Method and system for managing metadata
First Claim
1. A system for managing metadata for use by a client application program, the system comprising:
- a presentation layer managing retrieval of a metadata object in response to a request for the metadata object from a software module of the client application program; and
a data layer storing the metadata object and accessible to the presentation layer such that the presentation layer may retrieve the metadata object from the data layer in response to the request from the software module.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for managing metadata for use by client application programs is disclosed. The client application programs are constructed with various software modules responsible for displaying graphical user interface components to users through a display module, e.g., computer monitor. The graphical user interface components are built using program data and metadata. Program data is data that is entered by a user or generated by a client application program. Metadata is data that describes the program data. The present invention manages metadata using a tri-layer system, which includes a presentation layer, a middle-tier layer and a data layer. The presentation layer includes the client application program, and therefore various software modules used to execute the client application program. The presentation layer also includes an ObjectStore component for managing retrieval and manipulation of metadata for the software modules. Software modules send requests for a metadata object to the ObjectStore component. The ObjectStore component works with the middle-tier layer to extract the requested metadata object from the data layer. The presentation layer, the middle-tier layer and the data layer may reside on a single computer or on multiple computers, such as the case in a client-server environment.
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Citations
49 Claims
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1. A system for managing metadata for use by a client application program, the system comprising:
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a presentation layer managing retrieval of a metadata object in response to a request for the metadata object from a software module of the client application program; and
a data layer storing the metadata object and accessible to the presentation layer such that the presentation layer may retrieve the metadata object from the data layer in response to the request from the software module. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for managing metadata for use by a client application, the method comprising:
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receiving a request for a metadata object from a software module of the client application program;
retrieving the metadata object from a database in response to the request from the software module; and
providing the metadata object to the software module. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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31. A method for managing metadata for use by a client application program, the method comprising:
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receiving a request for metadata over a communication link to an object management component managing retrieval of metadata for a plurality of software modules of the client application program;
executing a query for extracting metadata from a database;
receiving metadata specified in the request from the database; and
providing the received metadata to the object management component over the communication link. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A computer program storage medium readable by a computing system and encoding a computer program for managing metadata for use by a client application, the computer process comprising:
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receiving a request for a metadata object from a software module of the client application program;
retrieving the metadata object from a database in response to the request from the software module; and
providing the metadata object to the software module. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
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Specification