Centralized data transformation

• US 20060053134A1
• Filed: 10/08/2004
• Published: 03/09/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Original Assignee: Fortinet Inc.
• Inventors: Durham, Roderick Harold
• Granted Patent: US 7,672,948 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/552 involving long-term monitoring or reporting
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/577 Assessing vulnerabilities and evaluating computer system security
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1441 Countermeasures against malicious traffic countermeasures against attacks on cryptographic mechanisms H04L9/002
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227

Abstract

A method of facilitating transformation of survey data from being in at least one foreign format used by a survey-tool to being in a desired format may include: receiving instances of foreign data from survey-tools, the foreign data being in foreign format used by the survey-tools, respectively; and appending, to the instances of foreign data, service-keys to identify the service tools which gathered the foreign data, respectively, to produce a data block that includes key-and-foreign-data pairs. Another such method may include: receiving such a data block; culling from the block key-and-foreign-data pairs; and operating upon the pairs to transform respective chunks of foreign data from being in respective foreign formats into being in corresponding desired formats according to corresponding service-keys, respectively.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating transformation of survey data from being in at least one foreign format used by a survey-tool to being in a desired format, the method comprising:

receiving at least first foreign data from at least a first survey-tool, the foreign data being in an at least a first foreign format used by the first survey-tool, respectively; and

appending, to the at-least-first foreign data, at least a first service-key to identify the at-least-first service tool as the gatherer thereof, respectively, to produce a data block that includes at least a first key-and-foreign-data pair.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the receiving of foreign data further receives at least second foreign data from at least a second survey-tool, the at-least-second foreign data being in at least a second foreign format used by the second survey-tool, respectively; and

the appending further appends at least a second service-key to the at-least-second foreign data to identify the at-least-second service tool as the gatherer thereof, respectively, such that the data block includes the first key-and-foreign-data pair and at least a second key-and-foreign-data pair.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

calling at least a first and second survey-tool to request the at-least-first-and-second foreign data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calling at least a first survey-tool to request the at-least-first foreign data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the receiving and appending are performed locally at a client-type entity; and

the method further comprises sending the data block to a remote server-type entity for transformation to the desired format according to the at least a first service-key, respectively.

25. A machine configured to implement the method of claim 1.

26. A machine configured to implement the method of claim 2.

27. A machine configured to implement the method of claim 3.

28. A machine configured to implement the method of claim 4.

29. A machine configured to implement the method of claim 5.

6-12. -12. (canceled)

13. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions, execution of which by a machine facilitates transformation of survey data from being in at least one foreign format used by a survey-tool to being in a desired format, the machine-readable instructions including:

a first code segment to receive at least first foreign data from at least a first survey-tool, the foreign data being in an at least a first foreign format used by the first survey-tool, respectively; and

a second code segment to append, to the at-least-first foreign data, at least a first service-key to identify the at-least-first service tool as the gatherer thereof, respectively, to produce a data block that includes at least a first key-and-foreign-data pair.

14. The machine-readable instructions of claim 13, wherein:

execution of the first code segment further causes the machine to receive at least second foreign data from at least a second survey-tool, the at-least-second foreign data being in at least a second foreign format used by the second survey-tool, respectively; and

execution of the second code segment further causes the machine to append further appends at least a second service-key to the at-least-second foreign data to identify the at-least-second service tool as the gatherer thereof, respectively, such that the data block includes the first key-and-foreign-data pair and at least a second key-and-foreign-data pair.

15. The machine-readable instructions of claim 14, further comprising:

a third code segment to call at least a first and second survey-tool to request the at-least-first-and-second foreign data.

16. The machine-readable instructions of claim 13, further comprising:

a third code segment to call at least a first survey-tool to request the at-least-first foreign data.

17. The machine-readable instructions of claim 13, wherein:

the receiving and appending are performed locally at a client-type entity; and

the machine-readable instructions further comprises

a third code segment to send the data block to a remote server-type entity for transformation to the desired format according to the at least a first service-key, respectively.

18-24. -24. (canceled)

30-36. -36. (canceled)

37. An apparatus for facilitating transformation of survey data from being in at least one foreign format used by a survey-tool to being in a desired format, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving at least first foreign data from at least a first survey-tool, the foreign data being in an at least a first foreign format used by the first survey-tool, respectively; and

means for appending, to the at-least-first foreign data, at lest a first service-key to identify the at-least-first service tool as the gatherer thereof, respectively, to produce a data block that includes at least a first key-and-foreign-data pair.

38. (canceled)