ANALYSIS OF OLAP DATA TO DERTERMINE USER-RELEVANT INFORMATION

• US 20070282789A1
• Filed: 06/02/2006
• Published: 12/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Deshpande, Prasad Manikarao, Kummamuru, Krishna, Banavar, Guruduth Somasekhara, Chenthamarakshan, Vijii Enara
• Granted Patent: US 7,752,162 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/283 Multi-dimensional databases or data warehouses, e.g. MOLAP or ROLAP

Abstract

The analysis of OLAP data to determine user-relevant information firstly generates a set of queries based on said preferences. Each query is evaluated sequentially against the OLAP data to give a query result. For each evaluated query in turn, it is determined whether said result is relevant to the user on the basis of conditions derived from the user preferences. An output results set is formed consisting of the relevant results. Further, if a previous query result containing a common measure was determined not to be relevant, then a subsequent query can be omitted from evaluation.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing OLAP data to determine user-relevant information, comprising the steps of:

receiving a set of user preferences;

generating a set of queries based on said preferences;

sequentially evaluating each said query against said OLAP data to give a query result;

determining, for each evaluated query in turn, whether said result is relevant to said user on the basis of conditions derived from said user preferences; and

forming an output results set consisting of said relevant results.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said user preferences include measures that also exist within said OLAP data, and said conditions are derived from said user preference measures.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said conditions are Boolean combinations of said measures, and further wherein a result is considered relevant if a said Boolean combination is satisfied by the measures present in said query result.

4. The method of claim 2, comprising the further step of omitting to evaluate a query if a previous query result containing a common measure was determined not to be relevant.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said conditions are represented as a dependency graph.

6. A method for analyzing OLAP data to determine user-relevant information, comprising the steps of:

receiving a set of user preferences that include measures that also exist within said OLAP data;

generating a set of queries based on said preferences;

sequentially evaluating each said query against said OLAP data to give a query result;

determining, for each evaluated query in turn, whether said result is relevant to said user on the basis of conditions derived from said user preferences measures;

omitting to evaluate a query if a previous query result containing a common measure was determined not to be relevant; and

forming an output results set consisting of said relevant results.

7. A method for analyzing OLAP data to determine user-relevant information, comprising the steps of:

generating a set of queries based on user preferences;

sequentially evaluating each said query against said OLAP data to give a query result; and

determining, for each evaluated query in turn, whether said result is relevant to said user on the basis of conditions derived from said user preferences.

8. A system for analyzing OLAP data to determine user-relevant information, comprising:

an input to receive a set of user preferences; and

a processor generating a set of queries based on said preferences, sequentially evaluating each said query against said OLAP data to give a query result, determining, for each evaluated query in turn, whether said result is relevant to said user on the basis of conditions derived from said user preferences, and forming an output results set consisting of said relevant results.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said user preferences include measures that also exist within said OLAP data, and said conditions are derived from said user preference measures.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said conditions are Boolean combinations of said measures, and further wherein said processor determines a result to be relevant if a said Boolean combination is satisfied by the measures present in said query result.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein said processor omits to evaluate a query if a previous query result containing a common measure was determined not to be relevant.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said conditions are represented as a dependency graph.

13. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

receive a set of user preferences;

generate a set of queries based on said preferences;

sequentially evaluate each said query against said OLAP data to give a query result;

determine, for each evaluated query in turn, whether said result is relevant to said user on the basis of conditions derived from said user preferences; and

form an output results set consisting of said relevant results.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said program further causes the computer to omit to evaluate a query if a previous query result containing a common measure was determined not to be relevant.