System and method for an OLAP engine having dynamic disaggregation

• US 20040181518A1
• Filed: 03/14/2003
• Published: 09/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Phiware, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Phiware, Inc.
• Inventors: Canning, Charles A., Mayo, Bryan Edward, Sutton, Glenn M.
• Application Number:
  US10/390,249
• Publication Number:
  US 20040181518A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP

Abstract

In accordance with the present invention, a system and method for an OLAP engine having dynamic disaggregation is provided. A software engine for accessing data in a database includes a graph generator. The graph generator is operable to traverse a hierarchy of nodes of data. The graph generator generates an equation such that the equation relates a first piece of data stored in a first node to a second piece of data of a second node. The software engine further includes a query engine. The query engine is operable to couple to the database. The query engine receives a request for access to the second piece of data. The query engine creates the second piece of data from the first piece of data and the equation.

Claims

1. A software engine for accessing data in a database, the software engine comprising:

a graph generator operable to traverse a hierarchy of nodes of data and generate an equation, wherein such equation relates a first piece of data stored in a first node to a second piece of data of a second node; and

a query engine operable to couple to the database, the query engine operable to receive a request for access to the second piece of data, and create the second piece of data from the first piece of data and the equation.

2. The software engine of claim 1 wherein the hierarchy comprises a plurality of hierarchies representing a plurality of dimensions.

3. The software engine of claim 2 wherein one of the dimensions represents time.

4. The software engine of claim 3 wherein the equation comprises a first equation relating to a first time period and a second equation relating to a second time period.

5. The software engine of claim 1 wherein the graph generator is further operable to receive the hierarchy from a flat file.

6. The software engine of claim 1 wherein the graph generator is further operable to receive the hierarchy from a configurator coupled to the graph generator.

7. The software engine of claim 1 wherein the equation comprises a linear equation.

8. The software engine of claim 1 wherein the graph generator is further operable to store the equation in the database, and wherein the query engine is operable to access the equation through the database.

9. The software engine of claim 8 wherein the query engine accesses the equation through SQL statements.

11. The software engine of claim 1 further comprising a formula engine coupled to the query engine, the formula engine operable to receive a request for data, the formula engine further operable to instruct the query engine to perform a plurality of queries in order to provide the data.

12. The software engine of claim 1, wherein the equation comprises a plurality of equations such that each node in the hierarchy can be derived.

13. A computer readable medium, the computer readable medium including instructions that when executed create a software engine comprising:

a graph generator operable to traverse a hierarchy of nodes of data and generate an equation, wherein such equation relates a first piece of data stored in a first node to a second piece of data of a second node; and

a query engine operable to couple to the database, the query engine operable to receive a request for access to the second piece of data, and create the second piece of data from the first piece of data and the equation.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the hierarchy comprises a plurality of hierarchies representing a plurality of dimensions.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 14 wherein one of the dimensions represents time.

16. The computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the equation comprises a first equation relating to a first time period and a second equation relating to a second time period.

17. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the equation comprises a linear equation.

18. The computer readable medium of claim 13 wherein the query engine accesses the equation through SQL statements.

19. The computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the equation comprises a plurality of equations such that each node in the hierarchy can be derived.

20. A computer system for accessing data in a database comprising:

a computing platform coupled to a database;

a graph generator executing on the computing platform, the graph generator operable to traverse a hierarchy of nodes of data and generate an equation, wherein such equation relates a first piece of data stored in a first node to a second piece of data of a second node; and

a query engine executing on the computing platform, the query engine operable to couple to the database, the query engine operable to receive a request for access to the second piece of data, and create the second piece of data from the first piece of data and the equation.

21. The computer system of claim 20 wherein the hierarchy comprises a plurality of hierarchies representing a plurality of dimensions.

22. The computer system of claim 21 wherein one of the dimensions represents time.

23. The computer system of claim 22 wherein the equation comprises a first equation relating to a first time period and a second equation relating to a second time period.

24. The computer system of claim 20 wherein the equation comprises a linear equation.

25. The computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the equation comprises a plurality of equations such that each node in the hierarchy can be derived.

26. A method for managing data, the method comprising:

reading a hierarchy of nodes of data;

creating an equation from the hierarchy, wherein such equation relates a first node of data stored in a database to a second node of data;

storing the equation;

receiving a request for the second piece of data;

retrieving the first piece of data;

retrieving the equation; and

creating the second piece of data from the first piece of data and the equation.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the step of reading a hierarchy comprises reading a plurality of hierarchies representing a plurality of dimensions.

28. The method of claim 26 wherein the step of reading a hierarchy comprises to receive the hierarchy from a flat file.

29. The method of claim 26 wherein the step of creating equations comprises creating linear equations.

30. The method of claim 26 wherein the storing step comprises storing the equation in the database.

31. The method of claim 26 wherein the step of retrieving the equation comprises writing a SQL statement to retrieve the equation.