DATA RETRIEVAL AND DATA FEED GENERATION FROM DATA SOURCES

• US 20090259628A1
• Filed: 04/15/2008
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Volin, Troy M., Hsu, Jimmy M., Farrell, Joel A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,326,796 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/972 Access to data in other repository systems, e.g. legacy data or dynamic Web page generation

Abstract

Despite the availability of mashup editors, people without programming knowledge cannot easily access the data sources to create data feeds. A data feed engine allows a user to create a data feed without protocol and/or formatting knowledge for the data source. The data feed engine automatically builds a search command with search parameters and a data source identity (e.g., server name, network address, port number, etc.). The data feed engine also encodes the built search command as a data feed and publishes a link for the data feed in a data feed catalog. After publication, users can access the catalog to combine data feeds, edit data feeds, etc., and create mashups.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

generating a search command that targets a data source with an indication of the data source and one or more search parameters;

generating a data feed definition with the search command, wherein the data feed definition produces a data feed;

associating metadata with the data feed definition; and

publishing a reference to the data feed and the metadata in a catalog of data feeds available for mashup generation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said publishing the reference to the data feed and the metadata in the catalog of data feeds available for mashup generation further comprises publishing a reference to the data feed definition.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said generating the data feed definition with the search command comprises creating a markup language file with the search command or storing the data feed definition as an entry in a database of data feed definitions.

4. The method of claim 3 further comprising storing security credentials for accessing the data source.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving the indication of the data source, the metadata, and the one or more search parameters.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said receiving the indication of the data source, the metadata, and the one or more search parameters comprises at least one of reading a configuration file, receiving input from a user, and evaluating one or more of the data source and the one or more search parameters.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data source comprises a lightweight directory access protocol directory.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication of the data source comprises at least one of a network address, a server name, and a port number.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises at least one of author of the data feed, date of creation of the data feed, a description of the data feed, and a tag.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising setting one or more access permissions for the data feed.

11. A method comprising:

generating a search command that targets a secure data source with an indication of the data source and one or more search parameters;

generating a data feed definition with the search command and security credentials for accessing the secure data source, wherein the data feed definition produces a data feed; and

publishing a reference to the data feed in a catalog of data feeds available for mashup generation while limiting access to the data feed and the security credentials.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said generating the data feed definition with the search command and the security credentials for accessing the secure data source comprises writing a markup language file with the search command and an access sequence with the security credentials for accessing the secure data source or storing the data feed definition and the security credentials in a database entry.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising limiting access to the data feed definition.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising encrypting the markup language file or the database entry, wherein the reference comprises a call to a function performed at a remote location that decrypts the markup language file or database entry beyond view of an end-user.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising associating metadata with the data feed definition, wherein said publishing the reference to the data feed in a catalog of data feeds available for mashup generation while limiting access to the data feed and the security credentials comprises publishing the metadata with the reference to the data feed.

16. One or more machine-readable media having stored therein a program product, which when executed a set of one or more processor units causes the set of one or more processor units to perform operations that comprise:

generating a search command that targets a data source with an indication of the data source and one or more search parameters;

generating a data feed definition with the search command, wherein the data feed definition produces a data feed;

associating metadata with the data feed; and

publishing a reference to the data feed and the metadata in a catalog of data feeds available for mashup generation.

17. The machine-readable media of claim 16, wherein said operation of generating the data feed definition with the search command comprises creating a markup language file with the search command or storing the data feed definition in a database entry.

18. The machine-readable media of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise embedding security credentials for accessing the data source in the markup language file or storing the security credentials in the database entry.

19. The machine-readable media of claim 16, wherein said operations further comprise receiving the indication of the data source, the metadata, and the one or more search parameters.

20. The machine-readable media of claim 19, wherein said operation of receiving the indication of the data source, the metadata, and the one or more search parameters comprises at least one of reading a configuration file, receiving input from a user, and evaluating one or more of the data source and the one or more search parameters.

21. An apparatus comprising:

a set of one or more processor units;

a network interface; and

a data feed engine coupled with the set of processors and the network interface, the data feed engine comprising,

a search command builder operable to build a search command that targets a data source using an indication of the data source and one or more search parameters,

a data feed generator coupled with the search command builder, the data feed generator operable to generate a data feed definition with the search command from the search command builder and with security credentials and operable to communicate a reference to a data feed produced from the data feed definition, and

a data feed publisher coupled with the data feed generator, the data feed publisher operable to publish the reference to the data feed from the data feed generator in a catalog of data feeds.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the data feed engine further comprises a user interface coupled with the search command builder and the date feed generator, the user interface operable to present fields for receiving input that comprises at least one of the one or more search parameters, the security credentials, and the indication of the data source.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the data feed engine is operable to associate metadata with the data feed definition and the data feed publisher is operable to publish the metadata with the data feed in the data feed catalog.