Database systems, methods and computer program products using type based selective foreign key association to represent multiple but exclusive relationships in relational databases
First Claim
1. A method of providing multiple but exclusive relationships between tables in a relational database, comprising:
- selectively associating a foreign key associated with a record in a relating table with a specific one of a plurality of related tables based on at least one attribute of the record in the relating table.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Database systems, methods and/or computer program products provide for multiple but exclusive relationships between tables in a relational database. The multiple but exclusive relationship may be enforced based on a type associated with a record in a relating table. The multiple but exclusive relationship may be a one-to-many or a many-to-many relationship. A foreign key value of a record in a relating table may be selectively associated with a specific one of a plurality of related tables based on at least one attribute of the record containing the foreign key in the relating table. In particular embodiments of the present invention, the foreign key values of a record in the relating table are selectively associated with one of the plurality of related tables by defining a foreign key of records of the relating table and defining a plurality of types of foreign key associations, each of the types corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of related tables. One of the related tables having a type corresponding to a type value associated with a record of the relating table is selected and a record in the selected related table identified based on a foreign key value of the foreign key of the record in the relating table.
19 Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method of providing multiple but exclusive relationships between tables in a relational database, comprising:
selectively associating a foreign key associated with a record in a relating table with a specific one of a plurality of related tables based on at least one attribute of the record in the relating table. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A database system for providing multiple but exclusive relationships between tables in a relational database, comprising:
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a relating table;
a plurality of related tables; and
means for selectively associating a foreign key value of a record in the relating table with a specific one of the plurality of related tables based on at least one attribute of the record containing the foreign key in the relating table. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A computer program product for providing multiple but exclusive relationships between tables in a relational database, comprising:
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a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising;
computer readable program code configured to selectively associate a foreign key associated with a record in a relating table with a specific one of a plurality of related tables based on at least one attribute of the record in the relating table. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of enforcing a multiple but exclusive relationship between a first table and a plurality of second tables, comprising:
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associating a type with respective ones of the plurality of second tables;
associating a type with records in the first table such that the type of a record in the first table identifies which of the respective ones of the plurality of second tables the record is associated with; and
enforcing the multiple but exclusive relationship between records in the second tables and the first table based on the type associated with a record in the first table. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39)
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40. A system for enforcing a multiple but exclusive relationship between a first table and a plurality of second tables, comprising:
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means for associating a type with respective ones of the plurality of second tables;
means for associating a type with records in the first table such that the type of a record in the first table identifies which of the respective ones of the plurality of second tables the record is associated with; and
means for enforcing the multiple but exclusive relationship between records in the second tables and the first table based on the type associated with a record in the first table. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44)
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45. A computer program product for enforcing a multiple but exclusive relationship between a first table and a plurality of second tables, comprising:
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a computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code comprising;
computer readable program code configured to associate a type with respective ones of the plurality of second tables;
computer readable program code configured to associate a type with records in the first table such that the type of a record in the first table identifies which of the respective ones of the plurality of second tables the record is associated with; and
computer readable program code configured to enforce the multiple but exclusive relationship between records in the second tables and the first table based on the type associated with a record in the first table. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48)
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Specification