NON-RELATIONAL FUNCTION-BASED DATA PUBLICATION FOR RELATIONAL DATA

• US 20120158655A1
• Filed: 12/20/2010
• Published: 06/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dove, Bryan, Bortnick, Michael J., Bowers, Stuart M., Parker, Robert L.C.
• Application Number:
  US12/972,530
• Publication Number:
  US 20120158655A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/627
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/28 Databases characterised by their database models, e.g. relational or object models

Abstract

A data publication system is described herein that provides a data replication model that combines benefits of data distribution from non-relational paradigms with the benefits of deeply integrating datasets via relational database paradigms. The system allows the creation of programmatic functions for extracting subsets of data stored in any source model, extracting data from a variety of sources, and republishing that data in a target model built upon the aggregated source data. The target model can provide standard relational paradigms across a set of data from multiple sources, whether or not the original sources were relational in nature. The system applies known paradigms for data replication based upon programmatic functions as a means for data replication and integrates this method for data duplication and replication based upon arbitrary functions with the power of relational database systems to process associated entities of data in highly efficient ways.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for gathering and aggregating data from a variety of heterogeneous data sources for publication as a unified dataset, the method comprising:

receiving source data from one or more data sources;

copying the data locally to a combined data store;

determining semantic information related to the received source data;

publishing the received data aggregated from multiple data sources along with determined semantic information to one or more data consumers;

identifying a target relational database instance to which to publish aggregated non-relational data; and

generating one or more replication functions that convert data from a non-relational source format to a target relational database format associated with the identified target relational database instance,

wherein the preceding steps are performed by at least one processor.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving source data comprises receiving non-relational source data from publicly accessible data sources.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving source data comprises gathering the source data and storing it in an arbitrary array of data stores that can exist on one or more physical computing nodes that represent a logical instance of a data publication system.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein copying the data locally comprises copying the data to a combined data store distributed across multiple physical servers.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein copying the data locally comprises exposing the data as a unified dataset from a single system instance, regardless of the original source, format, or type of the data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining semantic information comprises performing automated recognition of semantic information in the received source data.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining semantic information comprises receiving manual data tagging information from one or more users to create semantic data tags.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining semantic information comprises inferring information from the source data.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein determining semantic information comprises mapping the data via one or more inferred data structures, semantics, sources, and explicitly identified metadata to produce a unified, holistic data catalog.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein publishing the received data comprises publishing the data in a non-relational format that can be replicated to relational database instances by one or more replication functions.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying the target instance comprises receiving registration from a target instance to receive updates to an identified subset of data.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein generating replication functions comprises generating a function that places the data into a schema expected by the target instance using the determined semantic information.

13. A computer system for Non-Relational Function-Based Data Publication for Relational Data, the system comprising:

a processor and memory configured to execute software instructions embodied within the following components;

a local aggregation component that retrieves data from one or more data sources and collects the data in a combined data store;

a combined data store that stores data gathered from the data sources for publication by an aggregate publication component;

a semantic mapping component that determines semantic information about data gathered from the data sources;

an aggregate publication component that publishes gathered data in accordance with the determined semantic information to one or more data destinations;

a replication function component that generates one or more functions for replicating a portion of the published data originally from the data sources to one or more relational database instances; and

a data distribution component that distributes data published by the aggregate publication component to one or more target relational database instances by applying the generated functions for replicating data.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the local aggregation component retrieves data from sources that include multiple relational or non-relational database sources as well as non-database sources of data.

15. The system of claim 13 wherein the semantic mapping component determines semantic information by automated analysis of the data that infers relationships and other semantic information by inspecting the data.

16. The system of claim 13 wherein the semantic mapping component executes one or more delegate functions to produce intermediate data in a format expected by an application.

17. The system of claim 13 wherein the aggregate publication component does not impose any relational model on the data and provides a union of all sources'"'"' respective data as a holistic data catalog.

18. The system of claim 13 wherein the replication function component produces one or more functions that replicate the data from the system'"'"'s source dataset to deliver the data to the target relational database instance in near real-time.

19. The system of claim 13 wherein the replication function component allows data to be replicated in a scalable way from non-relational sources by the application of dynamically generated functions for gathering data from a variety of sources and by combining that data into a relational paradigm at the target database instances.

20. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for controlling a computer system to publish an aggregated, non-relational dataset to one or more relational database instances, wherein the instructions, upon execution, cause a processor to perform actions comprising:

waiting for new non-relational source data to arrive for replication to one or more relational database target instances;

receiving published non-relational data aggregated from one or more distributed data sources;

identifying a relational database target instance located remotely that supports a particular client application and that relies on data provided from the data catalog of the system without known an original source or format of the data;

applying one or more relational mapping functions that distribute the aggregated non-relational data to the identified relational database target instance; and

replicating the mapped data to the identified relational database target instance.