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An operating system provides a common name space for both long filenames and short filenames. In this common namespace, a long filename and a short filename are provided for each file. Each file has a short filename directory entry and may have at least one long filename directory entry associated with it. The number of long filename directory entries that are associated with a file depends on the number of characters in the long filename of the file. The long filename directory entries are configured to minimize compatibility problems with existing installed program bases.

InventorsAaron R. Reynolds, Dennis R. Adler, Ralph A. Lipe, Ray D. Pedrizetti, Jeffrey T. Parsons, Rasipuram V. Arun
Original AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
Primary Examiner: C. Pham
Current U.S. Classification1/1; 707/999.2; 707/E17.01
International Classification: G06F 1730

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Citations

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Referenced by

Citing PatentFiling dateIssue dateOriginal AssigneeTitle
US5745752Dec 13, 1994Apr 28, 1998Microsoft CorporationDual namespace client having long and short filenames
US5754848Sep 11, 1996May 19, 1998Hewlett-Packard Co.Apparatus and method for disaster recovery of an operating system utilizing long file and directory names
US5761675Mar 19, 1996Jun 2, 1998Symantec CorporationDiagnosis and repair of defective long filenames
US5794226Dec 4, 1996Aug 11, 1998Olympus Optical Co., Ltd.Image manipulating system including means for assigning a file name
US5832507Apr 1, 1996Nov 3, 1998Sun Microsystems, Inc.Method and apparatus for converting ASCII path names to parsed path name structures
US5848246Jul 1, 1996Dec 8, 1998Sun Microsystems, Inc.Object-oriented system, method and article of manufacture for a client-server session manager in an interprise computing framework system
US5926805Apr 24, 1998Jul 20, 1999Microsoft CorporationDual namespace client having long and short filenames
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US6144969Jan 8, 1998Nov 7, 2000Sony CorporationFile name conversion
US6266709Jul 1, 1996Jul 24, 2001Sun Microsystems, Inc.Object-oriented system, method and article of manufacture for a client-server failure reporting process
US6272555Jul 1, 1996Aug 7, 2001Sun Microsystems, Inc.Object-oriented system, method and article of manufacture for a client-server-centric interprise computing framework system
US6286013Jan 28, 1997Sep 4, 2001Microsoft CorporationMethod and system for providing a common name space for long and short file names in an operating system
US6304893Jul 1, 1996Oct 16, 2001Sun Microsystems, Inc.Object-oriented system, method and article of manufacture for a client-server event driven message framework in an interprise computing framework system
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US6425078Aug 30, 1999Jul 23, 2002Dell USA, L.P.Method for factory-installation of files and directories with long filenames while maintaining proper reference to their short filename equivalents
US6434598Jul 1, 1996Aug 13, 2002Sun Microsystems, Inc.Object-oriented system, method and article of manufacture for a client-server graphical user interface (
US6480867Jul 6, 1999Nov 12, 2002International Business Machines CorporationSystem and method for managing filesystem objects in a multilingual distributed environment
US6760065Mar 24, 2000Jul 6, 2004Eastman Kodak CompanyImaging table of contents
US7069327Mar 2, 2000Jun 27, 2006Sharp Laboratories of America, Inc.Method and apparatus for reducing first copy out times using uniqueness identifiers
US7451153Jan 26, 2004Nov 11, 2008Nokia CorporationMethod and apparatus for symmetrical filename encoding
US7493314Jan 10, 2005Feb 17, 2009Cyberlink Corp.System and method for providing access to computer files across computer operating systems
US7873596May 23, 2007Jan 18, 2011Microsoft CorporationExtending cluster allocations in an extensible file system

Claims

1. In a computer system having a processor running an operating system and a memory means storing the operating system, a method comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

(a) storing in the memory means a first directory entry for a file wherein the first directory entry holds a short filename for the file, said short filename including at most a maximum number of characters that is permissible by the operating system;
(b) storing in the memory means a second directory entry for a the file wherein the second directory entry holds a long filename for the file and wherein the second directory entry includes an attributes field which may be set to make the second directory entry invisible to the operating system and the step of storing the second directory entry further comprises the step of setting the attributes field so that the second directory entry is invisible to the operating system, said long filename including more than the maximum number of characters that is permissible by the operating system; and
(c) accessing the first directory entry with the operating system.

2. In a computer system having a processor running an operating system and a memory means storing the operating system, a method, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

(a) storing in the memory means a first directory entry for a file wherein the first directory entry holds a short filename for the file, said short filename including at most a maximum number of characters that is permissible by the operating system;
(b) storing in the memory means a second directory entry for the file wherein the second directory entry holds a long filename for the file and storing a checksum of the short filename in the second directory entry, said long filename including more than the maximum number of characters that is permissible by the operating system; and
(c) accessing the first directory entry with the operating system.

3. In a computer system having a processor running an operating system and a memory means storing the operating system, a method, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

(a) storing in the memory means a first directory entry for a file wherein the first directory entry holds a short filename for the file, said short filename including at most a maximum number of characters that is permissible by the operating system;
(b) storing in the memory means a second directory entry for the file wherein the second directory entry holds a long filename for the file, said long filename including more than the maximum number of characters that is permissible by the operating system;
(c) accessing the first directory entry with the operating system;
(d) storing in the memory means at least one additional directory entry holding a next portion of the long filename and a checksum of the short filename.

4. In a computer system having a processor running an operating system and a memory means storing the operating system, a method, comprising the computer-implemented steps of:

(a) storing in the memory means a first directory entry for a file wherein the first directory entry holds a short filename for the file, said short filename including at most a maximum number of characters that is permissible by the operating system;
(b) storing in the memory means a second directory entry for the file wherein the second directory entry holds a long filename for the file, said long filename including more than the maximum number of characters that is permissible by the operating system;
(c) accessing the first directory entry with the operating system;
(d) storing in the memory means at least one additional directory entry holding a next portion of the long filename and a signature that uniquely identifies which portion of the long filename.