CONCEPT OF RELATIONSHIPSETS IN ENTITY DATA MODEL (EDM)

• US 20070266041A1
• Filed: 08/29/2006
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Beckman, Brian C., Muralidhar, Subramanian, Albahari, Benjamin, Nori, Anil Kumar, Blakeley, Jose A., Bedi, Kawarjit Singh
• Application Number:
  US11/468,008
• Publication Number:
  US 20070266041A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides a system and/or a method that facilitates addressing complex modeling. An entity data model that can receive data via an interface and that formalizes a notion of at least one of a Relationship, a Relationship instance, and a Relationship Set in a manner substantially similar to at least one of an Entity type, an Entity instance, and an entity-set respectively, wherein a semantic related to the at least one of the Relationship, the Relationship instance, and the Relationship Set are captured as metadata in the same manner as metadata is captured for at least one of the Entity type, the Entity instance, and the Entity-set, respectively.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates addressing complex modeling, comprising:

an interface that receives data; and

an entity data model that formalizes a notion of at least one of a Relationship type, a Relationship instance, and a Relationship Set in a manner substantially similar to at least one of an Entity type, an Entity instance, and an entity-set respectively.

2. The system of claim 1, the formalized notion of at least one of the Relationship type, the Relationship instance, and the Relationship Set enables a mechanism for an explicit relationship and an implicit relationship.

3. The system of claim 1, the formalized notion of at least one of the Relationship type, the Relationship instance, and the Relationship Set is represented in a disparate manner in comparison to the Entity type, the Entity instance, and the entity-set respectively in order to allow the entity data model to recognize the notion and distinct nature between such data.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising an association relationship that models and implements a peer-to-peer relationship between at least two entities.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a containment relationship that models and implements a parent-child relationship between at least two entities.

6. The system of claim 1, the entity is a real-world object with independent existence and is an instance of the entity type.

7. The system of claim 6, the entity-set is a collection of at least one entity of the same entity type.

8. The system of claim 1, the relationship is an instance of the relationship type and expresses a linkage between instances of two or more entity types.

9. The system of claim 8, the Relationship Set represents a collection of relationship instances of the same relationship type.

10. The system of claim 1, the entity data model supports at least one of rich entity and rich relationship with at least one of inheritance and polymorphism.

11. The system of claim 1, the entity data model reduces the impedance mismatch of at least one of the following:

an application;

a Personal Information Management (PIM) application;

a Line-of-Business application;

a service;

a replication service;

a synchronization service;

a presentation service;

a reporting service;

a search service; and

a security service.

12. The system of claim 1, the entity data model incorporates at least one of the Relationship type, Relationship instance, and Relationship Set as a first class concept in the model which allows the same status as at least one of an Entity type, Entity instance, and Entity set respectively, wherein a semantic associated with the at least one of relationship type, instance, and set is captured as metadata in the same manner as capturing metadata for at least one of the entity type, instance, and set respectively.

13. The system of claim 1, at least one of the Relationship type, the Relationship instance, and the Relationship Set includes a rich operation semantic associated therewith to enable a rich collection of at least one of a validation, an integrity constraint, and a rule to model a behavior associated with such relationships.

14. The system of claim 13, the entity data model provides at least one of the following:

semantic constraint enforcement associated with at least one of an association relationship and a containment relationship;

a navigation of a relationship in a first class manner;

implement an efficient query describing navigation; and

define a Relationship type that connects an entity at an end point of the relationship and at least one disparate relationship.

15. The system of claim 1, further comprising a database runtime system that implements the entity data model in a concrete manner, wherein the runtime includes at least one of the following:

a mapping facility;

a querying facility; and

an updating facility that updates at least one of an entity and a relationship in a data source.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising a navigation component that leverages a natural property related to the at least one of the at least one of the Relationship, the Relationship instance, and the Relationship Set to provide navigation without at least one of a joint definition, a link table and a joint condition.

17. A computer-implemented method that facilitates addressing complex modeling, comprising:

receiving Relationship Type data; and

formalizing Relationship Type data in a same manner as Entity Type data associated with a data modeling construct.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising implementing at least one of a peer-to-peer relationship and a parent-child relationship.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

employing navigation based on the formalization;

querying the formalized data; and

providing at least one query result.

20. A computer-implemented system that facilitates addressing complex modeling, comprising:

means for receiving data; and

means for formalizing a notion of at least one of a Relationship, a Relationship instance, and a Relationship Set in a manner substantially similar to at least one of an Entity type, an Entity instance, and an entity-set respectively, wherein a semantic related to the at least one of the Relationship, the Relationship instance, and the Relationship Set are captured as metadata in the same manner as metadata is captured for at least one of the Entity type, the Entity instance, and the Entity-set, respectively.