EFFICIENTLY STORING INDENTED THREADS IN A THREADED DISCUSSION APPLICATION

• US 20070106635A1
• Filed: 12/29/2006
• Published: 05/10/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: BEA Systems Incorporated (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Frieden, Kurt, Srikhanta, Prasanna
• Granted Patent: US 7,653,660 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/30 of unstructured textual data document management systems G06F16/93
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/81 Indexing, e.g. XML tags; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• 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 707/99937 Sorting
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer-readable media for retrieving records in a hierarchical set of the records having a plurality of hierarchical levels and a plurality of hierarchical depths, each of the records having a tag that is unique within the hierarchical set of the records, comprises identifying one of the records in the hierarchical set of the records; modifying the tag, thereby producing a key; indexing the hierarchical set of the records only once, thereby selecting one or more of the records within the hierarchical set of the records, wherein indexing the hierarchical set of the records only once comprises applying the key to the hierarchical set of the records; and retrieving the selected records.

Claims

1. :

A method of tagging a message or container in a hierarchical data set having a plurality of hierarchical levels and a plurality of hierarchical depths, the method comprising;

(1) presenting a first message of an indented threaded discussion or a first container;

(2) determining a hierarchical level of the first message or container;

(3) determining a hierarchical depth of the first message or container;

(4) assigning a first tag to the first message or container, comprising;

(i) determining the immediate parent of the first message or container;

(ii) selecting a parent tag of the immediate parent of the first message or container, wherein the parent tag is a number having multiple digits each representing one of the hierarchical depths of the hierarchical data set;

(iii) selecting a digit of the selected parent tag that represents the hierarchical depth of the first message or container; and

(iv) assigning a value to the selected digit, the value representing the hierarchical level of the first message or container; and

(5) storing an entry in a table as processor-readable code embedded within one or more mass storage devices, said table entry including the assigned first tag, the selected digit representing the hierarchical depth, the assigned value representing the hierarchical level, and information pertaining to the first message or container.

2. :

The method of claim 1, further comprising;

(6) receiving a command from a user requesting replying to the first message or disposition within the first container;

(7) selecting the digit corresponding to the hierarchical depth immediately below the hierarchical depth of the first message or container;

(8) incrementing the value of the selected digit, thereby producing a key; and

(9) indexing the database by adding a record to the database having the key as its tag and corresponding to said reply message or container disposed within the first container.

3. :

The method of claim 1, wherein assigning a value to the selected digit comprises;

determining the number of children of the immediate parent of the datum that have already been tagged;

incrementing the number of children to obtain an incremented number; and

setting the value of the selected digit to equal the value of the incremented number.

4. :

The method of claim 2, wherein;

each datum represents a message;

the child of a datum represents a reply to the message represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a message, a reply to which is represented by the datum.

5. :

The method of claim 2, wherein;

each datum represents a container;

the child of a datum represents a container within the container represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a container which contains the container represented by the datum.

6. :

At least one computer including a processor programmed to execute a process for tagging a datum in a hierarchical data set having a plurality of hierarchical levels and a plurality of hierarchical depths, the process comprising;

(1) presenting a first message of an indented threaded discussion or a first container;

(2) determining a hierarchical level of the first message or container;

(3) determining a hierarchical depth of the first message or container;

(4) assigning a first tag to the first message or container, comprising;

(i) determining the immediate parent of the first message or container;

(ii) selecting a parent tag of the immediate parent of the first message or container, wherein the parent tag is a number having multiple digits each representing one of the hierarchical depths of the hierarchical data set;

(iii) selecting a digit of the selected parent tag that represents the hierarchical depth of the first message or container; and

(iv) assigning a value to the selected digit, the value representing the hierarchical level of the first message or container; and

(5) storing an entry in a table as processor-readable code embedded within one or more mass storage devices, said table entry including the assigned first tag, the selected digit representing the hierarchical depth, the assigned value representing the hierarchical level, and information pertaining to the first message or container.

7. :

The at least one computer of claim 6, the process further comprising;

(6) receiving a command from a user requesting replying to the first message or disposition within the first container;

(7) selecting the digit corresponding to the hierarchical depth immediately below the hierarchical depth of the first message or container;

(8) incrementing the value of the selected digit, thereby producing a key; and

(9) indexing the database by adding a record to the database having the key as its tag and corresponding to said reply message or container disposed within the first container.

8. :

The computer of claim 6, wherein assigning a value to the selected digit comprises;

determining the number of children of the immediate parent of the datum that have already been tagged;

incrementing the number of children to obtain an incremented number; and

setting the value of the selected digit to equal the value of the incremented number.

9. :

The computer of claim 7, wherein;

each datum represents a message;

the child of a datum represents a reply to the message represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a message, a reply to which is represented by the datum.

10. :

The computer of claim 7, wherein;

each datum represents a container;

the child of a datum represents a container within the container represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a container which contains the container represented by the datum.

11. :

An apparatus including a processor for tagging a datum in a hierarchical data set having a plurality of hierarchical levels and a plurality of hierarchical depths, the apparatus further comprising;

(1) means for presenting a first message of an indented threaded discussion or a first container;

(2) means for determining a hierarchical level of the first message or container;

(3) means for determining a hierarchical depth of the first message or container;

(4) means for assigning a first tag to the first message or container, comprising;

(i) means for determining the immediate parent of the first message or container;

(ii) means for selecting a parent tag of the immediate parent of the first message or container, wherein the parent tag is a number having multiple digits each representing one of the hierarchical depths of the hierarchical data set;

(iii) means for selecting a digit of the selected parent tag that represents the hierarchical depth of the first message or container; and

(iv) means for assigning a value to the selected digit, the value representing the hierarchical level of the first message or container; and

(5) means for storing an entry in a table as processor-readable code embedded within one or more mass storage devices, said table entry including the assigned first tag, the selected digit representing the hierarchical depth, the assigned value representing the hierarchical level, and information pertaining to the first message or container.

12. :

The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising;

(6) means for receiving a command from a user requesting replying to the first message or disposition within the first container;

(7) means for selecting the digit corresponding to the hierarchical depth immediately below the hierarchical depth of the first message or container;

(8) means for incrementing the value of the selected digit, thereby producing a key; and

(9) means for indexing the database by adding a record to the database having the key as its tag and corresponding to said reply message or container disposed within the first container.

13. :

The apparatus of claim 11, wherein means for assigning a value to the selected digit comprises;

means for determining the number of children of the immediate parent of the datum that have already been tagged;

means for incrementing the number of children to obtain an incremented number; and

means for setting the value of the selected digit to equal the value of the incremented number.

14. :

The apparatus of claim 12, wherein;

each datum represents a message;

the child of a datum represents a reply to the message represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a message, a reply to which is represented by the datum.

15. :

The apparatus of claim 12, wherein;

each datum represents a container;

the child of a datum represents a container within the container represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a container which contains the container represented by the datum.

16. :

Computer-readable media embodying instructions executable by a computer including a processor to perform a method for tagging a datum in a hierarchical data set having a plurality of hierarchical levels and a plurality of hierarchical depths, the method comprising;

(1) presenting a first message of an indented threaded discussion or a first container;

(2) determining a hierarchical level of the first message or container;

(3) determining a hierarchical depth of the first message or container;

(4) assigning a first tag to the first message or container, comprising;

(i) determining the immediate parent of the first message or container;

(ii) selecting a parent tag of the immediate parent of the first message or container, wherein the parent tag is a number having multiple digits each representing one of the hierarchical depths of the hierarchical data set;

(iii) selecting a digit of the selected parent tag that represents the hierarchical depth of the first message or container; and

(iv) assigning a value to the selected digit, the value representing the hierarchical level of the first message or container; and

(5) storing an entry in a table as processor-readable code embedded within one or more mass storage devices, said table entry including the assigned first tag, the selected digit representing the hierarchical depth, the assigned value representing the hierarchical level, and information pertaining to the first message or container.

17. :

The media of claim 16, the method further comprising;

(6) receiving a command from a user requesting replying to the first message or disposition within the first container;

(7) selecting the digit corresponding to the hierarchical depth immediately below the hierarchical depth of the first message or container;

(8) incrementing the value of the selected digit, thereby producing a key; and

(9) indexing the database by adding a record to the database having the key as its tag and corresponding to said reply message or container disposed within the first container.

18. :

The media of claim 16, wherein assigning a value to the selected digit comprises;

determining the number of children of the immediate parent of the datum that have already been tagged;

incrementing the number of children to obtain an incremented number; and

setting the value of the selected digit to equal the value of the incremented number.

19. :

The media of claim 17, wherein;

each datum represents a message;

the child of a datum represents a reply to the message represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a message, a reply to which is represented by the datum.

20. :

The media of claim 17, wherein;

each datum represents a container;

the child of a datum represents a container within the container represented by the datum; and

the parent of a datum represents a container which contains the container represented by the datum.