Distribution and replication of erasure codes

摘要

Example apparatus and methods selectively replicate some erasure codes associated with a message and selectively distribute, without replicating, other erasure codes associated with the message. The message may have k symbols and n erasure codes may have been generated for the message, n>=k. In one embodiment, erasure codes that store plaintext information from the message (e.g., un-encoded symbols) may be replicated (e.g., sent to all devices using erasure codes associated with the message) while erasure codes that do not store plaintext information may be distributed (e.g., selectively moved to less than all devices) without being replicated. Some (e.g., less than k) erasure codes that do not store plaintext information may be stored unencrypted in the cloud. The generator matrix will not be stored in the cloud.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
receiving x out of y erasure codes produced for a message, where the message has k symbols, y being greater than or equal to k, x being less than or equal to y, x being sufficient to reconstruct the message; upon detecting a condition that makes one or more of the x erasure codes unavailable and that prevents the message from being reconstructed using the x erasure codes, providing an outgoing request for an additional erasure code, where the outgoing request identifies a subset of the x erasure codes that were not affected by the condition and that are still available for reconstructing the message, and upon detecting that an additional erasure code has been received in response to providing the outgoing request, reconstructing the message based, at least in part, on the additional erasure code and the x erasure codes that were not affected by the condition and that are still available.