Mapping of schema data into data structures

• US 20060085451A1
• Filed: 07/12/2005
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/15/2004
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Smith, Samuel H., Pal, Shankar, Tomic, Dragan, Dibble, Clifford T., Inglikov, Yuriy M.
• Application Number:
  US11/179,918
• Publication Number:
  US 20060085451A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/86 Mapping to a database

Abstract

Translation architecture that facilitates translation between schema data and relational structures. The architecture includes a translation component that consumes schema data (e.g., an XML schema) that includes a schema structure, validates the schema structure, and persists in memory a representation of the schema as a relational format. Since schemas are shredded into tables, instance validation loads only the necessary components to perform validation. During validation, only parts of the schema that are used are loaded and cached. A schema cache stores the in-memory representation of schema optimized for instance validation. Schema components are loaded from metadata into main memory as read-only objects such that multiple users can use the in-memory objects for validation, query processing, query optimization and storage optimization of XML instance data

Claims

1. A system that facilitates the translation of data, comprising:

a translation component that consumes schema data which includes a schema structure, validates the schema structure, and persists in memory a representation of the schema structure as a relational format.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the representation of the schema structure as the relational format is persisted in a symbol table.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the symbol table is traversed when the schema structure is validated.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the schema data is an XML schema structure.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein metadata tables that describe a structure of the schema types are populated in the memory.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the metadata tables include a component table that stores basic components of the schema data, a reference table that stores a derivation structure, a placement table that stores a hierarchy of complex types, a facet table that stores simple type facets, and a qualified name table that stores names of the basic components and wildcard namespace names.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the schema data is decomposed into a set of related schema components.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the schema data is decomposed into a set of related schema components each of which is associated with an ID.

9. A server that employs the system of claim 1.

10. A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions for carrying out the system of claim 1.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the schema data is decomposed into a set of relational tables, and a most frequently used piece of the schema data is loaded and cached.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the schema data is loaded as XML schema components into the memory as read-only objects such that multiple users can use the in-memory objects for validation.

13. A computer-implemented method of translating data, comprising:

receiving XML data that includes a schema structure;

validating the schema structure;

translating the schema structure into relational tables; and

persisting a portion of the relational tables in memory.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising an act of loading into the memory portions of the relation tables that are most frequently used.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising an act of persisting in a type cache portions of the relational tables that relate to at least one of a type, an attribute, and an element definition.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the act of persisting stores the schema structure in a symbol table that is traversed when the schema structure is validated.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the act of validating loads only parts of the schema structures that are used.

18. The method of claim 13, the act of validating includes instance validation wherein only components necessary for validation are loaded.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising an act of exposing portions of the persisted relational tables as read-only views.

20. A system that facilitates data translation, comprising:

means for receiving XML data that includes a schema structure;

means for validating the schema structure;

means for translating the schema structure into relational tables;

means for persisting a portion of the relational tables in a memory; and

means for automatically removing entries in the memory at a higher rate in response to a pressure notification signal.