DATABASE METHODS AND APPARATUS

• US 20100241670A1
• Filed: 03/23/2009
• Published: 09/23/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Original Assignee: The Boeing Co.
• Inventors: Compton, William Perry, Hinds, Bryan S., Goetsch, Jerry A., Justice, Christopher Floyd, Lovejoy, David Martin
• Granted Patent: US 9,063,988 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/803
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2465 Query processing support for facilitating data mining operations in structured databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2477 Temporal data queries

Abstract

An apparatus having a computer-implemented database controller module, a computer-implemented database module, and a computer-implemented database query module. Software and/or firmware that is/are included in computer-implemented database controller module is/are configured to enter baseline data into the computer-implemented database module and to enter changes into the computer-implemented database module using an extensible multidimensional effectivity method of recording only an indicated change with its effectivity parameters. The computer-implemented database query module is configured to retrieve answers to queries relating to the baseline data and the changes and to return the answers in response to the queries.

Claims

1. A method for utilizing a computer-implemented database controller module and a computer-implemented database module, said method comprising:

entering baseline data into the computer-implemented database module using the computer-implemented database controller module;

using the computer-implemented database controller module to enter changes into the computer-implemented database module, wherein at least one or more changes to the computer-implemented database module are made by the computer-implemented database controller module using an extensible multidimensional effectivity method of recording only an indicated change with its effectivity parameters.

2. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the computer-implemented database module contains at least one of aeronautical data, marine data and rail data.

3. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one or more changes to the computer-implemented database module include entering tailored data.

4. A method in accordance with claim 3 wherein said at least one or more changes to the computer-implemented database module include untailoring the tailored data.

5. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one or more changes to the computer-implemented database module comprise entering transactions with transaction type indicating “

delete”

or “

undelete.”

6. A method in accordance with claim 5 wherein said transactions indicating “

delete”

or “

undelete”

are tailored transactions.

7. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein said one or more changes to the computer-implemented database module comprise storing attributes of a feature that comprise a list of values or a list of complex objects, and said storing attributes of a feature comprises including a “

specified”

column indicating the storage of an attribute list in a related table, and creating the related table including a column for items in the attribute list.

8. A method in accordance with claim 7 wherein said one or more changes to the computer-implemented database module include creating and removing associations between features, and creating and removing many-to-many associations between features.

9. A method in accordance with claim 8 wherein the computer-implemented database module includes at least one of an aeronautical database and a navigational database.

10. A method in accordance with claim 1 wherein at least one or more changes to the computer-implemented database module are made by the computer-implemented database controller module using both the extensible multidimensional effectivity method and a baseline-delta method.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a computer-implemented database controller module;

a computer-implemented database module; and

a computer-implemented database query module;

wherein the computer-implemented database controller module is configured to enter baseline data into the computer-implemented database module and to enter changes into the computer-implemented database module using an extensible multidimensional effectivity method of recording only an indicated change with its effectivity parameters;

and further wherein said computer-implemented database query module is configured to retrieve answers to queries relating to the baseline data and the changes.

12. An apparatus in accordance with claim 11 wherein the computer-implemented database module is configured to contain aeronautical data.

13. An apparatus in accordance with claim 11 wherein the computer-implemented database controller module is configured to enter tailored data for a customer into the computer implemented database module, and the computer implemented database query module is configured to query the computer-implemented database module to conditionally deliver the tailored data depending upon the customer making a query.

14. An apparatus in accordance with claim 13 wherein the computer-implemented database controller is configured to untailor the tailored data.

15. An apparatus in accordance with claim 11 wherein the computer-implemented database controller module is configured to enter transactions with a transaction type indicating “

delete”

or “

undelete.”

16. An apparatus in accordance with claim 15 wherein said transactions indicating “

delete”

or “

undelete”

are tailored transactions, and the computer-implemented database query module is configured to deliver tailored responses to queries depending upon the customer making a query.

17. An apparatus in accordance with claim 11 wherein the computer-implemented database controller module is configured to store attributes of a feature wherein the attributes comprise a list of values or a list of complex objects, and said storing attributes of a feature comprises including a “

specified”

column indicating the storage of an attribute list in a related table, and creating the related table including a column for items in the attribute list.

18. An apparatus in accordance with claim 17 wherein the computer-implemented database controller module is further configured to remove associations between features in the computer-implemented database module, to create and remove associations between features, and to create and remove many-to-many associations between features.

19. An apparatus in accordance with claim 18 wherein the computer-implemented database module comprises at least one of navigational information and aeronautical information.

20. An apparatus in accordance with claim 11 wherein the computer-implemented database controller module is configured to enter baseline data into the computer-implemented database module and to enter changes into the computer-implemented database module using both the extensible multidimensional effectivity method and a baseline-delta method of recording only an indicated change with its effectivity parameters.