Methods and apparatus for enterprise application integration

• US 20060277227A1
• Filed: 05/08/2006
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Objectstore Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Metatomix, Inc. (ESW Capital, LLC)
• Inventors: Angelo, Robert F., Azmi, Amir, Kumar, Ashok, Britton, Colin P., Kaufman, Noah W., Bajpai, Chandra
• Granted Patent: US 8,335,792 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/213 with details for schema evolution support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/214 Database migration support
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2462 Approximate or statistical queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/252 between a Database Management System and a front-end application
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99938 Concurrency, e.g. lock management in shared database
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A method for enterprise application integration that uses “connectors” that can be instantiated via downloading (e.g., using Java® or other such technologies) to provide interfaces to respective disparate database systems. The databases systems may comprise any variety of now or heretofore known systems, e.g. SAP, Oracle, and so forth. The connectors can, for example, translate between a native language (or API) of the respective database systems and an internal language/protocol of the enterprise application integration system. To this end, the connectors can utilize a scripting language to access the respective database systems. Data retrieved from the database systems can be stored in a central data store in the form of RDF triplets, from which directed graphs can be generated for to generate presentations consolidated from the multiple database systems.

Claims

1. A digital data processing method for enterprise application integration comprising

downloading functionality for effecting information transfers between a first database and a second database,

transferring information between the first database and the second database, the transferring step including at least one of

receiving information from the first database using a first protocol, and transmitting that information to the second database using a second protocol,

receiving information from the second database using the second protocol, and transmitting that information to the first database using the first protocol.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the transferring step includes any of receiving information and transmitting information that comprises any of commands, queries and data.

3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the steps of receiving and transmitting information using the first protocol includes receiving and transmitting resource definition format triplets (“

RDF triplets”

), respectively.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the steps of receiving and transmitting information using the first protocol includes receiving and transmitting an RDF triplet whose subject comprises any of a literal value, reference value and uniform identification number (“

URI”

).

5. A method according to claim 4, wherein the steps of receiving and transmitting information using the first protocol includes receiving and transmitting an RDF triplet whose subject reflects transactional information.

6. A method according to claim 3, wherein the steps of receiving and transmitting information using the first protocol includes receiving and transmitting an RDF triplet whose predicate comprises a URI, such that related data being transferred between the first and second databases is represented by URIs in a hierarchical ordering.

7. A method according to claim 3, wherein the steps of receiving and transmitting information using the first protocol includes receiving and transmitting an RDF triplet through whose object each related predicate and subject can be referenced.

8. A method according to claim 3, wherein the steps of receiving and transmitting information using the first protocol includes receiving and transmitting an RDF triplet whose object is any of a literal or an identifier.

9. A method according to claim 3, wherein the steps of receiving and transmitting information using the first protocol includes receiving and transmitting an RDF triplet representing any of marketing information or an e-commerce or other transaction.

10-17. -17. (canceled)

18. A digital data processing method for enterprise application integration comprising

downloading functionality for effecting information transfers between a first database and a second database,

transferring information between the first database and the second database, the transferring step including at least one of

applying a query to the second database using an application program interface (“

API”

) associated therewith the second database,

receiving information from the second database using the API, that information being received in response to the applied query, and transmitting that information to the first database using a first protocol associated therewith.

19. A digital data processing method for enterprise application integration according to claim 18, comprising storing the query for subsequent application to the second database.

20. A digital data processing method for enterprise application integration according to claim 19, comprising applying the stored query to the second database at predetermined intervals.

22. A method according to claim 18, comprising caching information received from the second database for subsequent application to the first database.

21. (canceled)

23-45. -45. (canceled)

46. A digital data processing method for enterprise application integration comprising

generating a query,

applying the query to a plurality of databases using a respective application program interface (“

API”

) associated with each of them,

transmitting information received from the databases using the respective APIs to a data store in the form of RDF triplets,

generating a directed graph from the RDF triplets,

parsing the directed graph and presenting therefrom information from one or more of the databases.

47. A method according to claim 46 wherein the presenting step includes presenting the information on a web browser.

48. A method according to claim 46, comprising generating the query based on user input.

49. A method according to claim 48, comprising generating the query based on user input in a web browser.

50. A method according to claim 46, comprising storing the query for subsequent application to the databases.

51. A method according to claim 50, comprising applying the stored query to the second database at predetermined intervals.

52. A method according to claim 51, comprising caching information received from the second database for subsequent transmittal to the data store.