are configured to operate using a current distributed database version and the second instances are configured to operate using a new, updated distributed database service version. The computer system receives an indication that the distributed database service is to be upgraded. Then, based on the received indication, the computer system migrates database replicas from the first database server instances to the second database server instances which operate the new, updated service version, substantially without user-visible downtime.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 18, 2011
    Publication date: September 20, 2012
    Applicant: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Conor John Cunningham, Ajay Kalhan, Clifford T. Dibble, Tomas Talius, Santeri Olavi Voutilainen, Jeffrey A. East, Alexandre Verbitski, Yixue Zhu
  • Specification of a hierarchical authorization model for a DBMS—SQL language extensions
    Patent number: 7613711
    Abstract: Provided are systems and methods that facilitate providing permission to entities of a database. A system includes a component that authorizes a principal of a containing entity to grant a permission to that entity, and a component that grants the permission to the containing entity, the grantee of the permission inherits a set of permissions to one or more entities contained by the containing entity. When a permission is granted to a parent in a hierarchy of a relational database, the permission is inherited by the child nodes. Also provided is a method for transferring ownership of entities in a relational database. The method includes a two-part handshake that can be audited to avoid repudiation issues.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2005
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2009
    Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
    Inventors: Tanmoy Dutta, Girish Chander, Ziquan Li, Steven Richard Gott, Clifford T. Dibble