Accessing heterogeneous data in a standardized manner
First Claim
1. In a computer system that manages two or more different types of data structures, each type of data structure being organized in accordance with a set of rules and corresponding to an identity, a method for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of the particular data type, the method comprising:
- an act of recognizing a common set of command methods that may be used to operate on data structures of a number of different data types corresponding to a plurality of identities;
an act of accessing a request to execute a command method on at least a portion of a data structure of a particular data type corresponding to a particular identity, the command method being one of the common set of command methods;
an act of accessing a set of rules associated with the particular data type, the set of rules defining how data structures of the particular data type may be organized, and what portions of data structure of the particular data type may have what commands executed thereon;
an act of finding the portion of the data structure that is to be operated upon by interpreting the request in light of the set of rules;
an act of determining that the command method may be implemented on the portion of the data structure by consulting the set of rules; and
an act of executing the command method on the found portion of the data structure.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of the particular data type. A common set of commands (e.g., insert, delete, replace, update, query) are recognized that may be used to operate on data structures of a number of different data types. A navigation module accesses a request to execute one of the common command methods on at least an identified portion of an identified data structure. Then, the navigation module accesses a navigation assistance module to access a set of rules associated with the particular data type, the set of rules allowing the navigation module to find the portion of the data structure that is to be operated on. If appropriate, the command operation is then executed on the identified portion of the data structure.
19 Citations
45 Claims
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1. In a computer system that manages two or more different types of data structures, each type of data structure being organized in accordance with a set of rules and corresponding to an identity, a method for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of the particular data type, the method comprising:
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an act of recognizing a common set of command methods that may be used to operate on data structures of a number of different data types corresponding to a plurality of identities;
an act of accessing a request to execute a command method on at least a portion of a data structure of a particular data type corresponding to a particular identity, the command method being one of the common set of command methods;
an act of accessing a set of rules associated with the particular data type, the set of rules defining how data structures of the particular data type may be organized, and what portions of data structure of the particular data type may have what commands executed thereon;
an act of finding the portion of the data structure that is to be operated upon by interpreting the request in light of the set of rules;
an act of determining that the command method may be implemented on the portion of the data structure by consulting the set of rules; and
an act of executing the command method on the found portion of the data structure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 39, 40, 41, 42)
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36. In a computer system that manages two or more different types of data structures, each type of data structure being organized in accordance with a set of rules and corresponding to an identity, a method for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of the particular data type, the method comprising the following:
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an act of recognizing a common set of command methods that may be used to operate on data structures of a number of different data types corresponding to a plurality of identities;
an act of accessing a request to execute a command method on at least a portion of a data structure of a particular data type corresponding to a particular identity, the command method being one of the common set of command methods; and
a step for executing the command method on at least a portion of the data structure in accordance with a set of rules associated with the particular data type.
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38. A computer program product for use in a computer system that manages two or more different types of data structures, each type of data structure being organized in accordance with a set of rules, the computer program product for executing a method for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of the particular data type, the computer program product comprises one of more physical storage media having stored thereon:
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computer-executable instructions for recognizing a common set of command methods that may be used to operate on data structures of a number of different data types corresponding to a plurality of identities;
computer-executable instructions for accessing a request to execute a command method on at least a portion of a data structure of a particular data type corresponding to a particular identity, the command method being one of the common set of command methods;
computer-executable instructions for accessing a set of rules associated with the particular data type, the set of rules defining how data structures of the particular data type may be organized, and what portions of data structure of the particular data type may have what commands executed thereon;
computer-executable instructions for finding the portion of the data structure that is to be operated upon by interpreting the request in light of the set of rules;
computer-executable instructions for determining that the command method may be implemented on the portion of the data structure by consulting the set of rules; and
computer-executable instructions for executing the command method on the found portion of the data structure.
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43. A system for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of the particular data type, the system comprising:
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a data structure of a particular data type, the data structure organized in accordance with a set of rules and associated with an identity;
a navigation module configured to recognize a common set of command methods that may be used to operate on data structures of a number of different data types including the data structure of the particular data type, the navigation module communicatively coupled to the data structure so as to be capable of navigation through the data structure using the set of rules and performing any of the common set of command methods on the data structure; and
a navigation assistance module communicatively coupled to the navigation module, the navigation assistance module containing the set of rules that describe the organization of the data structure. - View Dependent Claims (44)
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45. A system for directly operating on data structures in a generic manner regardless of the type of data structure being operated upon and without requiring dedicated executable code for manipulating data structures of the particular data type, the system comprising:
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a data structure of a particular data type, the data structure organized in accordance with a set of rules and associated with an identity; and
means for executing a command method on at least a portion of the data structure in accordance with a set of rules associated with the particular data type.
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Specification