FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10, rule 13)
1. Title of the invention:
ARCHIVING OF DATA
2. Applicant(s)
NAME NATIONALITY ADDRESS
TATA CONSULTANCY Nirmal Building, 9th Floor, Nariman Point,
Indian
SERVICES LIMITED Mumbai-400021, Maharashtra, India
3. Preamble to the description
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it
is to be performed.

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present subject matter, in general, relates to archiving, and in particular, to a
system and method for archiving of data.
BACKGROUND
Data archiving is a process of storing data that is no longer actively used on a
regular basis from a production data to a separate data storage device, also called data archives, for long-term retention. Conventionally data archives are stored in various computer readable mediums such as magnetic tapes, optical discs such as compact discs, digital versatile discs, and write once read many discs. The data archives consist of older data that is necessary for future reference, as well as data that must be retained for regulatory compliance. The data archives are typically indexed and have search capabilities so that files and/or parts of the files can be easily located and retrieved. Data archives are different from data backups, which are copies of data. Data backups are used to restore data in case it is corrupted or destroyed whereas data archives store older information that is not needed for regular operations but may be accessed for reference or for compliance.
Generally, to archive old and relevant data a variety of data archival techniques
are implemented. However, conventional data archival techniques may include manual steps, such as, locating the corresponding computer readable medium, extracting the archives, loading the archives in the production data, again removing from production which may be a tedious and time consuming task. For example, when a query on an archived data is to be executed, the computer readable medium may have to be manually located in a warehouse and then be loaded in the production data whereupon the query may be executed and the loaded data should be deleted after some time frame(since its expired). Moreover over time, a data schema of the production data may be different from the archived data. Owing to different data schemas, it may not be possible to load the archived data on to the production data and vice versa thus making retrieving from the archived data a complex and time consuming task.
SUMMARY
This summary is provided to introduce concepts related to a system and method
of archiving of data, which is further described below in the detailed description. This summary

is not intended to identify essential features of the present subject matter nor is it intended for use in determining or limiting the scope of the present subject matter.
The system and method of archiving of data includes identifying data to be
archived based on pre-defined parameters. The schema of the data to be archived and the data to be archived are saved as one or more raw files. On receiving a user query to be executed on the archived data, the corresponding raw files are located. The data and the schema of the data are extracted from the raw files and presented in a structured format to the user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
The above and other features, aspects, and advantages of the subject matter will
be better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The use of the same reference number in different figures indicates similar or identical items.
Fig. 1 illustrates an exemplary network implementation of a data archiving
system, according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.
Fig. 2 illustrates exemplary components of a data archiving system, in accordance
with one embodiment of the present subject matter.
Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary method for retrieving data from archived data
according to an embodiment of the present subject matter.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The present subject matter relates to a system and method for data archiving. The
system and method may be implemented in a variety of computing devices such as mainframe computers, workstations, personal computers, desktop computers, hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, personal . digital assistants (PDAs), laptops, network computers, minicomputers, servers and the like.
Generally, with time, data regarding various processes, activities and relevant data
stored by an organization grows at a high rate. For example, recruitment of new employees adds more data in from of new rows to an employee details database. Further, the data of the

employees who have resigned or left the organization are also stored for future reference or to comply with government regulations. Thus, over time the data stored by an organization increases. Typically, larger a volume of the data, lower is the efficiency and performance of the system as the queries executed on the data consume more time and resources, in form of the computing system's processing power and memory. Moreover, as the volume of data increases, so does the cost of storing the data and its backups in computer readable media.
Conventionally, data which is not accessed on a regular basis, but is important for
future reference, business needs, regulatory compliances, etc, is moved from a production data store, which is considered to be active data, to another data storage medium called archived data store. Usually, the archived data is stored in a physically different computing system or in different computer readable medium. The archived data is typically accessed only on need basis. Such archiving of data reduces the size of the production data and hence enhances query performances on the production system.
Additionally, over time, due to business requirements or regulatory compliances
the schema of the production data may change. In one scenario, over a period of time there may be addition or deletion of a few fields in the data schema depending on, say, the requirements of the business. For example, in case of an e-commerce portal, there may be a new regulation that a customer's contact information is to include additional details, such as e-mail, phone number, mobile number, etc. This results in the addition of new attributes and consequently a change in the schema of the production data making the schema of the production data different from the schema of the archived data.
The mismatch in the data schema of the production and the archived data may
lead to difficulties in accessing the archived data and utilizing it prospectively. Furthermore, since the schema of the production data is different from the schema of the archived data, the same set of queries run on production data and the archived data may result in different or unexpected results. To tackle such a scenario, manual steps have to be performed which takes into account the change in database schema of the production data making the process of utilizing the archived data tedious, difficult and time consuming. This may not be advisable in a high available production system.

Further, over time, the production data may also get updated to account for the
new information available. For example, previously the production data may have used phone numbers to identify unique persons, later the basis to identify unique people may have been updated to another form of a unique identification, such as login name, e-mail address, mobile number, ID number, , passport number, and so on. Thus, while accessing the archived data queries may have to be modified, since relationship between different data and tables may have changed. This makes the process of accessing data from data archives a cumbersome process,
The present subject matter describes methods and systems for data archiving. In
one implementation, the data archiving as described herein enables seamless retrieval of data from, and loading of data to, an archive data. The system for archiving data, hereinafter interchangeably referred to as the data archiving system, according to an embodiment of the present subject matter, uses an extract transform and load (ETL) engine to access and extract data from production data source and load it into the data archiving system. In one implementation, data archiving system is further configured to store the archived data in the form of raw files, such as binary files, American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) files, flat files, or the like. Further the data schema of data being archived may also stored in the form of a raw file. In one embodiment, the data archiving system access the raw files and the data schema to extract data from the raw files and based on the schema presents the data in a structured format.
Since, the data schema along with actual data is also saved as a raw file, the
change of data schema in the production data does not affect the retrieval of information from the previously archived data. In one implementation, upon receiving a query from a user, the data archiving system extracts relevant data and associated schema from the raw files based on the received query. Accordingly, the data requested by the user is generated in a structured format, such as extensible markup language (XML) format, for presenting to the one or more users. The query of the user is run on the generated data in the structured format. Thus, the requirement of loading the archived data into the production data for accessing it is eliminated.
In one embodiment, result(s) of the query can be presented to the user in various
formats such as spreadsheets, documents, tables, graphs, charts, etc. In another embodiment, the data archiving system can be implemented as pluggable framework with dynamically

configurable screens to fetch data from archival system and present to the end users. This framework can also be integrated to any enterprise application and has separate module to generate various reports based on queries run on the archived data by the user in various formats such as spreadsheets, graphs, portable document format, tables, etc. Thus, the described subject matter provides for effective and efficient archiving of data.
These and other features of the data archiving system will be discussed in further
detail in conjunction with the following figures. The manner in which the methods and system for archiving of data are implemented shall be explained in detail with respect to the following figures. While aspects of the described systems and methods can be implemented in any number of different devices, systems, environments, and/or configurations, the embodiments are described in the context of the following exemplary system architecture(s). Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended only to aid the reader in understanding the principles of the present subject matter and the concepts contributed by the inventor(s) to furthering the art, and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions.
Further, even though the concepts are herein explained in context of data
archiving, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that the concept explained in context thereto may be extended to other applications, which include and are not restricted to databases. web archiving and so on, without deviating from the scope and spirit of the present subject matter.
Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary network environment 100 implementing a data
archiving system 102, in accordance with an embodiment of the present subject matter. As illustrated, the data archiving system 102 is coupled to various client devices 104-1, 104-2, ... 104-N, collectively referred to as client devices 104 via a network 106. The client devices 104 may be located at physically and geographically different places. In one embodiment, the client devices 104 are used by the system administrators, users, database administrators to interact with the data archiving system 102.
The data archiving system 102 and the client devices 104 may be implemented as
mainframe computers, workstations, personal computers, desktop computers, hand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptops, network computers,

minicomputers, servers and the like. In addition, the data archiving system 102 may include multiple servers to perform mirrored tasks for users, thereby relieving congestion or minimizing traffic. Further the data archiving system 102 may also include computer readable data storage media, such as hard disk drives, optical disc drives and RAM memory, which store program instructions and data.
The network 106 may be a wireless network, a wired network, or a combination
thereof. The network 106 can also be an individual network or a collection of many such individual networks interconnected with each other and functioning as a single large network, e.g., the Internet or an intranet. The network 106 can be implemented as one of the different types of networks, such as intranet, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), the internet and such. The network 106 may either be a dedicated network or a shared network, which represents an association of the different types of networks that use a variety of protocols, far example, hypertext Transfer Profocorl (HTTP], rransrniission Control Protocof/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), etc., to communicate with each other. Further, the network 106 may include network devices, such as network switches, hubs, routers, HBAs, for providing a link between the data archiving system 102 and the client devices 104.
In one embodiment, the network environment 100 also includes production data
108. The production da.ta 108 may be implemented as a data store which can be accessible through the World Wide Web or a local network within the Organizational intranet, such as on one or more servers internal to an organization. Additionally, the production data 108 can also be stored in computer readable data storage media, such as hard disk drives, optical discs, magnetic tapes and RAM memory, which store program instructions and data. Further, the production data 108 can be implemented as one or multiple data stores, each of may be accessible through the network 106. The production data 108 may include data in various forms, for example, documents, spreadsheets, media files, database dumps, and structured documents, such as XML files. As will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art, Communication links between the production data 108 and the data archiving system 102 can be implemented through conventional means such as via dial-up modem connections, cable links, digital subscriber lines (DSL), wireless or satellite links, or any other suitable form of Communication.

In one implementation, the data archiving system 102 may initiate data archiving
based on archival rules. The examples of the archival rules include elapse of a pre-defined time interval, size of the production data 108 exceeding a predefined threshold limit, etc.
In one example, the data archiving system 102 is configured to archive portions of
the production data 108 which are not accessed on a regular basis and/or after retention period. The archived data is stored in the form of raw files. As mentioned earlier, the raw files may be in form of one or more binary files, one or more American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) files, one or more flat files, or the like.
In one implementation, the schema of the production data 108 is also saved by the
data archiving system 102 as raw files. In other embodiment, the schema of the data may be saved as an index file or as metadata. In operation, the data archiving system 102 may receive query requesting data from the archived data. In one implementation, the archived data may be stored within the data archiving system 102. The query can be received through one or more of the client devices 104. In order to access the archive data, the data archiving system 102 may include a search module 110. In one implementation, the search module 110, upon receiving an input from a user, such as a query, to access data from the archived data, extracts the data and present the data in a structured format to the user. The data in the structured format, for example in XML format, can be delivered as a response to the requesting system or may be saved in a temporary table of the archived data or stored temporarily in any computer readable medium connected with the data archiving system 102. Further, the data archiving system 102 may further be configured to receive queries from the user. Accordingly, the users may query the loaded archived data and save the results in various formats such as spreadsheets, tables, graphs, documents, etc.
In one implementation, the data archiving system 102 can be configured to
archive data at regular intervals or based on pre-defined archiving parameters. Since the schema of the data is also saved with the data to be archived, changes in the schema of the production data does not adversely affect the archived data. Thus changes in the schema of the production data 108 do not affect the process of archiving. Further accessing the archived data is also not adversely affected as the schema of the archived data is also saved along with the data itself. In said implementation, the data archiving system loads the schema of the archived data as well as

the data from the raw files to generate the archived data in a structured format which makes it easy for the user to interact with the data. Thus the data, archiving system 102 facilitates searching through archived data and accessing the same easily even if the data schema of the production data 108 has changed over time. Further the user mar generate various reports in different formats such as spreadsheets, tables, charts, graphs, documents, etc., by running one or more queries on the archived data.
Fig. 2 illustrates exemplary components of the data archiving system 102, in
accordance with one embodiment of the present subject matter. The data archiving system 102 , includes processor(s) 202, I/O interface(s), referred to as interface(s) 204 and a memory 206 coupled to the processor(s) 202.
The processor(s) 202 can be a single processing unit or a combination of
multiple processing units. The processor(s) 202 can be implemented as one or more microprocessors, microcomputers, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, central processing units, state machines, logic circuitries, or any devices that manipulate signals based on operational instructions. Among other capabilities, the procegssor(s) 202 are configured to fetch and execute computer-readable instructions and data stored in the memory 206.
The interface(s) 204 facilitate communication with other devices and systems.
The interface(s) 204 may include a variety of software and hardware interfaces, for example, interface for peripheral device(s) such as a keyboard, a mouse an external memory, a printer, etc. Further, the interfaces 204 may enable the data archiving system 102 to communicate with other computing devices, such as servers, client devices 104 and external databases. The interfaces 204 may facilitate multiple communications within a wide variety of protocols and networks, such as the network 106, including wired networks, such as LAN, cable, etc., and wireless networks, e.g., WLAN, cellular, satellite, etc. The interfaces 204 may include one or more ports for connecting the data archiving system 102 to the other network devices.
The memory 206 can include any computer-readable medium known in the art
including, for example, volatile memory such as static randDm access memory (SRAM) and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), and/or non-volatile memory, such as read only memory (ROM), erasable programmable ROM, flash memorjes) hard disks, optical disks, and magnetic tapes. The memory 206 includes modules 208 and data 210.

The modules 208 include the search module HO, an archiving module 212, a
report generation module 214 and other module(s) 216. The other module(s) 216, in general, include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., that perform particular task or implement particular abstract data types and may include programs that supplement applications implemented by the data archiving system 102.
The data 210 includes an archiving rules repository 218. Further the data 210
includes archived data 220, data schema repository 222, and other data 224. The other data 224 may include any of the instructions, inference rules which might be required for the functioning of the data archiving system 102.
The archiving rules repository 218 stores various parameters on which the
archiving of the production data 108 may be done. For example, the archiving of data can be done on a regular basis on the elapse of a defined time interval.
The portions of the production data 108, which are not accessed on a regular
basis, may be saved in archived data 220 as raw files in an internal format as documents. For example each record in a table is referred as a document in archival system. The documents are properly indexed so that they can fetch data faster. A sample table record and the corresponding archival representation are given below,
Table: Record
ARTICLE, TITLE, SUBJECT , CATEGORY, MODULE ,BODY
05991 , TCS , Archival , Search , module 1 , Archive solution is a.
Archival Representation of the same record

05991
TCS
Archival
search
module 1

Archive solution is a.

The data schema repository 222 saves the schema of the archived data 220. The
schema is also tagged to the corresponding raw flies. The data schema 222 may be in form of an index file or a raw file. The data schema 222 helps in addressing the changes in the schema of the production data which may occur over time. The other data 224 includes information which may be required by the data archiving system 102. For example, the other data 228 may include statistical reports of working of the data archiving system 102, which may be used in the future to optimize the data archiving system 102 even further.
In operation the archiving module 212 creates archives of the production data 108
and saves it in the archived data 220. In one embodiment, the archiving module 212 may be configured with the help of ETL engine to automatically analyze the production data 108 to detect portions of the production data 108 which have not been accessed for a time period exceeding the pre-defined time interval retrieved and archives the same.
Whenever there is a need for accessing the archived data 220, the user feeds a
query to the search module 110. The search module 110 loads the required data from the archived data 220, retrieves with the help of schema from the data schema repository 222 and runs the query on it. In one implementation, the generated data in the structured format may be stored in the configured cache associated with the data archiving system 102 for improved performance. The process of saving the data as raw files and saving the corresponding data schema takes care that future changes in the data schema of the production data 108 do not affect retrieval of data or information from the already archived data 220.
The query can be fed to the archival search module 110 using pre-built,
configurable screens available in the data archiving system 102. Each table in the archived data 220 can have one or more query based configurable screen built on it. The screens can be configured to have customized fields in the search criteria section and the displayed result set. In one implementation, the report generation module 214 is integrated with the one or more configurable screens. In said implementation, advanced search options facilitates the user to query on "any column" of the table without compromising the performance.

The query results generated by the search module 110 are fed to the report
generation module 214. The report generation module 214 allows the user to generate the report in various formats such as tabular, graphical, charts, spreadsheets, and documents. Further the report generation module 214 facilitates the user to choose columns to be used, highlight certain portions of the query results, take screenshots, export portions or the full query results in various fie formats, etc.
Thus, the data archiving system 102 enables efficient archiving of data and allows
seamless movement of data from the production data 108 to the archived data 220 even if the data schema has changed. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that even though the exemplary data archiving system 102 have been depicted as a single system, in another embodiment the various components of the data archiving system 102 may be distributed across multiple computing systems located in the same or different geographical locations and connected to each other through one or more networks. For example the archived data 220 may be stored in an external computer readable medium such as optical discs, magnetic tapes, hard disks, etc., which are accessed through a network.
Fig. 3 illustrates an exemplary method 300 for retrieving data from archived
data, according to an embodiment of the present subject matter. The method 300 may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, functions, etc., that perform particular functions or implement particular abstract data types. The method 300 may also be practiced in a distributed computing environment where functions are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communication network. In a distributed computing environment, computer executable instructions may be located in both local and remote computer storage media, including memory storage devices.
The order in which the method 300 is described is not intended to be construed as
a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method 300, or an alternative method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the method 300 without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method 300 can be implemented in any suitable hardware,

software, firmware, or combination thereof. The method 300 is presently provided for archiving of data. Although, the method 300 has been described in context of archiving of data, the same should not be construed as a.limitation.
The data to be archived is first identified based on pre-defined archiving
parameters. Usually, the data which has not been accessed for a period exceeding a pre-defined time interval is selected to be archived. The selected data to be archived and its schema are saved as raw files.
At block 302, a query to be executed on the archived data, such as, the archived
data 220 is received from a user. The archived data 220 includes data in form of raw files. The schema of a raw file is retrieved from the data schema repository 222.
At block 304, the corresponding data schema, which is in the form of a raw file,
and the data extrasted from the raw file is loaded. In one embodiment, a search module may be used to retrieve data and the data schema from the raw files. Further, the retrieved data is loaded in a structured format. Dynamically loading the data schema of the corresponding raw file in the archived data 220 is beneficial in cases when the schema of the production data 108 changes over time to accommodate new needs and constraints.
At block 306, the query received from the user is executed on structured format of
the archived data 220. The data in structured format is generated using data schema and the data retrieved from the raw files. For example, in one embodiment the data schema and the data retrieved from the raw files is used to generate the data in XML: format. The query received from the user is then run on the data in XML format. On the ba.sis of the results generated by the query, various types of reports may be generated as illustrated in block 308. The reports may be created as spreadsheets, graphs, charts, tables, etc. Further the user may customize the report such as add or remove columns, highlight portions fulfilling a certain criteria, etc.
Thus, the systems and methods of data archiving described herein helps to archive
data not used on a regular basis but has to be retained for future use or regulatory compliances. Further, the systems and methods of data archiving addresses the tedious processes involved in accounting for difference in schema of the production data and the archived data. Moreover, the

systems and methods help in accessing archived data and generating reports in various formats based on the query executed on the archived data.
Although embodiments for the archiving of data have been described in language
specific to structural features and/or methods, it is to be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to the specific features or methods described. Rather, the specific features and methods are disclosed as exemplary embodiments for the data archiving system

1/We Claim:
1. A computer implemented method for archiving of data, the method comprising:
identifying the data based on at least one pre defined archiving rule; determining a schema associated with the identified data; and storing the determined schema as a schema raw file.
2. The computer implemented method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising saving the identified data as at least one data raw file.
3. The computer implemented method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the schema raw file and the at least one data raw file are one of a binary file, an american standard code for information interchange file, and a flat file.
4. The computer implemented method as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least one of the schema raw file and the data raw file is tagged with at least one of a version number, time stamp, date of creation.
5. The computer implemented method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one predefined archiving rule includes at least one of an access record, query history, size of the data, and query performance of the data.
6. A computer implemented method for accessing archived data, the method comprising:
determining at least one data raw file based on a user query; extracting data from the at least one data raw file;
retrieving a schema associated with the at least one data raw file from among a plurality of schema raw files; and
generating structured data based on the extracted data and the retrieved schema.
7. The computer implemented method as claimed in claim 6 further comprising generating at least one report based on execution of the user query on the archived data (220).
8. A data archiving system (102) comprising:
a processor (202);

a memory (206) coupled to the processor (202), wherein the memory (206) comprising at least one of:
an archiving module (212) configured to archive data and to store a schema of the archived data to be archived as at least one raw file.
9. The data archiving system (102) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the data is archived based on pre-defined archiving parameters.
10. The data archiving system (102) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the archiving module (212) is further configured to tag at least one raw file with one of a version number, a time stamp, and a date of creation of archiving data (220).
11. The data archiving system (102) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the archiving module (212) is further configured to save the identified data as at least one raw file.
12. The data archiving system (102) as claimed in claim 8 further comprising a search module (110) configured to locate information from the archived data (220) based on predefined file tagging parameters.
13. The data archiving system (102) as claimed in claim 8, wherein the data archiving system (102) further comprises a report generation module (214) configured to generate at least one report based on a user query on the archived data (220),
14. A computer-readable medium having embodied thereon a computer program for executing a method for archiving of data, the method comprising:
identifying the data to be archived based on at least one pre defined archiving rule;
determining a schema associated with the identified data; and storing the determined schema as a schema raw file.