Patents by Inventor William J Pothoff

William J Pothoff 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).

  • Patent number: 10565070
    Abstract: A method to efficiently create a consistent image of a database index at any point-in-time by reversing the effect of uncommitted updates by applying database transaction logs to an index page set in a single pass. The created image can be used to recover the database index to a point in time that is consistent with its associated table, or for physical migration where data and indexes are migrated to another database that may or may not be on the same DBMS and the indexes and data must be consistent as of the same point in time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 18, 2020
    Assignee: BMC Software, Inc.
    Inventors: William J. Pothoff, Thomas G. Price, Vladimir Prasolov
  • Patent number: 10366074
    Abstract: In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for ensuring a source database (e.g., target space or index space) has correct version information before a migration includes executing, using at least one processor, instructions recorded on a computer-readable storage medium. The instructions include determining whether a table has been changed since a most recent alter of the table, performing an update on the table when it is determined that the table has not been changed since the most recent alter, and performing a rollback on the table after the update. The method may also include creating an image copy of the data in the source database and refreshing data in a target database with the image copy of the data in the source database. The method may also include automatically repairing the target database when the version information of the target does not correspond with the version information for the source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: BMC Software, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard Cline, William J. Pothoff, Thomas G. Price
  • Publication number: 20190163579
    Abstract: A method to efficiently create a consistent image of a database index at any point-in-time by reversing the effect of uncommitted updates by applying database transaction logs to an index page set in a single pass. The created image can be used to recover the database index to a point in time that is consistent with its associated table, or for physical migration where data and indexes are migrated to another database that may or may not be on the same DBMS and the indexes and data must be consistent as of the same point in time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 29, 2017
    Publication date: May 30, 2019
    Inventors: William J. Pothoff, Thomas G. Price, Vladimir Prasolov
  • Publication number: 20150363458
    Abstract: In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for ensuring a source database (e.g., target space or index space) has correct version information before a migration includes executing, using at least one processor, instructions recorded on a computer-readable storage medium. The instructions include determining whether a table has been changed since a most recent alter of the table, performing an update on the table when it is determined that the table has not been changed since the most recent alter, and performing a rollback on the table after the update. The method may also include creating an image copy of the data in the source database and refreshing data in a target database with the image copy of the data in the source database. The method may also include automatically repairing the target database when the version information of the target does not correspond with the version information for the source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 27, 2015
    Publication date: December 17, 2015
    Inventors: Richard CLINE, William J. POTHOFF, Thomas G. PRICE
  • Patent number: 9152659
    Abstract: In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for ensuring a source database (e.g., target space or index space) has correct version information before a migration includes executing, using at least one processor, instructions recorded on a computer-readable storage medium. The instructions include determining whether a table has been changed since a most recent alter of the table, performing an update on the table when it is determined that the table has not been changed since the most recent alter, and performing a rollback on the table after the update. The method may also include creating an image copy of the data in the source database and refreshing data in a target database with the image copy of the data in the source database. The method may also include automatically repairing the target database when the version information of the target does not correspond with the version information for the source.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2015
    Assignee: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.
    Inventors: Richard Cline, William J. Pothoff, Thomas G. Price
  • Patent number: 8880479
    Abstract: The present description refers to a computer implemented method, computer program product, and computer system for receiving a start time, selecting one or more database objects for which a database recovery progress report is to be provided, determining, based on an object recovery table generated by the database recovery utility, which of the selected database objects have been recovered since the start time, and outputting a database recovery progress report that identifies at least a number or percentage of the selected database objects that have been recovered by the database recovery utility since the start time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 29, 2011
    Date of Patent: November 4, 2014
    Assignee: BMC Software, Inc.
    Inventors: James L. Whisenant, James T. Rabbitt, William J. Pothoff, Thomas G. Price
  • Patent number: 8818949
    Abstract: In one general aspect, a computer-implemented method for migrating data from a source database to a target database includes a computer-implemented method that includes executing, using at least one processor, instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The method includes ensuring that the source database has correct version information, creating an image copy of the data in the source database, and collecting metadata describing the source database. The metadata may include information used to verify that the target database is compatible with the source database, to automatically translate object identifiers, and to avert the migration if no data has changed in the source and the target databases (e.g., table and index spaces) since a previous migration. The method may further include refreshing the data in the target database using the image copy after determining that the source database and the target database are compatible.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Date of Patent: August 26, 2014
    Assignee: BMC Software, Inc.
    Inventors: Richard Cline, William J. Pothoff, Thomas G. Price
  • Publication number: 20130173546
    Abstract: In one general aspect, a computer-implemented method for migrating data from a source database to a target database includes a computer-implemented method that includes executing, using at least one processor, instructions recorded on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The method includes ensuring that the source database has correct version information, creating an image copy of the data in the source database, and collecting metadata describing the source database. The metadata may include information used to verify that the target database is compatible with the source database, to automatically translate object identifiers, and to avert the migration if no data has changed in the source and the target databases (e.g., table and index spaces) since a previous migration. The method may further include refreshing the data in the target database using the image copy after determining that the source database and the target database are compatible.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Publication date: July 4, 2013
    Applicant: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.
    Inventors: Richard Cline, William J. Pothoff, Thomas G. Price
  • Publication number: 20130173547
    Abstract: In one aspect, a computer-implemented method for ensuring a source database (e.g., target space or index space) has correct version information before a migration includes executing, using at least one processor, instructions recorded on a computer-readable storage medium. The instructions include determining whether a table has been changed since a most recent alter of the table, performing an update on the table when it is determined that the table has not been changed since the most recent alter, and performing a rollback on the table after the update. The method may also include creating an image copy of the data in the source database and refreshing data in a target database with the image copy of the data in the source database. The method may also include automatically repairing the target database when the version information of the target does not correspond with the version information for the source.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 30, 2011
    Publication date: July 4, 2013
    Applicant: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.
    Inventors: Richard Cline, William J. Pothoff, Thomas G. Price
  • Publication number: 20130173558
    Abstract: The present description refers to a computer implemented method, computer program product, and computer system for receiving a start time, selecting one or more database objects for which a database recovery progress report is to be provided, determining, based on an object recovery table generated by the database recovery utility, which of the selected database objects have been recovered since the start time, and outputting a database recovery progress report that identifies at least a number or percentage of the selected database objects that have been recovered by the database recovery utility since the start time.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 29, 2011
    Publication date: July 4, 2013
    Applicant: BMC SOFTWARE, INC.
    Inventors: James L. Whisenant, James T. Rabbitt, William J. Pothoff, Thomas G. Price
  • Patent number: 7933927
    Abstract: An online index building operation is disclosed for building an index from source data with minimal loss of availability to the source data. The source data can be maintained in a relational database system, such as in a tablespace of a DB2® environment. The disclosed operation creates a consistent image of the source data as of a point-in-time and creates an index from the consistent image. Then, the disclosed operation repeats the acts of making the image consistent as of a subsequent point-in-time and updating the index to reflect the subsequent consistent image until substantially caught up with the current changes to the source data. If not caught up, the disclosed operation continues unless it is falling behind at which point the operation terminates. If it is caught up, the disclosed operation locks access to the source data, updates the image to reflect any final changes, updates the index, and allows access to the index.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 17, 2004
    Date of Patent: April 26, 2011
    Assignee: BMC Software, Inc.
    Inventors: Stanley J Dee, Michael S Murley, William J Pothoff