Walmart Inc.
System and method for generating globally-unique identifiers

Abstract:

A system and method for producing a new globally-unique identifier (GUID) format that may be used, for instance, to uniquely identify a number of different items in a distributed computer system, such as transactions in an e-commerce system, sessions in a cloud-based computing system, and identifiers for unique customers in an ecommerce system, among others. The unique ID may have one of a number of different formats that may be generated upon receiving a request for an ID. For instance, the GUID may be generated in a plain hex format, a GUID format, ESS, and B64B (Base64Binaty) format. The new format may be generated based on information relating to a site ID, an absolute time, and a sequential counter, that ensures that no two GUIDs are the same. Further, the system may be capable of issuing multiple GUIDs within a single command, such as may be required to generate an array of GUIDs.