Global query correlation attributes

• US 20050228776A1
• Filed: 06/08/2005
• Published: 10/13/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dettinger, Richard D., Stevens, Richard J.
• Granted Patent: US 7,310,639 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/242 Query formulation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system, method and article of manufacture for accessing data are disclosed. In general, data access is facilitated by a query configured with a correlation criterion or criteria. The presence of the correlation criteria facilitates the introduction of additional correlation logic to be applied to conditions of the query. In general, correlation criteria are contemplated which support correlation of entities based on time, physical location and age, for example.

Claims

1. A method of providing query attributes to facilitate query composition, comprising:

specifying a correlation attribute for one or more logical field definitions defined in a data abstraction model that logically models physical data, each correlation attribute having a definition for determining a corresponding correlation condition;

wherein the correlation attributes, when present in an abstract query referencing one or more of the logical field definitions and one or more correlation attributes, configure a query processor to dynamically add query logic to a query generated from the abstract query on the basis of the referenced correlation attributes and the corresponding logical fields for which the correlation attributes are specified, the query logic comprising the correlation conditions corresponding to the referenced correlation attributes, whereby additional constraints are placed on queries on the basis of user-specified query conditions without requiring user composition of the corresponding query logic defining the additional constraints.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the definitions comprise a logical field name, at least one location attribute identifying a location of physical data corresponding to the logical field name, and a reference to an access method selected from at least two different access method types;

wherein each of the different access methods types defines a different manner of exposing the physical data corresponding to the logical field name of the respective logical field definition.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein specifying a correlation attribute for one or more logical field definitions comprises specifying at least two different correlation attributes for at least one of the logical field definitions.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the value may be one of an age value, a time value and a location value.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the value may be one of a color value, a weight value, a volume value, a length value and a width value.

6. A method of providing attributes configured to add query logic to queries generated from abstract queries defined by one or more logical fields, the method comprising:

providing a data abstraction model that logically describes physical data and comprises a plurality of logical field definitions and one or more correlation attributes associated with at least some of the plurality of logical field definitions;

each correlation attribute having a definition for determining a corresponding correlation condition; and

receiving an abstract query including (i) conditions referencing one or more of the logical field definitions and (ii) one or more of the correlation attributes;

generating an executable query from the abstract query, the generating comprising;

determining whether the referenced correlation attributes are associated with any of the referenced logical field definitions; and

if so,

applying, as part of the executable query, each correlation condition corresponding to the respective referenced correlation attribute associated with the referenced logical field definition.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one condition of the abstract query relates to an event having a corresponding time value in the physical data and wherein at least one applied correlation condition imposes a constraint on the condition on the basis of the time value.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one condition of the abstract query relates to an event having a corresponding value in the physical data and wherein at least one applied correlation conditions imposes a constraint on the condition on the basis of the value.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the value is a location value.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein each of the logical field definitions comprise a logical field name, at least one location attribute identifying a location of physical data corresponding to the logical field name, and a reference to an access method selected from at least two different access method types;

wherein each of the different access methods types defines a different manner of exposing the physical data corresponding to the logical field name of the respective logical field definition.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein at least one applied correlation condition is a parameterized condition that receives passed in values during the step of applying.

12. A method of adding query logic to queries each having a plurality of conditions, the method comprising:

receiving a query referencing one or more predefined correlation attributes, each correlation attribute having information defining a predicate with a predefined relationship to a given field;

for each correlation attribute referenced in the query;

(i) determining whether the query includes the given field for which the correlation attribute has the predefined relationship; and

if so,

(ii) generating query logic on the basis of the predicate of the given correlation attribute; and

applying the generated query logic to the query.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the predicate imposes a time based constraint upon the given field.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the given field is a logical field defined in a data abstraction model and wherein generating query logic on the basis of the predicate of the given field is done according to a predefined access method defined for the given field, the access method defining a method of accessing physical data corresponding to the given field.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the predicate is a parameterized condition that receives passed in values during the generating query logic.

16. A system, comprising:

a data structure containing a plurality of correlation attributes each having information defining a predicate with a predefined relationship to a given field;

a searchable data source containing a plurality of fields of physical data, including those fields having predefined relationships with the predicates; and

a query processor configured to;

receive a query referencing one or more of the plurality of fields and one or more correlation attributes defined in the data structure;

for each correlation attribute referenced in the query;

(i) determine whether the query includes the given field for which the correlation attribute has the predefined relationship; and

if so,

(ii) generate query logic on the basis of the predicate of the given correlation attribute; and

apply the generated query logic to the query.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the query processor is further configured to execute the generated query against the data source.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising a data abstraction model comprising a plurality of logical fields that logically describe respective ones of the plurality of fields in the data source, the data abstraction model having a plurality of mapping rules which map the plurality of logical fields to respective fields in the data source.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the predicate is a parameterized condition that receives passed in values during the generating query logic.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the predicate imposes a time based constraint upon the given field.