SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR GENERATING ITERATED DISTRIBUTIONS OF DATA IN A HIERARCHICAL DATABASE

• US 20110131176A1
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Red Hat, Inc. (International Business Machines Corporation)
• Inventors: Williamson, Eric
• Granted Patent: US 8,589,344 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/609
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9027 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/02 Neural networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/01 Dynamic search techniques; Heuristics; Dynamic trees; Branch-and-bound
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/048 Fuzzy inferencing

Abstract

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for generating iterated distributions of data in a hierarchical database. A data store can store data in a hierarchical format, for instance, in a tree. Higher-level data, such as yearly profit, may be desired to be spread from parent nodes to lower nodes, such as nodes representing quarters. A spreading tool can insert child nodes representing quarters, months, or other at insertion point(s) represented or encoded by a set of placeholder nodes, dividing quantities appropriately. In aspects, the spreading tool can access or host sequence logic including multiple sets of spreading rules which each ensure that data is spread in an order that takes dependencies, formatting, outputs, or other factors into account. In aspects, the spreading tool can receive or generate a prioritized ordering of the sets of spreading rules, to ensure that data distribution passes are iterated in a desired or error-free order.

Claims

1. A method of processing data, comprising:

receiving a set of data to be inserted in a hierarchical database;

associating a set of child nodes with at least one parent node in the hierarchical database;

accessing a plurality of sets of spreading rules to distribute data from the at least one parent node to the corresponding set of child nodes;

receiving an ordering of the plurality of sets of spreading rules to generate a series of iterations of distributions of the data from the at least one parent node to the corresponding set of child nodes for each pass; and

executing the series of iterations of the distributions of the data from the at least one parent node to the corresponding set of child nodes based on the ordered plurality of sets of spreading rules.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of spreading rules comprises at least one of a set of rules related to data dependencies in the set of data, a set of rules related to the formatting of the set of data, and a set of rules related to routing of output of the set of child nodes to other nodes.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the set of spreading rules comprises a set of rules related to data dependencies in the set of data, and the set of rules related to data dependencies in the set of data comprises a set of sequence rules specifying an order of distribution of the set of data to the set of child nodes.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the distributing the set of data comprises distributing the set of data via a set of placeholder nodes associated with the at least one parent node.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the set of placeholder nodes encode a set of inheritance classes defining the set of child nodes.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of data comprises at least one of medical, technical, scientific, or financial data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the hierarchical database comprises at least one of an online analytical processing (OLAP) data source or an extensible markup language (XML)-based data source.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one parent node comprises a plurality of parent nodes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving an ordering of the plurality of sets of spreading rules comprises receiving user input specifying an ordering of the plurality of sets of spreading rules.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving an ordering of the plurality of sets of spreading rules comprises receiving an automatically generated ordering of the plurality of sets of spreading rules based on prioritization logic.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising repeating the executing of the series of iterations of the distributions of the data from the at least one parent node to the corresponding set of child nodes.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the plurality of sets of spreading rules is extensible.

13. A system for database operations, comprising:

an interface to at least one hierarchical database;

a database engine, communicating with the interface, the database engine being configured to

receive a set of data to be inserted in a hierarchical database,

associate a set of child nodes with at least one parent node in the hierarchical database,

access a plurality of sets of spreading rules to distribute data from the at least one parent node to the corresponding set of child nodes,

receive an ordering of the plurality of sets of spreading rules to generate a series of iterations of distributions of the data from the at least one parent node to the corresponding set of child nodes for each pass, and

execute the series of iterations of the distributions of the data from the at least one parent node to the corresponding set of child nodes based on the ordered plurality of sets of spreading rules.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of spreading rules comprises at least one of a set of rules related to data dependencies in the set of data, a set of rules related to the formatting of the set of data, and a set of rules related to routing of output of the set of child nodes to other nodes.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the set of spreading rules comprises a set of rules related to data dependencies in the set of data, and the set of rules related to data dependencies in the set of data comprises a set of sequence rules specifying an order of distribution of the set of data to the set of child nodes.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the distributing the set of data comprises distributing the set of data via a set of placeholder nodes associated with the at least one parent node.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the set of placeholder nodes encode a set of inheritance classes defining the set of child nodes.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the receiving an ordering of the plurality of sets of spreading rules comprises at least one of receiving user input specifying an ordering of the plurality of sets of spreading rules or receiving an automatically generated ordering of the plurality of sets of spreading rules based on prioritization logic.

19. The system of claim 23, wherein the plurality of sets of spreading rules is extensible.

20. A hierarchical database stored in a computer readable storage medium, the hierarchical database being generated by a method of:

receiving a set of data to be inserted in the hierarchical database;

associating a set of child nodes with at least one parent node in the hierarchical database;

accessing a plurality of sets of spreading rules to distribute data from the at least one parent node to the corresponding set of child nodes;

receiving an ordering of the plurality of sets of spreading rules to generate a series of iterations of distributions of the data from the at least one parent node to the corresponding set of child nodes for each pass; and

executing the series of iterations of the distributions of the data from the at least one parent node to the corresponding set of child nodes based on the ordered plurality of sets of spreading rules.