Managing Product Information Versions

• US 20100185595A1
• Filed: 01/12/2009
• Published: 07/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Gopalakrishnan, Prasanth, Johal, Amanjit Singh
• Granted Patent: US 9,280,572 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/695
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/219 Managing data history or versioning querying versioned data G06F16/2474; querying temporal data G06F16/2477

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing versions of product attribute information are described with respect to a number of embodiments of the present disclosure. In one implementation, a database management system that manages a database for storing attribute information of a product is described. The database management system in this implementation comprises a version control system and a querying system. The version control system is configured to enable a user to insert one or more versions of product information in the database. Each version has an effective date and is divided into a plurality of attribute groups, each attribute group containing a plurality of attributes. One or more attribute groups are modified with respect to a previous version. The version control system is further configured to record which attributes of a modified attribute group are changed. The querying system is configured to enable a user to search the database based on the effective dates of the versions.

Claims

1. A product information versioning system comprising:

a processing device configured to control operations of the product information versioning system;

a memory device configured to store, in a database, information regarding a product, the memory device further configured to store the information as different versions such that each version includes an effective date, the effective date being the time after which a respective version is valid; and

a database management system configured to divide each version into a number of attribute groups, wherein one or more attribute groups are modified from one version to another, and wherein each attribute group includes a plurality of attributes;

wherein the database management system is further configured to create a bitmap defining which attributes of the modified attribute groups are changed.

2. The product information versioning system of claim 1, wherein the database management system is at least partially implemented in software and stored in the memory device.

3. The product information versioning system of claim 1, wherein the database management system is implemented in hardware and incorporated with the processing device.

4. The product information versioning system of claim 1, further comprising input/output devices enabling communication between a user and the product information versioning system.

5. The product information versioning system of claim 1, wherein the database management system enables a user to insert one or more new versions and to cancel one or more existing versions.

6. The product information versioning system of claim 1, wherein the database management system enables a user to query the database to retrieve relevant product information associated with a version.

7. The product information versioning system of claim 1, wherein the database management system is further configured to automatically purge outdated versions having an effective date prior to an effective date of a currently effective version, the database management system further configured to update the currently effective version with at least a portion of the information contained in the purged versions.

8. A database management system that manages a database for storing attribute information of a product, the database management system comprising:

a version control system configured to enable a user to insert one or more versions of product information in the database, each version having an effective date designating when the respective versions is effective, each version being divided into attribute groups and each attribute group including a plurality of attributes, one or more attribute groups being modified with respect to a previous version, the version control system further configured to record which attributes of a modified attribute group are changed; and

a querying system configured to enable a user to search the database based on the effective dates of the versions.

9. The database management system of claim 8, wherein the querying system is configured to determine a valid version based on the most recent effective date with respect to a current date.

10. The database management system of claim 9, wherein the version control system is further configured to purge versions having an effective date prior to an effective date of the valid version.

11. The database management system of claim 10, wherein the version control system is further configured to update the remaining versions by retrieving product information stored in association with the purged versions and storing the product information in association with the remaining versions.

12. The database management system of claim 8, wherein the version control system is further configured to enable the user to cancel one or more existing versions.

13. The database management system of claim 12, wherein the version control system records which attributes of the modified attribute group are changed by creating a bitmap.

14. A version control system comprising:

means for enabling a user to insert a version of product information in a database configured to store a plurality of versions of product information for a product, each version being divided into a plurality of attribute groups, each attribute group containing a plurality of attributes of the product;

means for enabling the user to enter an effective date associated with the inserted version to establish when the inserted version becomes effective;

means for enabling the user to modify one or more attribute groups with respect to the attributes of a previous version; and

means for creating a record indicating which attributes of the modified attribute groups are changed with respect to the attributes of the previous version.

15. The version control system of claim 14, further comprising:

means for storing the modified attribute groups in memory; and

means for recording references to one or more prior versions that include the same product information of the remaining attribute groups that are not modified in the inserted version.

16. The version control system of claim 14, further comprising means for enabling the user to cancel a version.

17. The version control system of claim 16, wherein the means for enabling the user to cancel a version is configured to modify a version'"'"'s reference to one or more prior versions when the version'"'"'s reference is made to a version to be cancelled.

18. The version control system of claim 16, further comprising means for updating one or more versions when a version is inserted or cancelled.

19. The version control system of claim 18, wherein the means for updating one or more versions is configured to purge outdated versions and update versions that reference the purged versions.

20. The version control system of claim 14, wherein the means for creating a record includes means for creating a bitmap to indicate which attribute groups are changed.

21. Version insertion logic stored on a computer-readable medium and executed by a processing device, the version insertion logic enabling a user to insert a version of attributes of a product in a database containing one or more versions of the product attributes, each version being divided into a plurality of attribute groups, each attribute group containing a plurality of attributes of the product, the version insertion logic comprising:

logic adapted to enable the user to enter an effective date associated with the inserted version to establish when the inserted version becomes effective;

logic adapted to enable the user to modify one or more attribute groups of the inserted version with respect to the attributes of a previous version; and

logic adapted to create a bitmap designating which attributes of the modified attribute groups of the inserted version are changed with respect to the attributes of the previous version.

22. The version insertion logic of claim 21, further comprising logic adapted to control the storage of the modified attributes.

23. The version insertion logic of claim 21, configured in association with logic for updating one or more versions by creating reference information for referencing one or more versions having an earlier effective date for the attribute groups that are unchanged in the inserted version.