USING POINT-IN-TIME VIEWS IN A DATABASE

• US 20110125741A1
• Filed: 01/31/2011
• Published: 05/26/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stephen A. Brobst
• Original Assignee: Stephen A. Brobst
• Inventors: Brobst, Stephen A.
• Granted Patent: US 10,740,283 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor

Abstract

A data-warehousing system allows various areas of an enterprise to view data at varying levels of data freshness. The system acquires data that represents an event in the life of a business enterprise, such as a transaction between the enterprise and one of its customers, and loads this data into a database table. The system then makes the data available for retrieval from the table and stores information indicating when the data was made available for retrieval. In some embodiments, the system also acquires data that is related to and more current than the data representing the event and stores the more current data in the database. The system then stores information indicating when the more current data was stored in the database. Such a data warehouse allows decision-makers in the business to see some information (e.g., customer transaction or account data) up-to-the-moment and other information as it stood at some specific point-in-time, such as at the end of the previous month. The data-warehousing system does this without requiring duplication of data, i.e., without requiring the replication of data in multiple databases or tables. The system allows the enterprise to maintain all of its data in a single database with refresh periods as short as the enterprise wishes. Departments that demand data that changes less frequently can view the data as it stood at some point prior to the last refresh.

Claims

1. A method for use in storing data in a database system, the method comprising:

acquiring data that represents an event in the life of a business enterprise;

loading the data into a database table;

making the data available for retrieval from the database table; and

storing in the table information indicating when the data was made available for retrieval.

2. The method of claim 1, also comprising:

acquiring data that is related to and more current than the data representing the event;

storing the more current data in the database; and

storing in the table information indicating when the more current data was stored in the database.

3. The method of claim 1, where the data represents a transaction between the business enterprise and one of its customers.

4. A database system comprising one or more tables of data stored on one or more storage facilities and managed by one or more processing units, where at least one of the tables includes:

a row that stores data representing an event in the life of a business enterprise;

a first column that stores information indicating when the event occurred; and

a second column that stores information indicating when the data was loaded into the database.

5. The system of claim 4, where the database system also includes a data-management component configured to:

receive a request for data representing events that occurred at or before a selected point-in-time;

access the information stored in the columns that indicate when events occurred and when the corresponding data was loaded into the table;

select from the table only that data for which;

(a) the first column indicates that the corresponding event occurred at or before the selected point-in-time; and

(b) the second column indicates that the data was loaded into the database at or before the selected point-in-time; and

deliver the selected data for presentation to the user.

6. The method of claim 4, where the database also stores data that is related to and more current than the data representing the event, and where the table includes a third column indicating when the more current data was stored in the database.

7. A method for use in retrieving from a database system data representing events in the life of a business enterprise, where at least some of the data stored in the database has been updated by more current data, the method comprising:

receiving information identifying a time period and events for which the user wants to view data;

constructing a database query that creates a table that stores data associated with that time period and those events;

selecting from the table the data that the user wants to view, where the selected data includes data for which more current data is available and excludes the more current data; and

delivering the selected data for presentation to the user.