Technical data management (TDM) framework for TDM applications

• US 20030061195A1
• Filed: 05/02/2002
• Published: 03/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Original Assignee: National Instruments Corporation (Emerson Electric Company)
• Inventors: Romainczyk, Stefan, Haub, Andreas Peter, Helpenstein, Helmut J., Laborde, Guy Vachon
• Application Number:
  US10/137,717
• Publication Number:
  US 20030061195A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application

Abstract

A Technical Data Management framework (TDM framework) including various components for managing the storage and retrieval of technical data, such as measurement data. One or more of these components may be usable by client application programs, simplifying the task of managing technical data that is stored and used by multiple applications. The TDM framework described herein may simplify technical data management tasks by utilizing data models and providing a common data retrieval and storage interface for applications to use to manage technical data.

Claims

1. A method for performing technical data management, the method comprising:

a first application storing measurement data and storing meta-data comprising a description of the measurement data;

a second application retrieving the measurement data and the meta-data; and

the second application utilizing the meta-data to interpret the measurement data.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the measurement data comprises bulk data and attribute data;

wherein said first application storing the measurement data comprises the first application storing the bulk data and storing the attribute data.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein the attribute data comprises one or more values for one or more attributes defined by the meta-data.

4. The method of claim 2,

wherein said first application storing the bulk data and storing the attribute data comprises the first application storing the bulk data and attribute data utilizing a first interface;

and

wherein said second application retrieving the measurement data comprises the second application retrieving the bulk data and the attribute data utilizing the first interface.

5. The method of claim 4,

wherein the first interface comprises an interface usable by applications developed using different application development environments;

wherein the first application was developed using a first application development environment; and

wherein the second application was developed using a second application development environment.

6. The method of claim 4,

wherein the first interface comprises a dynamic link library (DLL).

7. The method of claim 4,

wherein the first interface comprises a Component Object Model (COM) interface.

8. The method of claim 4,

wherein the first interface comprises one or more nodes for inclusion in a graphical program.

9. The method of claim 2,

wherein said first application storing the attribute data comprises the first application interfacing with a first component to store the attribute data in a first data store;

wherein the first component is operable to store data in a plurality of different types of data stores;

wherein the first component stores the attribute data in the first data store in response to said first application interfacing with the first component to store the attribute data in the first data store;

wherein said second application retrieving the measurement data comprises the second application interfacing with the first component to retrieve the attribute data;

wherein the first component retrieves the attribute data from the first data store in response to said second application interfacing with the first component to retrieve the attribute data.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

a third application interfacing with the first component to store other attribute data in a second data store, wherein the second data store is a different type of data store than the first data store; and

the first component storing the other attribute data in the second data store in response to said third application interfacing with the first component to store the other attribute data in the second data store.

11. The method of claim 10,

wherein the first data store and the second data store are each selected from the group consisting of the following data store types:

an ASAM-ODS server;

a data store storing ATF files;

a data store storing STEP/EXPRESS files;

a data store storing XML files;

a SQL database;

an object-oriented database;

a database specialized for storing measurement data;

wherein the type of the second data store is different than the type of the first data store.

12. The method of claim 1,

wherein the first application comprises a data acquisition application;

and

wherein the second application comprises an analysis application.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the first application acquiring at least a portion of the measurement data via data acquisition hardware.

14. The method of claim 1,

wherein said first application storing the measurement data comprises the first application requesting a first component to store the measurement data;

wherein the first component is operable to;

store a first portion of the measurement data in a first data store; and

request a second component to store a second portion of the measurement data.

15. The method of claim 14,

wherein the first component executes on a first computer system;

wherein the second component executes on a second computer system;

wherein the first component stores the first portion of the measurement data in a first data store located on the first computer system;

wherein the second component stores the second portion of the measurement data in a second data store located on the second computer system.

16. A method for performing technical data management, the method comprising:

a first application interfacing with a first component to store first technical data, wherein the first component includes a first interface, wherein said first application interfacing with the first component to store the first technical data comprises the first application calling the first interface to store the first technical data in a first data store;

the first component storing the first technical data in the first data store in response to said first application calling the first interface;

a second application interfacing with the first component to store second technical data, wherein said second application interfacing with the first component to store the second technical data comprises the second application calling the first interface to store the second technical data in a second data store; and

the first component storing the second technical data in the second data store in response to said second application calling the first interface.

17. The method of claim 16,

wherein the first component is operable to store data in different types of data stores;

and

wherein the first data store is a different type of data store than the second data store.

18. The method of claim 17,

wherein the first component utilizes a plug-in architecture allowing plug-ins supporting access to new types of data stores to be independently added.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

a third application interfacing with the first component to retrieve the first technical data, wherein said third application interfacing with the first component to retrieve the first technical data comprises the third application calling the first interface to retrieve the first technical data from the first data store; and

the first component retrieving the first technical data from the first data store in response to said third application calling the first interface.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

the first component caching the first data.

21. The method of claim 16,

wherein the first component implements a security model to limit access to the first data store;

wherein said first application calling the first interface includes the first application passing security information to the first component;

wherein the first component utilizes the security information to verify that the application has access to the first data store before storing the first technical data in the first data store.

22. The method of claim 16,

wherein the first technical data comprises first measurement data;

wherein the second technical data comprises second measurement data.

23. A method for performing technical data management, the method comprising:

a first application interfacing with a first component to store first technical data, wherein the first component includes a first interface, wherein said first application interfacing with the first component to store the first technical data comprises the first application calling the first interface to store the first technical data in a first data store;

the first component storing the first technical data in the first data store in response to said first application calling the first interface;

a second application interfacing with a second component to view the first technical data in the first data store, wherein said second application interfacing with the second component to view the first technical data in the first data store comprises the second application calling an interface of the second component to view the first technical data in the first data store; and

the second component displaying a graphical user interface displaying the first technical data in the first data store in response to said second application calling the interface of the second component.

24. The method of claim 23,

wherein the second component is operable to interface with the first component to display the first technical data in the first data store, wherein said second component interfacing with the first component to display the first technical data in the first data store comprises the second component calling the first interface to obtain information regarding the first technical data in the first data store.

25. A method for displaying measurement data, the method comprising:

retrieving the measurement data from a data store;

retrieving meta-data describing the measurement data from a data store;

utilizing the meta-data to interpret the measurement data; and

displaying the interpreted measurement data.

26. The method of claim 25,

wherein said utilizing the meta-data to interpret the measurement data comprises utilizing the meta-data to determine a structure of the measurement data;

wherein said displaying the interpreted measurement data comprises displaying the measurement data according to the determined structure.

27. The method of claim 26,

wherein the measurement data comprises a plurality of elements;

wherein said determining a structure of the measurement data comprises determining a relationship among the plurality of elements;

wherein said displaying the measurement data indicates the relationship among the plurality of elements.

28. The method of claim 25,

wherein the measurement data includes a plurality of measurements;

wherein said displaying the interpreted measurement data comprises displaying the plurality of measurements.

29. The method of claim 25,

wherein the measurement data includes a plurality of measurements;

wherein the method further comprises receiving user input specifying filtering criteria to select a subset of the plurality of measurements;

wherein said displaying the interpreted measurement data comprises displaying the subset of the plurality of measurements.

30. The method of claim 29,

wherein each measurement has one or more associated attribute values;

wherein said receiving user input specifying filtering criteria comprises receiving user input specifying filtering criteria for the attribute values;

wherein said displaying the interpreted measurement data comprises displaying measurements having attribute values that match the filtering criteria.

31. A system comprising:

a plurality of applications for technical data management;

a first component which is operable to store and retrieve technical data in a plurality of data stores using a plurality of data formats; and

a generic interface to the first component, wherein the plurality of applications are configured to read and write technical data in the plurality of data stores in the plurality of data formats by sending technical data to and receiving technical data from the generic interface.