Data Maintenance System

• US 20100138383A1
• Filed: 12/01/2009
• Published: 06/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ab Initio Technology LLC (Ab Initio Software Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Ab Initio Software Corporation
• Inventors: Winters, Christopher J., Yeracaris, Anthony, Gould, Joel
• Granted Patent: US 9,092,639 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/609
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/11 File system administration, e.g. details of archiving or snapshots file system backup G06F11/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/13 File access structures, e.g. distributed indices arrangements of input from, or output to, record carriers G06F3/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/16 File or folder operations, e.g. details of user interfaces specifically adapted to file systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/20 of structured data, e.g. relational data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/25 Integrating or interfacing systems involving database management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6218 to a system of files or objects, e.g. local or distributed file system or database

Abstract

Maintaining data in a data management system including at least one processor and a storage system includes accessing a first data source providing one or more source elements of data; accessing a storage system storing one or more subsets of data, each subset including at least one element of data, and storing one or more descriptors identifying a data source for a subset and identifying a data source for each of one or more elements of the subset; and processing rules that determine if, according to the descriptors, an element in the storage system is allowed to be changed.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining data in a data management system including at least one processor and a storage system, the method including:

accessing a first data source providing one or more source elements of data;

accessing a storage system storing one or more subsets of data, each subset including at least one element of data, and storing one or more descriptors identifying a data source for a subset and identifying a data source for each of one or more elements of the subset; and

processing rules that determine if, according to the descriptors, an element in the storage system is allowed to be changed.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one rule determines if, according to at least one descriptor, any of the source elements is to be used to replace an element in the storage system.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one rule determines if, according to at least one descriptor, an element in the storage system is to be deleted in response to a corresponding source element being deleted.

4. The method of claim 1, further including accessing a second data source providing one or more source elements of data different from the source elements provided by the first data source.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the first data source is the data source for the subset and the second data source is the data source for at least one of the elements of the subset.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the descriptors identifies a data source for a subset and at least one other descriptor identifies another data source for an element of the subset.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the rules requires user input.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the rules is handled automatically, without user input.

9. The method of claim 1, further including accessing a maintenance plan containing the rules.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the maintenance plan includes a mapping indicating which source elements correspond to which elements in the storage system.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first data source includes a user interface accepting direct user input.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the data includes records that each store data elements in multiple fields.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein a descriptor identifies a record owner that controls changes to a given record.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the record owner controls deletion of the given record.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the record owner created the given record.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein a descriptor identifies a field owner that controls changes to a data element stored in a given field of a given record.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the field owner controls updates to the data element stored in the given field.

18. The method of claim 1, further including providing a user interface to a user and accepting decisions from the user that relate to the storage system data elements.

39. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the rules transforms the element in the storage system from a first format to a second format.

40. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the rules determines if the element in the storage system is in a valid form in the context of that element.

41. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the rules handles changes in the composition of the data source of the element in the storage system.

19. A system for maintaining data, the system including:

a storage system storing

one or more subsets of data, each subset including at least one element of data, and

one or more descriptors, each identifying a data source for a subset and identifying a data source for each of one or more elements of the subset;

a first data source providing one or more source elements of data;

a data manager configured to process rules that determine if, according to the descriptors, an element in the storage system is allowed to be changed.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one rule determines if, according to at least one descriptor, any of the source elements is to be used to replace an element in the storage system.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one rule determines if, according to at least one descriptor, an element in the storage system is to be deleted in response to a corresponding source element being deleted.

22. The system of claim 19, further including a second data source providing one or more source elements of data different from the source elements provided by the first data source.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the first data source is the data source for the subset and the second data source is the data source for at least one of the elements of the subset.

24. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one of the descriptors identifies a data source for a subset and at least one other descriptor identifies another data source for an element of the subset.

25. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one of the rules requires user input.

26. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one of the rules is handled automatically, without user input.

27. The system of claim 19 wherein the data manager operates according to a maintenance plan containing the rules.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the maintenance plan includes a mapping indicating which source elements correspond to which elements in the storage system.

29. The method of claim 19 wherein the first data source includes a user interface accepting direct user input.

30. The system of claim 19 wherein the data includes records that each store data elements in multiple fields.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein a descriptor identifies a record owner that controls changes to a given record.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the record owner controls deletion of the given record.

33. The system of claim 31 wherein the record owner created the given record.

34. The system of claim 30 wherein a descriptor identifies a field owner that controls changes to a data element stored in a given field of a given record.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein the field owner controls updates to the data element stored in the given field.

36. The system of claim 19, further including a user interface providing to the manager decisions of a user that relate to the storage system data elements.

42. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one of the rules transforms the element in the storage system from a first format to a second format.

43. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one of the rules determines if the element in the storage system is in a valid form in the context of that element.

44. The system of claim 19 wherein at least one of the rules handles changes in the composition of the data source of the element in the storage system.

37. A system for maintaining data in a data management system, the system including:

means for accessing a first data source providing one or more source elements of data;

means for accessing a storage system storing one or more subsets of data, each subset including at least one element of data, and storing one or more descriptors identifying a data source for a subset and identifying a data source for each element of the subset; and

means for processing rules that determine if, according to the descriptors, an element in the storage system is allowed to be changed.

38. A computer-readable medium storing a computer program for maintaining data in a data management system, the computer program including instructions for causing a computer to:

access a first data source providing one or more source elements of data;

access a storage system storing one or more subsets of data, each subset including at least one element of data, and storing one or more descriptors identifying a data source for a subset and identifying a data source for each element of the subset; and

process rules that determine if, according to the descriptors, an element in the storage system is allowed to be changed.