Specifying a subset of dynamic inter-related data

• US 20070162274A1
• Filed: 01/06/2006
• Published: 07/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CA, Inc. (d/b/a CA Technologies) (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Computer Associates Think Inc. (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ruiz, Jon, Seglem, Carl, Kwek, Ju-Kay
• Granted Patent: US 7,979,267 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 704/9
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2428 Query predicate definition using graphical user interfaces, including menus and forms G06F16/2423 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/243 Natural language query formulation

Abstract

A natural language tool is provided for specifying a subset of data. The data may be dynamic and have elements which are inter-related. The inter-related data is specified using a natural language expression. The natural language tool enables a user to construct a natural language expression using embedded fields. A user may configure, add and remove fields within the expression. A natural language expression contains at least two configurable fields. The fields of an expression have a tiered relationship. When a higher tiered field is changed, one or more lower tiered fields may be changed in response to the higher field change.

Claims

1. A method for specifying a subset of data, comprising:

receiving input into a natural language tool having at least one field, the input associated with a first data entity, the natural language tool configured to specify a subset of a data group using field data associated with the at least one field;

automatically configuring a second field in the natural language tool with relationship data associated with the first data entity and a second data entity; and

providing a third field in the natural language tool, the third field associated with the second data entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data group is associated with application management data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first data entity and the second data entity are associated with a matching data category.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the matching data category is a type category.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein matching category is a characteristic category.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of automatically configuring a second field includes retrieving a set of relationship data.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the relationship data is retrieved from a local machine.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the relationship data is retrieved from a remote data store.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of automatically configuring a second field is performed in response to said step of receiving input.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of providing a third field includes:

receiving a second input by the natural language tool; and

adding a field to the natural language tool in response to the second user input,

11. The method of claim 1, retrieving the subset of data specified by the natural language tool.

12. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

providing a natural language tool for specifying a set of data, the natural language tool specifying the set of data using two or more tiered fields embedded in a natural language expression;

receiving a first input into one of the one or more tiered fields, the input associated with a data element type; and

retrieving a set of data for two or more lower tiered fields in response to receiving the first input, the set of data including an array of elements associated with each of the one or more lower tiered fields, wherein each array is associated with an element of the array associated with next highest tiered field, one of the lower tiered fields including relationship data associated with the data element type and a second data element type.

13. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 12, wherein the two or more tiered fields are embedded in the natural language expression in order from highest tiered field to lowest tiered field.

14. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 12, wherein one or more of the two or more lower tiered fields includes a nested set of two or more fields.

15. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 12, wherein said step of retrieving a set of data includes:

retrieving data stored from a local machine.

16. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 12, wherein said step of retrieving a set of data includes:

retrieving data stored from a remote data store.

17. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 12, wherein said step of retrieving a set of data for two or more lower tiered fields includes:

retrieving a set of data for two or more lower tiered fields having the same data category.

18. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 12, wherein the set of data includes application data.

19. An apparatus for processing data, comprising:

a communication interface;

a storage device; and

one or more processors in communication with said storage device and said communication interface, said one or more processors perform a method comprising;

receiving input into a first data field of a structured natural language expression provided in a user interface, the structured natural language expression specifying a set of data;

sending a request for application data associated with two or more tiered data fields, each of the two or more tiered data fields associated with the next highest tiered data field, the highest tiered data fields associated with the first data field; and

providing the application data associated with the two or more tiered data fields in the structured natural language expression.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said step of receiving input into a first data field includes:

receiving input indicating a command to perform on the set of data

21. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said step of sending a request includes:

identifying a first data element received as input in the first data field that does not match accessible data; and

sending the first data element and related data to data store to be stored.

22. The apparatus of claim 19, the method further comprising:

executing a command on the set of data.

23. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said step of executing a command includes:

configuring an alert to be triggered in response to the set of data satisfying a condition.

24. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said step of executing a command includes:

enabling a user to specify a user-defined construct.

27. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

configuring the second set of data in a data store.

25. A method for managing data, comprising:

receiving a data request from a client device, the data request identifying a first data member associated with a first data field;

retrieving a set of application data associated with the first data field, the set of data including a first array of data and a second array of data, the first array of data corresponding to a second data field and associated with the first data member, the second array of data corresponding to a third data field and associated with a data member in the first array of data; and

sending the set of data to the client device.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving a second set of data from a client device, the second set of data including recognized data associated with the second data field and unrecognized data associated with the first data field.

28. The method of claim 25, further comprising:

receiving data from an application server, the data including data associated with the first data field, the second data field and the third data field.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the set of application data includes path information associated with the first data member.

30. One or more processor readable storage devices having processor readable code embodied on said processor readable storage devices, said processor readable code for programming one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

inserting monitoring code into an application;

detecting a call to a first application component from an entity, the application component including code to call a second application component, the call to the first application component detected by the monitoring code; and

sending component data associated with the application component to a data processing module, the component data including component parameters, entity identification information and second application component identification information.

31. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 30, wherein the entity identification information includes the name of the entity.

32. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 30, wherein the component parameter includes a parameter associated with the first application component.

33. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 30, wherein said step of sending component data includes:

aggregating component data associated with the application; and

sending the component data in response to an event.

34. The one or more processor readable storage devices of claim 30, wherein the component data further includes:

type information identifying the type associated with the first application component.