Patents by Inventor Michael James Boyer Epstein

Michael James Boyer Epstein 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: 11953938
    Abstract: The present technology proposes techniques for generating globally coherent timestamps. This technology may allow distributed systems to causally order transactions without incurring various types of communication delays inherent in explicit synchronization. By globally deploying a number of time masters that are based on various types of time references, the time masters may serve as primary time references. Through an interactive interface, the techniques may track, calculate and record data relative to each time master thus providing the distributed systems with causal timestamps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2022
    Date of Patent: April 9, 2024
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Peter Hochschild, Alexander Lloyd, Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Robert Edman Felderman, Michael James Boyer Epstein
  • Patent number: 11789938
    Abstract: The present technology proposes techniques for ensuring globally consistent transactions. This technology may allow distributed systems to ensure the causal order of read and write transactions across different partitions of a distributed database. By assigning causally generated timestamps to the transactions based on one or more globally coherent time services, the timestamps can be used to preserve and represent the causal order of the transactions in the distributed system. In this regard, certain transactions may wait for a period of time after choosing a timestamp in order to delay the start of any second transaction that might depend on it. The wait may ensure that the effects of the first transaction are not made visible until its timestamp is guaranteed to be in the past. This may ensure that a consistent snapshot of the distributed database can be determined for any past timestamp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Alexander Lloyd, Peter Hochschild, Michael James Boyer Epstein, Sean Quinlan
  • Patent number: 11520753
    Abstract: The subject matter described herein provides techniques to ensure that queries of a distributed database observe a consistent read of the database without locking or logging. In this regard, next-write timestamps uniquely identify a set of write transactions whose updates can be observed by reads. By publishing the next-write timestamps from within an extendable time lease and tracking a “safe timestamp,” the database queries can be executed without logging read operations or blocking future write transactions, and clients issuing the queries at the “safe timestamp” observe a consistent view of the database as it exists on or before that timestamp. Aspects of this disclosure also provide for extensions, done cheaply and without the need for logging, to the range of timestamps at which read transactions can be executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 6, 2022
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Eric Hugh Veach, Michael James Boyer Epstein, Alexander Lloyd
  • Patent number: 11442925
    Abstract: The present technology proposes techniques for ensuring globally consistent transactions. This technology may allow distributed systems to ensure the causal order of read and write transactions across different partitions of a distributed database. By assigning causally generated timestamps to the transactions based on one or more globally coherent time services, the timestamps can be used to preserve and represent the causal order of the transactions in the distributed system. In this regard, certain transactions may wait for a period of time after choosing a timestamp in order to delay the start of any second transaction that might depend on it. The wait may ensure that the effects of the first transaction are not made visible until its timestamp is guaranteed to be in the past. This may ensure that a consistent snapshot of the distributed database can be determined for any past timestamp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 13, 2022
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Alexander Lloyd, Peter Hochschild, Michael James Boyer Epstein, Sean Quinlan
  • Patent number: 11353917
    Abstract: The present technology proposes techniques for generating globally coherent timestamps. This technology may allow distributed systems to causally order transactions without incurring various types of communication delays inherent in explicit synchronization. By globally deploying a number of time masters that are based on various types of time references, the time masters may serve as primary time references. Through an interactive interface, the techniques may track, calculate and record data relative to each time master thus providing the distributed systems with causal timestamps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Peter Hochschild, Alexander Lloyd, Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Robert Edman Felderman, Michael James Boyer Epstein
  • Patent number: 10783133
    Abstract: The subject matter described herein provides techniques to ensure that queries of a distributed database observe a consistent read of the database without locking or logging. In this regard, next-write timestamps uniquely identify a set of write transactions whose updates can be observed by reads. By publishing the next-write timestamps from within an extendable time lease and tracking a “safe timestamp,” the database queries can be executed without logging read operations or blocking future write transactions, and clients issuing the queries at the “safe timestamp” observe a consistent view of the database as it exists on or before that timestamp. Aspects of this disclosure also provide for extensions, done cheaply and without the need for logging, to the range of timestamps at which read transactions can be executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 23, 2017
    Date of Patent: September 22, 2020
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Eric Hugh Veach, Michael James Boyer Epstein, Alexander Lloyd
  • Patent number: 10775837
    Abstract: The present technology proposes techniques for generating globally coherent timestamps. This technology may allow distributed systems to causally order transactions without incurring various types of communication delays inherent in explicit synchronization. By globally deploying a number of time masters that are based on various types of time references, the time masters may serve as primary time references. Through an interactive interface, the techniques may track, calculate and record data relative to each time master thus providing the distributed systems with causal timestamps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Peter Hochschild, Alexander Lloyd, Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Robert Edman Felderman, Michael James Boyer Epstein
  • Patent number: 10042881
    Abstract: The present technology proposes techniques for ensuring globally consistent transactions. This technology may allow distributed systems to ensure the causal order of read and write transactions across different partitions of a distributed database. By assigning causally generated timestamps to the transactions based on one or more globally coherent time services, the timestamps can be used to preserve and represent the causal order of the transactions in the distributed system. In this regard, certain transactions may wait for a period of time after choosing a timestamp in order to delay the start of any second transaction that might depend on it. The wait may ensure that the effects of the first transaction are not made visible until its timestamp is guaranteed to be in the past. This may ensure that a consistent snapshot of the distributed database can be determined for any past timestamp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 7, 2018
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Alexander Lloyd, Peter Hochschild, Michael James Boyer Epstein, Sean Quinlan
  • Patent number: 10037346
    Abstract: The subject matter described herein provides techniques to ensure that queries of a distributed database observe a consistent read of the database without locking or logging. In this regard, next-write timestamps uniquely identify a set of write transactions whose updates can be observed by reads. By publishing the next-write timestamps from within an extendable time lease and tracking a “safe timestamp,” the database queries can be executed without logging read operations or blocking future write transactions, and clients issuing the queries at the “safe timestamp” observe a consistent view of the database as it exists on or before that timestamp. Aspects of this disclosure also provide for extensions, done cheaply and without the need for logging, to the range of timestamps at which read transactions can be executed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 26, 2012
    Date of Patent: July 31, 2018
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Eric Hugh Veach, Michael James Boyer Epstein, Alexander Lloyd
  • Patent number: 9915970
    Abstract: The present technology proposes techniques for generating globally coherent timestamps. This technology may allow distributed systems to causally order transactions without incurring various types of communication delays inherent in explicit synchronization. By globally deploying a number of time masters that are based on various types of time references, the time masters may serve as primary time references. Through an interactive interface, the techniques may track, calculate and record data relative to each time master thus providing the distributed systems with causal timestamps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 28, 2015
    Date of Patent: March 13, 2018
    Assignee: Google LLC
    Inventors: Peter Hochschild, Alexander Lloyd, Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Robert Edman Felderman, Michael James Boyer Epstein
  • Patent number: 9774676
    Abstract: A system, computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, and a computer-implemented method for identifying a storage group in a distributed storage system into which data is to be stored is presented. A data structure including information relating to storage groups in a distributed storage system is maintained, where a respective entry in the data structure for a respective storage group includes placement metrics for the respective storage group. A request to identify a storage group into which data is to be stored is received from a computer system. The data structure is used to determine an identifier for a storage group whose placement metrics satisfy a selection criterion. The identifier for the storage group whose placement metrics satisfy the selection criterion is returned to the computer system.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 21, 2013
    Date of Patent: September 26, 2017
    Assignee: GOOGLE INC.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Adgate Dean, Sanjay Ghemawat, Yasushi Saito, Andrew Fikes, Christopher Jorgen Taylor, Sean Quinlan, Michal Piotr Szymaniak, Sebastian Kanthak, Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Alexander Lloyd, Michael James Boyer Epstein
  • Patent number: 9569253
    Abstract: The present technology proposes techniques for ensuring globally consistent transactions. This technology may allow distributed systems to ensure the causal order of read and write transactions across different partitions of a distributed database. By assigning causally generated timestamps to the transactions based on one or more globally coherent time services, the timestamps can be used to preserve and represent the causal order of the transactions in the distributed system. In this regard, certain transactions may wait for a period of time after choosing a timestamp in order to delay the start of any second transaction that might depend on it. The wait may ensure that the effects of the first transaction are not made visible until its timestamp is guaranteed to be in the past. This may ensure that a consistent snapshot of the distributed database can be determined for any past timestamp.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 30, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 14, 2017
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Alexander Lloyd, Peter Hochschild, Michael James Boyer Epstein, Sean Quinlan
  • Patent number: 9535969
    Abstract: A system and method for conflict-free two-way synchronization between a primary repository and a secondary repository, which may be a mirror of the primary repository, are disclosed. An example method includes receiving a child revision associated with a parent revision in a secondary repository. The parent revision may be pointed to by a second user-visible reference in the secondary repository. The hidden reference to the child revision may be stored in a temporary storage area in the secondary repository that is hidden from view of user operations. A first user-visible reference in the primary repository that corresponds to the second user-visible reference in the secondary repository may be identified. This first-user-visible reference may point to a revision in the primary repository. Then, the revision to which the first user-visible reference in the primary repository points may be compared with the revision to which the second user-visible reference in the secondary repository points.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 2014
    Date of Patent: January 3, 2017
    Assignee: GOOGLE INC.
    Inventors: Michael James Boyer Epstein, Abhishek Sheopory
  • Patent number: 9203600
    Abstract: The present technology proposes techniques for generating globally coherent timestamps. This technology may allow distributed systems to causally order transactions without incurring various types of communication delays inherent in explicit synchronization. By globally deploying a number of time masters that are based on various types of time references, the time masters may serve as primary time references. Through an interactive interface, the techniques may track, calculate and record data relative to each time master thus providing the distributed systems with causal timestamps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2014
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Hochschild, Alexander Lloyd, Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Robert Edman Felderman, Michael James Boyer Epstein
  • Patent number: 9069835
    Abstract: A distributed storage system is provided. The distributed storage system includes multiple front-end servers and zones for managing data for clients. Data within the distributed storage system is associated with a plurality of accounts and divided into a plurality of groups, each group including a plurality of splits, each split being associated with a respective account, and each group having multiple tablets and each tablet managed by a respective tablet server of the distributed storage system. Data associated with different accounts may be replicated within the distributed storage system using different data replication policies. There is no limit to the amount of data for an account by adding new splits to the distributed storage system. In response to a client request for a particular account's data, a front-end server communicates such request to a particular zone that has the client-requested data and returns the client-requested data to the requesting client.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 20, 2013
    Date of Patent: June 30, 2015
    Assignee: GOOGLE INC.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Adgate Dean, Michael James Boyer Epstein, Andrew Fikes, Sanjay Ghemawat, Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Alexander Lloyd, Yasushi Saito, Michal Piotr Szymaniak, Sebastian Kanthak, Chris Jorgen Taylor
  • Patent number: 8938636
    Abstract: The present technology proposes techniques for generating globally coherent timestamps. This technology may allow distributed systems to causally order transactions without incurring various types of communication delays inherent in explicit synchronization. By globally deploying a number of time masters that are based on various types of time references, the time masters may serve as primary time references. Through an interactive interface, the techniques may track, calculate and record data relative to each time master thus providing the distributed systems with causal timestamps.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 2012
    Date of Patent: January 20, 2015
    Assignee: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Peter Hochschild, Alexander Lloyd, Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Robert Edman Felderman, Michael James Boyer Epstein
  • Publication number: 20130346540
    Abstract: A system, computer-readable storage medium storing at least one program, and a computer-implemented method for identifying a storage group in a distributed storage system into which data is to be stored is presented. A data structure including information relating to storage groups in a distributed storage system is maintained, where a respective entry in the data structure for a respective storage group includes placement metrics for the respective storage group. A request to identify a storage group into which data is to be stored is received from a computer system. The data structure is used to determine an identifier for a storage group whose placement metrics satisfy a selection criterion. The identifier for the storage group whose placement metrics satisfy the selection criterion is returned to the computer system.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 21, 2013
    Publication date: December 26, 2013
    Applicant: Google Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Adgate Dean, Sanjay Ghemawat, Yasushi Saito, Andrew Fikes, Christopher Jorgen Taylor, Sean Quinlan, Michal Piotr Szymaniak, Sebastian Kanthak, Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Alexander Lloyd, Michael James Boyer Epstein
  • Publication number: 20130339295
    Abstract: A distributed storage system is provided. The distributed storage system includes multiple front-end servers and zones for managing data for clients. Data within the distributed storage system is associated with a plurality of accounts and divided into a plurality of groups, each group including a plurality of splits, each split being associated with a respective account, and each group having multiple tablets and each tablet managed by a respective tablet server of the distributed storage system. Data associated with different accounts may be replicated within the distributed storage system using different data replication policies. There is no limit to the amount of data for an account by adding new splits to the distributed storage system. In response to a client request for a particular account's data, a front-end server communicates such request to a particular zone that has the client-requested data and returns the client-requested data to the requesting client.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 20, 2013
    Publication date: December 19, 2013
    Applicant: Google, Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey Adgate Dean, Michael James Boyer Epstein, Andrew Fikes, Sanjay Ghemawat, Wilson Cheng-Yi Hsieh, Alexander Lloyd, Yasushi Saito, Michal Piotr Szymaniak, Sebastian Kanthak, Chris Jorgen Taylor