System and method for storing element information

• US 20050256886A1
• Filed: 05/11/2004
• Published: 11/17/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Original Assignee: Sbc Knowledge Ventures, L.P.
• Inventors: Lees, Theresa Jayne, Armanino, Frederick Michael, Wong, Peter A., Tsai, Mengfeng
• Granted Patent: US 8,073,819 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/278 Data partitioning, e.g. horizontal or vertical partitioning

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for storing element information. A method incorporating teachings of the present disclosure may include, for example, creating a structured text object that includes information representing a collection of metrics for a tracked network node. The network node may be, for example, a computing device, a communication link, and/or an interface mechanism. In practice, the text object may be compressed into a binary element, and the binary element may be stored in a data store.

Claims

1. A method of maintaining information comprising:

creating a structured text object comprising information representing a collection of metrics for a tracked network node;

compressing the structured text object into a binary element; and

storing the binary element in a data store.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing a legacy data store maintaining metric information for the tracked network node, wherein the metric information comprises a first metric stored in a first table location and a second metric stored in a second table location;

including the first metric and the second metric in the collection of metrics; and

storing the binary element in a single table location.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for a metric included in the structured text object;

retrieving the binary element;

uncompressing the binary element; and

loading the metric into an accessible object.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request to move historic information for the tracked element from a legacy data store to the data store;

accessing the legacy data store maintaining the historic information for the tracked element, wherein the historic information comprises a first metric stored in a first table location and a second metric stored in a second table location; and

including the first metric and the second metric in the structured text object.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the collection of metrics comprises a Digital Subscriber Line link identifier, a customer identifier, and a circuit identifier.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the structured text object is an extensible markup language (XML) object.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising utilizing an element key to identify the binary element.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising utilizing an element key to identify the binary element, wherein the element key represents at least one tracked metric included in the collection of metrics.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a plurality of respective structured text objects for a plurality of tracked network elements;

compressing each of the respective structured text objects into respective binary elements; and

storing each of the respective binary elements in a respective table location of the data store.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising utilizing element keys to identify the respective binary elements.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving a request for a metric included in one of the respective structured text objects;

considering the elements keys to facilitate retrieving a desired binary element;

uncompressing the desired binary element; and

loading the metric into an accessible object.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the tracked network node; and

populating a field with representative information for each of the collection of metrics.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an input comprising a value for at least one of the collection of metrics.

14. An information system, comprising:

a housing component at least partially defining an external surface and an internal cavity;

a memory comprising a data store configured to hold a compressed form of a structured text object that represents a plurality of metrics for a tracked network node; and

a processor at least partially located within the internal cavity and communicatively coupled to the memory, the processor operable to receive a request for a metric included in the structured text object, to retrieve the compressed form of the structured text object, to uncompress the compressed form, and to initiate communication of a response to the request that comprises the metric.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a computer-readable medium having computer-readable information to instruct the processor to retrieve the compressed form of the structured text object, to uncompress the compressed form, and to initiate communication of a response to the request that comprises the metric.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the computer-readable medium comprises additional computer-readable information to instruct the processor to compress the structured text object into the compressed form and to store the compressed form in the data store.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the structured text object is an extensible markup language (XML) object.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the compressed form comprises a binary element.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein at least one of the plurality of metrics is selected from the group consisting of a Digital Subscriber Line link identifier, a customer identifier, and a circuit identifier.

20. The system of claim 14, further comprising an administrator console communicatively coupled to the processor.

21. A computer-readable medium having computer-readable instructions to create a structured text object that comprises a first and a second tracked metric for a network node, to compress the structured text object into a compressed form, to receive a request for the first metric, to retrieve the compressed form of the structured text object, to uncompress the compressed form, and to initiate communication of a response to the request that comprises the metric.

22. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the structured text object comprises an extensible markup language object.

23. The computer readable medium of claim 21, wherein the compressed form comprises a binary element.