RE-CATEGORIZATION OF AGGREGATE DATA AS DETAIL DATA AND AUTOMATED RE-CATEGORIZATION BASED ON DATA USAGE CONTEXT

• US 20080027957A1
• Filed: 07/25/2006
• Published: 01/31/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Wang, Fang, Hays, Christopher A., Bruckner, Robert M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,831,617 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/101
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/244 Grouping and aggregation

Abstract

A data access system which includes the capability to categorize subsets of the data in the data store, query result or other source of data as aggregate data or as detail data and also the ability to explicitly re-categorize the aggregate data as detail data, e.g., as part of execution of one or more processes on the data, so that operations that apply to detail data also apply to the re-categorized aggregate data. Additionally, automatic processes are provided for re-categorizing aggregate data as detail data based on data usage context, i.e., based upon how data in the data store is to be manipulated, processed and/or presented according to queries, commands, etc. received by the data store. Calculation of aggregations on top of already pre-aggregated data is enabled, and merging of designated aggregate data with detail data provides increased flexibility in a final dataset.

Claims

1. A method for processing at least one subset of data in a dataset, comprising:

re-categorizing at least one subset of data in the dataset from an aggregate data designation to a detail data designation, wherein said aggregate data designation is mutually exclusive to said detail data designation.

2. The method of claim 1, further including:

processing the re-categorized at least one subset of data as detail data together with at least one other subset of the same dataset having the detail data designation.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one subset of data having been re-categorized according to the re-categorizing step, thereby allows calculation of aggregations on top of the already pre-aggregated data.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said processing includes merging the re-categorized at least one subset of data with the at least one other subset of data having the detail data designation.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one subset of data includes at least two subsets of data that are aggregated by different fields or dimensions.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the processing includes at least one of grouping, filtering, aggregating and sorting the at least one subset of data as detail data together with the at least one other subset of data having the detail data designation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said re-categorizing includes automatically re-categorizing the at least one subset of data from the aggregate data designation to the detail data designation based on an analysis of the usage of the at least one subset of data in an operation performed on the dataset.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said analysis is based at least on a dataset definition associated with the dataset.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein said analysis is based at least on a data usage definition defining data usage of dataset fields of the dataset.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said re-categorizing includes automatically re-categorizing the at least one subset of data from the aggregate data designation to the detail data designation based on an analysis of the usage of dataset fields of the dataset in an operation performed on the dataset.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said re-categorizing includes automatically re-categorizing the at least one subset of data from the aggregate data designation to the detail data designation based on whether at least one field of the dataset is used in a server aggregate function.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said re-categorizing includes automatically re-categorizing the at least one subset of data from the aggregate data designation to the detail data designation based on an analysis of the usage of the at least one subset of data in an operation performed on the dataset only if a flag is set to automatically perform said automatic re-categorizing.

13. A computing device comprising means for performing the re-categorizing method of claim 1.

14. An interface to a data store comprising computer executable interface modules having computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

15. A computerized method for analyzing a request for at least one operation to be performed on at least one subset of data of a dataset, comprising:

receiving a request for at least one operation to be performed on at least one field of the dataset;

analyzing the at least one field of the dataset in the context of usage of the at least one field according to the at least one operation to automatically detect whether aggregate type data of the at least one subset of data is to be re-classified as detail type data; and

automatically re-classifying the at least one subset of data from aggregate type data to detail type data based on said analyzing and automatic detection based on usage of the at least one field.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said analyzing includes analyzing a dataset definition associated with the dataset.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said analyzing includes analyzing a data usage definition defining data usage of dataset fields of the dataset.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein said analyzing includes analyzing at least one dataset field of the dataset fields to detect if at least one dataset field is used in a server aggregate function.

19. A programming interface to a data store comprising computer executable interface modules for performing the method of claim 15.

20. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for interfacing with a data store, comprising:

means for receiving a request for at least one operation to be performed on at least one field of at least one dataset of the data store;

means for analyzing the at least one field of the at least one dataset of the data store in the context of usage of the at least one field according to the at least one operation to automatically detect whether aggregate data of the at least one dataset is to be re-categorized as non-aggregate data; and

means for automatically re-categorizing the aggregate data in the at least one dataset from aggregate data to non-aggregate data based on an output from said means for analyzing.